Galley Gossip: 10 Ways To Handle A Tight Connection

by Heather Poole on
Photo Credit: NewbieRunner

1. Book wisely. If you need to be somewhere really important, it’s probably not a good idea to book your flights with less than an hour between them. Even an hour is pushing it. An hour and a half is good. Two hours, even better. Whatever you do, don’t take the last flight out! Delays happen. So do cancelations.

2. Pay the extra fee. If you’re the anxious type and travel is stressful, pay the extra fee to sit closer to the front of the airplane and be done with it. Why start your trip out on the wrong foot and the risk a snowball effect. Because once something goes wrong, everything seems to follow suit. Better to be out a few bucks than to miss a flight! It’s worth it just to relax.

3. Check your boarding pass. Many airlines print the boarding time, not the departure time, on the boarding pass. Depending on the equipment type (smaller vs. larger aircraft), you can usually tag on another 30 to 40 minutes to your connection time. Read the fine print.

4. Switch seats. Ask a flight attendant if you can move closer to the front of the cabin on landing. Unfortunately, most flights are full these days and just because there’s an open seat up front doesn’t mean you’ll find a spot in the overhead bin for your bag too. If you’ve booked a tight connection, you might want to make sure your carry-on luggage fits under the seat in front of you.

5. Relax: I know, I know, easier said than done. Just know that while it might feel like it takes forever to disembark, the truth is almost everyone is able to deplane in less than 15 minutes. So take a deep breath and … exhale. Put in your earphones and play the most relaxing music you have. Then get ready to run. Here’s to hoping you wore appropriate shoes to sprint across the airport terminal.6. Call the airline. Don’t wait in a long line of passengers to talk to an agent. By the time it’s your turn to approach the counter, chances are the flight will have already departed. Get on the phone ASAP and call the airline’s reservation desk. Or try tweeting for an even faster response. Most airlines offer immediate feedback.

7. Hold the flight! Airlines don’t hold flights for passengers. On time departures are way too important. That said an airline might hold a flight if it’s the last flight of the day or for a large group of passengers traveling to the same destination. If it is the last flight out, rest assured the airline knows where you are and you’ll probably be booked on another flight before you even land.

8. Go, go, go! Don’t stop to talk to the agent meeting your flight. Run straight to your connecting gate and talk to the agent there, even if it’s past the departure time. Time is precious. Every second counts. Plus you never know if that flight might be delayed.

9. The thing about bad weather. If you’re delayed because you’re flying into an airport experiencing bad weather, chances are your connecting flight may also be delayed. And remember just because your departing aircraft is at the gate, doesn’t mean the outbound crew is on the ground and ready to go. They could still be in the air too. Sounds strange, I know, but we don’t stick with one aircraft all day long.

10. It’s not over until the airplane pushes away from the gate. I can’t tell you how many flights I’ve just missed only to have the airplane return back to the gate to remove a sick passenger or to fix a mechanical. I’ve actually gotten on flights airlines have brought passengers off of due to weight and balance issues that were later lifted after a creeping delay. Miracles do happen.

Climate Change Set To Take Fliers On A Bumpy Ride

by Reena Ganga on

If you’re one of those people who start turning green every time your airplane hits a bit of turbulence, you’re in for a rough ride in the coming years. According to a new study, air turbulence is likely to go up by 10-40 percent by 2050, causing more passengers to reach for the airsickness bag.

The report published in the Nature Climate Change journal says that clear air turbulence – a sharp movement of air that happens even in good weather – is likely to get worse in the coming decades because of climate change.

The report’s authors studied the air over the North Atlantic, which is one of the busiest flight corridors in the world. They believe that as greenhouse gases increase, clear air turbulence will also rise – putting more planes in danger’s way. What’s more, this particular type of turbulence doesn’t show up on an airplane’s radar, making it tough for pilots to dodge. Planes that are given a heads up by other aircraft might be able to detour around the turbulence, but that would mean longer flight times and using up more fuel, which in turn contributes to the climate change problem.

But don’t start popping the motion sickness pills just yet. Some scientists say the study isn’t conclusive and believe there needs to be more research into the matter.

[Photo credit: Flickr user woodleywonderworks]

Galley Gossip: The Worst, Funniest and Most Common Bad Airline Passengers

by Heather Poole on
Photo credit: Telstar Logistics

From time to time I get asked questions about bad passengers. I thought I’d share a few of them here.

What’s the worst passenger behavior you’ve witnessed?

I’ve caught passengers taking other people’s luggage out of the bin to make room for their own bags. I’m not joking. They’ll pull out a bag, drop it on the floor and walk away leaving it in the middle of the aisle for the passengers behind them to crawl over. Have you ever tried stepping over a 21-inch Rollaboard? Not easy. Happened three times last month!

The funniest?

Recently a woman tried to stow her suitcase in that, oh, what do you call that spot? Crevice? Crack? Between the overhead bin and the ceiling? There’s like a millimeter of space there! I don’t care which airline you’re traveling on, that’s not going to fit. Then there are the recliners and the anti-recliners. One anti-recliner got upset at a recliner because she couldn’t get her tray table down. I suggested if maybe she removed the gigantic fanny pack from around her waist it might go down. She looked at me like I was the crazy one! One man actually called me over because the passenger in front of him had reclined his seat. I had to point out that, uh … his seat was reclined too!

What’s the most common bad passenger behavior you’ve seen?

These days, people are so self-absorbed multitasking as they board a flight they don’t even say hello to the flight attendant greeting them at the boarding door. They’re too busy talking on the phone, typing on their laptops, listening to music and texting as they walk down the aisle to notice their backpacks and duffle bags are whacking people in the head. Recently a passenger got mad at me – ME! – because I wouldn’t help him lift a heavy bag. That’s because he couldn’t get off the phone to improve his one arm bag swing. Two arms always work better than one when it comes to getting those bags into the overhead bins.

What are the rules for dealing with bad passengers?

We can’t call the police or the fire department at 30,000 feet. That’s why it’s a good idea to take care of problem passengers on the ground before we depart. Before we kick someone off the plane, we’ll do everything we can to make a bad situation good again. Usually, it involves doing the following:

  1. Getting Down: Literally, we get down on one knee in the aisle at the passenger’s level. This position is less threatening to passengers.
  2. Listening: Most passengers just want to be heard. That’s it.
  3. Keeping Calm: We try not to raise our voices. Staying calm and in control will diffuse most situations.
  4. The Facts: We might ask what the problem is and then have the passenger suggest a solution. This way we’re all on the same page.
  5. Walking Away: A new face is new energy. If I’m not getting anywhere with a difficult passenger, I’ll remove myself from the situation and ask a coworker to step in. Even though a coworker may tell the passenger the exact same thing I did, they could get a completely different response.

If that doesn’t work, and we’re in flight, we might issue a written warning signed by the Captain. All this means is if a passenger doesn’t stop doing whatever it is they were doing, authorities will be called to meet the flight. That’s why I say if you’re going to freak out, might be a good idea to wait until we’re safe and sound on the ground and parked at the gate. No one wants to divert a flight. Plus you don’t want to end up in jail far away from home where no one can rescue you.

Airline Service, As Different As Night And Day, Literally

by Chris Owen on

Purely from an airline passenger‘s point of view, I’ve always thought that the international flight crew on any given airline was better than their domestic counterparts. If for no other reason, settling in for a long-haul flight, those international veterans have more time to take care of business. Short domestic flights kept flight crews busy and important safety-related duties take precedence over casual chitchat. I get that. Still, what an international crew does with all that time can be as different as night and day.

Surely, logic would explain that not as much in the way of service will be offered on longhaul, overnight flights. After all, most passengers are asleep at one point or another so their needs are few. Water us, feed us, put us to bed then wake us up for breakfast before touchdown, as the choreography goes on flights from a U.S. airport to many European locations. But the dance takes on a whole different tempo during a day flight, as I found out on a recent return from Amsterdam to Atlanta – or at least it should.

I’ve been on international flights bouncing back and forth across the pond a lot lately and in a short amount of time. Comparing and contrasting the experiences is easy.

On Delta flight 70 from Orlando (MCO) to Amsterdam (AMS) on a late night flight, the mood was relaxed and while the basics were taken care of, this was a crew that was nice to passengers because they had to be. Lackluster. Nothing to write home about. Dial-up speed.

Charged with DSL-speed power, the return day flight could not have been better for a number of reasons. Let me count the ways.Delta flight 33 inbound from Amsterdam to Atlanta was longer and went through more turbulent skies. As with just about any flight that might end in a magical Orlando vacation, 33 had the usual complement of excited/rowdy/demanding passengers too.

But a flight crew that covered the cabin of that aircraft like they had roller skates on took care of business. After we were initially fed and watered I thought that would be about all we see of them for a while. Wrong. Back they came, again and again, caring for passengers in a truly, dare I say, inspirational way.

Next to me, a passenger who wanted to sleep could not get his chair to recline. The first crew member to stop by said, “I’m sorry but we have a full plane and there is no place to move you to,” thanking Sleepless for telling her. I thought “Yeah this was too good to be true, here we go.” But before that thought was complete, a senior crew member came by, asked Sleepless to get up, took the seat apart and fixed it.

Impressed, I later wandered back to the crew area, related my neutral experience on the outbound night flight and posed the question, “Do you guys work together a lot? You seem to cover a lot of ground in a very short amount of time, like a well-oiled machine.” Miss Handy Crew Member replied, “Most of us have been with the company for 20+ years. There’s not a lot we haven’t seen or done.” She explained that international day flights are normally staffed by the best of the best on most airlines and that “it’s a seniority thing.”

Senior, junior or any crew members in-between I have to give credit where credit is due. This was a Delta flight, in a very old plane, filled with a whole lot of people not used to having nine hours on their hands and that crew did a magnificent job.

There were no mechanical problems with the aircraft, flight delays on the tarmac forcing a return to the gate or any of the other challenges faced in my account of a United flight saved by quick-thinking crew members in “Bad Flight Saved By Airline Crew, New Laws, Amiable Travelers.”

But often it is the day-to-day heroes of the air who go about their business of providing a safe flight, done right, that deserve a bit of praise from time to time.

Speaking of heroes in the air, check this video that tells of a man posing as a pilot who made it all the way to the cockpit before being discovered:


[Photo credit – Flickr user steveleenow]

Take A Look At The Future Of Economy Airline Seating

by Reena Ganga on

Contorting your body to fit into cramped economy class airline seats is bad enough without the person seated in front of you invading your space. Reclining seats have been a point of contention amongst fliers for years and as seat pitch gets smaller, the problem has only gotten worse with some passengers even coming to blows over the issue.

Other passengers take a more passive aggressive approach. Remember this traveler who took matters into his own hands and rigged the seat in front of him so it would stay in the upright position? Or what about the Knee Defender, the invention we told you about last year, which is designed to keep airline seats from reclining?

Well, finally, someone has come up with a solution to the seat reclining dramas. The AirGo is an economy class seat designed by an engineering student for the James Dyson Award. Alireza Yaghoubi took first prize for his design concept, which aims to give fliers control over their limited seat space, even when the passenger in front of them reclines.The seats are designed with individual bulkheads, so each passenger has their own area to stow luggage. Suspended from this are the tray table and TV screen, which aren’t affected if fellow passengers recline. The seats themselves are made of a nylon mesh designed to minimize sweating and are fully customizable to suit each traveler’s posture.

While the seating concept does take up 16 percent more space than a regular economy class seat, hopefully the benefits will sway airlines to get onboard.

Check out pictures of the AirGo seat below.

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[Photo credit: Alireza Yaghoubi]