The 3 Proven Steps to Improve Your Flight Experience!

How to have The Best Flight Experience Every Time in 3 proven Smart Steps We love #2

Do you love to fly? Would you like to learn how to have the best flight experience, everytime? We love traveling to different destinations. Honestly over the last 18 years we’ve probably taken some 120+ flights between us. But it can be a total nightmare if you aren’t prepared for it! 

With all these flights, at some point one is bound to get Swollen Feet. 🙁

With that said, we don’t mind flying. In fact, we’ve learned to cope with transit in some unfriendly airports. We always plan our trips and have all kinds of fun apps to keep us occupied in airports, and the economy class pains!

Since we are on a roll with air travel, this isn’t gonna disappoint either! By the way if you haven’t read our flight booking hacks article, you gotta go grab those tips now! We can wait. 😉

Heads-up for UK & Europe Travel and Immigrants, we have a #BREXIT update if you would like to check out our article here!

In this post we are gonna break it down for ya how to maximize your trip and have the best flight experience both in-flight and in transit! So you can get comfy and avoid some gaffes on your vacays!

You are guaranteed to learn some “Undercover flying tips” or 3!

So hop on lets get started: Prior to Picking an Airline, if you haven’t tried it before…

#1. To ensure you have the Best Flight Experience, Investigate the Airline

You want to know what others have experienced before and possibly what to expect. So why not head on over to Wanderbat and compare multiple airlines services, charges, and customer satisfaction.

Talking of Customer reviews. For air travel you can’t beat the airline quality site aka Skytrax!  In their own words:

The world’s Air Travel review and ratings website…For Customer reviews of airlines, seats, lounges and airports worldwide. Look for the  Verified Review approvals highlighting users who have authenticated their reviews, as we strive to deliver more trustworthy customer opinions.

Some people go as far as checking out what type of air craft they will be flying in lol. We ain’t that paranoid…yet! 😉  

As part of our search for Airline services, we check what amenities are offered. These could be On-board Wi-Fi, personal entertainment screens, Meals served etc. You can do this via Seatguru

If we have used the Airline before and have a long layover (We usually do when flying to Africa,) We head straight to …

#2 Book the Airport Lounge – for a great flight experience

In UK some bank accounts offer this as a benefit for some packages! So always check with your bank what benefits you have as a customer on your Savings or Current account! A travel hack most don’t know!

We can’t tell you how much of a blessing this can be between flights with a sleep debt! With young children, it’s a no brainer. If you are heading straight back to work the day after you arrive home, then it’s a must to check out the Airport lounge.

San Francisco Airport did it for us…Aaahh bliss. Following an early morning flight from Hawaii we were famished, tired, sleepy, grumpy…We were so thankful to have access to the lounge facilities, booked for us courtesy of our personal concierge service!

Part of the benefits of the Dreamtrips travel club!

Alternatively, if you’re a frequent flyer, then it makes sense to invest in Priority Pass <<(You can Get 10% Off right here). At time of publishing this post, their BEST annual subscription costs $143/year. A steal for a frequent flyer. It may Sound like much esp if paid by you and yo only take 2-3 flights a year. Yet…

For this you get unlimited access to over 900 airport lounges worldwide including:

• Wi-Fi and private workspace.
• Tea, Coffee, Soft and even Hard drinks.
• Food, cold buffet and hot meals.
• Free newspaper and magazines
• Chill out comfy chairs.
• Access to Shower Facilities incl. towels and soap (In some airports.) San Fran does have! 🙂

This is an investment in YOU, if you travel often for work, your company should pay this cost!

There are cheaper subscriptions, find what suits your budget and never ever be stuck in an airport lounge again. Worse still if you got some vacation money left over, and you spend it on junk while sleeping on a hard bench.

Never worry about your luggage and getting a stiff neck, you are worth so much more! And remember #YOLO

Paul was so thankful for the Virgin Lounge in London recently. With a 4am Wake up and a 10pm return journey he was thankful for the buffet breakfast and dinner! It’s definitely worth a visit when you are next in London!

By the way you can rate the lounges you’ve visit esp. if you use the mobile app to manage your subscription!

Please don’t be deceived that Airport Lounges are only for First Class travellers, Celebrities, the Nouve rich or Frequent Business Flyers!

For a FLAT FEE of between £20-£40, you can use some Airport lounges. #travelwellness #travelexperiences Click To Tweet

We know for a fact that for a FLAT FEE of between £20-£40, you can use some Airport lounges.  

What’s your comfort worth? How many Tees can you wear? How much chocolate do you want your kids to eat? Dentist gets richer though huh!

So instead of buying another Fort Worth T-shirt, why not plump for some comfort via Loungebuddy, have a shower, eat some healthy food and have that kip you need! We so recommend this. See Cost of the Dallas Fort Worth Lounge is only $48…Who goes? You decide!

But I am a Frugal Traveller on a Skinny budget, we hear you say….

We hear you. All the above is good if you do have some spare change or budget and plan to have a good flight experience before your trip. Even then you might have saved every penny to go on a family vacation, so you have little left over to pay for an airport lounge.

Well worry not, you can check out the Sleeping in Airports website to find out your options for some shut eye; prior to your flight or in transit. You w
ill find tips on the Best and Worst airports to sleep in, Airport Hotels, and reviews from other budget travellers. This site also gives you some smart tips on “how to sleep in airports.” Do check it out anyway!

From personal experience Munich Airport, Germany is hands down the best Traveller Airport in Europe. We had the pleasure of using it on our way to Budapest. You can sleep in the special FREE traveller pods aka recreational zones, use free Wi-Fi in allocated zones without paying a penny. Incl TVs Gate updates so yo wont miss your boarding time or call. (See images below)

[clickToTweet tweet=”The Germans sure know how to treat customers! #airtraveltips #munichairport” quote=”The Germans sure know how to treat their customers! ” theme=”style1″]

Or you can pay for a NapCab and have even more privacy!

Munich Airport has a Free Access Visitor’s Terrace via a Glass Sky walk, for amazing views. The Germans sure know how to treat their customers!

On the other end of the scale, Luton airport in UK, has been the worst for us in Europe thus far!

You can have a virtual tour of the Munich airport recreational zone here

Recommended: Best Travel App

#3 To have the best Flight experience, We Choose Our Seats

These days almost all airlines play Russian roulette with families and people who book a flight together on the same itinerary…! They deliberately place you on separate seats. Possibly with a few seats in between. Yes, including separating parents from their toddlers. Shameful practice, yet it’s not illegal!  

Don’t let them gamble your joy in air travel and turn it into a nightmare #airtraveltips #travelwellness Click To Tweet

Honeymooners? Who cares…! Well you do. Don’t let them gamble your joy in air travel and turn it into a nightmare of gigantic proportions! And trust me it can be…Nightmare on Sesame street can’t compete!  And…

God forbid someone has to sit at the back end on the bulkhead last seats. But as a Smart traveller, don’t let that be you! Unless the lot are free and you stretch out for a much needed kip!

We once agreed to swap with a woman with an infant, without knowing which seats she was wanting to swap…boy sometimes Kindness is a killer!

These seats didn’t recline and the man in front of Lil Paul’s seat did fully recline his seat, despite being begged to lift it, he ignored us with an “I paid for this seat!”

You will be squashed like a pancake in such a situation aaarrrg!  Here are a few more things you will bag in them seats:

• Pungent Toilet smells – God forbid someone ate dodgy food…meeerrgh.
• Very tight legroom. Are you 6ft? Even Julie at 5’2 was in agony!
• Constant banging as everyone uses the facilities, forget sleeping on that 8hr Red eye to London after a 9 hr transit in Detroit with a fretting toddler! Ohh not forgetting the…
• Toilet flushing noise, and the Cabin crew doing things in the gulley. What!
• You will be served your meal last, cold and barely any choice.
• Did I hear you say flight misery? Exact Mondo…

So in order to have a better flight experience, chose your own seat/s. Most airlines either allow you to do so at time of booking, 24-30 hrs before flight, or you pay a bit extra to choose in advance!

“SUPERTIP for Asian Travel: If possible, chose a Japanese airline! They have some of the best inflight service, they invest a lot in passenger comfort including seat space! They took into consideration: cushion angles, arm rest lengths, cushion leg room we are talking ECONOMY CLASS! This is from a frequent business traveller!

So guess how to tell the seats on your flight. Good old Seatguru. To avoid having to play seat lottery, enter your flight details, or click – “I don’t know my flight details.”  You will be shown various Aircraft details. Chose yours and click on your preferred seat to learn more about it!

You’ll learn which are the best and worst seats on that particular airplane type. Choose your seat accordingly and sit pretty.

Best seats are right by the Emergency Exits or Front row of economy #traveltips #traveltuesday Click To Tweet

[clickToTweet tweet=”Best seats – Emergency Exits or Front row of economy #traveltips #traveltuesday” quote=”Best seats are right by the Emergency Exits or Front row of economy”]

On average the best seats are right by the Emergency Exits or Front row of cattle class aka economy. Most Airlines now expect travellers to pay more for these seats. Some even call them part of “Premium economy.”

There is more legroom, room for a baby bassinet and you get to have room to put your bags with your book, tablet meds etc. once you take off! These seats are very popular and snapped up fast!

If you aren’t a frequent flier, are you noticing some things that could affect your comfort levels and totally skew your hope of having the best flying experience? 

So head on to SeatGuru & find the best seat for the best flight experience. Life is too short for a @pkjulesworld reader to be squashed. See one of ours, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-900 (789) flight. Notice what we just said about extra leg room seats!

You will learn which seats are pants and which are okay in economy and why. You can check business and first class too! 🙂 You want to avoid the bar area on these classes (too much banging by cabin crew serving drinks.)

You will know the exact number of seats in each class on the craft. And whether the airline charges for the extra legroom seats!

Recommended: Travel Tools

For some people air travel does matter, it’s the only way they can get to work or essential business events fast. So it’s important to create the best flight experiences you can by planning and preparing for your flight as much as possible! If you don’t know about Flight hacking, you are in for a treat right here!

With the increase in airport security for obvious reasons, checks take longer. It’s even more important to plan your comfort and air travel experiences so you can have the best time ever!

Well hope you have learnt some new tips to improve your flight experience hugely from now on! Don’t get stuck in an airport feeling un-fresh, unkempt, hungry and tired ever again with hours to kill. Be a Smart Traveller and do take our extensive experience and tips! Talking of which…

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Julie SylK

Email: support[at]Juleskalpauli.com

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