Airport Information Desk: Travel Tips for the season

Note: This post was first published on the 4th of December, giving you Tips on how to have a seamless trip this Season. Please read:

“Airport Information Desk: Travel Tips for the Christmas Season

What better time to give you these travel tips. Is Christmas again! that time of the year when most Airlines experience high traffic. It so happens that this is also the time of great influx of Nigerians into the country from foreign lands.

Amazingly most passengers have problems booking a flight as most Airlines are fully booked. Those who are lucky to get a seat end up either missing some of their checked bags or not having their checked bags on arrival at destination. It can be a nightmare going through these.

These five tips below if followed through will help you experience a stress less Air travel this Season.

1. BOOK YOUR FLIGHT ON TIME

I tell you, this is your best option. Infact i expect intending travellers this season to have booked their flights as of today to aviod the usual Christmas rush.
The advantages of booking ontime is that you get better and cheaper deals. On the other hand you have many Airline options to choose from. Doing last minute booking predisposes you to “Any Available Airline” because you are in a desperate situation. Now you dont want to belong to the “League of ‘last minute.com” do you?

On my flights i have heard Passengers say ” I must be in the village tomorrow anyhow”. Their experiences can be better imagined………”Anything goes……..”

2. CARGO YOUR EXCESS LUGGAGE

Nigerians are known for travelling heavy.
I remember my first flight to London. We had a weighing scale positioned in a corner for us at the London Heathrow Airport to weigh our bags. Imagine!, even at 31kg baggage allowance then many naijas including me had excesses. It was a funny sight watching us shuffle things around our 2pcs bags. Lol……even the carry on bag that should not exceed 6kg, hmmmm… ours is way more than allowable limit. Do you blame us? Everybody wants a gift when someone they know travels.

My advice: Do not check in your excess baggage, instead Cargo them ahead of your travel date. That way your luggage gets to your destination before you . Moreso it cost you less to Cargo them than get them checked on your day of travel. Be aware that this is peak Season in air travel. Statistics show that airlines are more likely to mishandle more than twice as many suitcases.

3. TRAVEL LIGHT

Imagine travelling with just a back pack or brief case?. Less stress for you.

The benefit of travelling light: when fliers check in late maybe due to traffic or other reasons and the boarding gate is almost closed, the Airline is more likely to accept an intending fliers without a checked bag who can make it quicker to the gate to the one with multiple bags to be checked. Moreover, gate agents may be forced to check your bag into the baggage hold at the last minute due to full overhead bins if is big.

Another benefit of travelling light is the less time you have to waste at the airport on arrival. You dont have to wait for carousel at baggage claim

4. SET OUT TO THE AIRPORT ON TIME

This festive season is characterised by snail speed traffic especially in lagos. It is worse at the Airport area. My advise is for you to leave home for the airport atleast 3hours before your flight. That way you still make it to the airport ontime for the flight.

To avoid problems, arrive at the airport early enough to let your bag get to the plane, and print out a copy of your itinerary from the airline’s website and stick it inside just in case all the tags get ripped off.

5. KEEP YOUR VALUABLES WITH YOU

When i say valuables…am referring to items like your house keys international passport, flight tickets, Laptops, Ipads, phones and Drugs.

I have had passengers coming to complain to me that due to flight delay they need to take their drugs which they checked in. Unfortunately Once bags are checked in and loaded in the Cargo hold it is very difficult to retrieve until the airplane arrives destination.

Intending Air travellers should be aware of this; there is not always a 100% guarantee that all checked in bags must get to destinations same day during festive periods. In some cases, it takes about a day and a half to reunite passengers with their bags. into Christmas, fliers should take extra precautions with their checked luggage — December and January are traditionally the worst months for lost bags.

There are alot of Variables which makes flight plan subject to change and restrictions. There is the possibility that due to the number of passengers, the baggage weight for a particular flight maybe reduced inorder to accomodate all passengers. In such situations some checked baggage may not go with same flight. So imagine having the listed items checked in. You get to your destination and your valuables are stuck else where.

This reminds me of a flight I operated into benin years ago during christmas period and because of weight limitations the baggage handlers had to drop some bags in Lagos to accommodate the passengers. Surprisingly, the captain of the flight was not informed until he was airborne to benin. On arrival in benin the captain made an announcement informing passengers of the situation with a promise to ensure the left over bags were sent to benin the next day. To cut a long story short two of the passengers who were females hijacked our aircraft on ground benin. We were not allowed to depart because their final destination was Asaba in Delta state and their house keys were in their checked bags left behind in lagos.. “How would they get into their homes”?.To compound an already bad case, the wedding attire they planned using for the wedding they travelled all the way to Delta state for was in the checked bags left behind in lagos. Am sure nobody wants to experience this.

Stick to these tips. You will not only have a nice travel experience but also a lovely christmas as planned.

Travel happy and Merry Christmas in advance.”