Frequent flyer Mark Wolters has shared his airline travel secrets – and one of them involves setting your alarm for a very unsociable time
It’s exasperating when you lose a chunk of your holiday to flight delays(Image: Jackyenjoyphotography via Getty Images)
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of air travel is discovering that your flight has been delayed and realising that you’re doomed to spend the next couple of hours in an uncomfortable plastic chair. But American travel expert Mark Wolters has some valuable tips that can save holidaymakers from the heartache of hanging around in the departure lounge.
In a new video on his Wolters World YouTube channel, Mark has a range of savvy solutions for finding the best restaurants and the cleanest loos at any airport.
He also advises, in the US at least , picking flights that depart from purely-international terminals as opposed to terminals that service both domestic and intercontinental flights.
He explains that quest for security checks will always be far longer at dual-use terminals: “For example,” Mark say, “when I go to Chicago, I know if I’m flying out of Terminal Five, the international terminal, it’s going to be a lot faster than if I’m flying out of Terminal Two, which has a lot of domestic flights.”
“It’s a good idea to look up because it could save you a time, especially if you’re running behind getting to the airport,” he advises.
Mark adds: “The airport secret I use the most when I travel is take the early morning flights if you want the least amount of headaches.”
He adds that while it might mean setting your alarm for a painfully-early time, there’s a good reason for picking those crack-of-dawn flights: “If you take that early morning flight, usually your plane landed the night before, so you don’t have the delays,” Mark explains.
“Also, when you go to check in, there’s not 3,000 extra people there. It’s just the first people flights that are there. So, it’s usually faster to get through security, faster to check in, faster to get to your gate, that takes a lot of the stress away.”
Additionally, Mark says, as the day wears on, any small delays tend to snowball and you’re much more likely to see a late evening flight delayed: “So, you’re going to travel for holidays or anything like that, don’t take the afternoon flight.
“Get up in the morning… suck it up, take that early morning flight so you have less chance for problems.”
Another one of Mark’s airport secrets is to try to use the loos nearest to the baggage reclaim, because they’re likely to be the cleanest and most pleasant to use.
He explains: “Think about it. When people get off the plane, they want to go to the bathroom right away. So, those bathrooms in the terminals by the busy gates, those get used a lot more than the other ones.
“All of them get cleaned, but the ones that aren’t used as much, they tend to they tend to stay cleaner longer. At baggage claim, no one’s thinking ‘I want to go to the bathroom’. They’re thinking, I want my luggage and I want to go home.’ So that would be a cleaner one to use.”