Tips for Winter Flying

[Captain Hutch]

1) Get started early.

2) Have a longer time to make a connection, 2 hours if possible.

3) Be prepared to spend more ground time for deicing the aircraft--you can easily spend an hour in a line for the deicing pad at a hub airport (for that airline).

4) If you are flying into a city where you are connecting and are worried about that connection, write your name, flight number, and city on a piece of paper and give it to the flight attendant to give to the pilot. If he/she has time, he will check ahead and try to find out the status of that flight.

5) Do not hold anyone's feet to the fire if you miss your connection. Weather situations are quite volatile and no one really has control. Being more pleasant under tough circumstances usually gets you further than trying to demand your way through.

6) Lastly, if things really get out of hand, don't walk up to the agent and say loudly, "Do you know who I am?!" The agent may pick up the microphone with an announcement like, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a person here who doesn't know who he is. Is there anyone who can help identify him?"

Hutch :tiphat:

[tusphotog]

Great tips. Couple things to add: bring some cliff bars/food in case you have extended delays on the ground on the plane.

Also, have a backup plan (or two) on how to get where you're going. This helps if you misconnect. This is also good to do when you're flying during thunderstorm season.

Finally, try and give yourself a day (or more) on the return end before you have to get back to work--especially if you're flying into/out of the Northeast and Midwest.

[Passenger Mark]

Thanks Captain! Those are great tips.

BTW.... and Captain correct me if I am wrong... for all those worried about bumpy flights in the winter weather... Planes usually fly smoother in colder air!

Note I said smoother not better. Planes fly fine all year round!

[Captain Hutch]

yes, roger that on the back-up plan. Actually I had that written in my first message that got timed out. Know where the other connecting cities are on your way to your destination, or it might even be a round about way, but you will be avoiding the weather.

I honestly couldn't vouch for smoother air in winter. It seems like half the time I am always going up or down looking for smoother air almost anytime!

Hutch :)

[Barb-SAN]

6) Lastly, if things really get out of hand, don't walk up to the agent and say loudly, "Do you know who I am?!" The agent may pick up the microphone with an announcement like, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a person here who doesn't know who he is. Is there anyone who can help identify him?"

Hutch :tiphat:

:rotflmao::rotflmao:

Thanks for those tips! I'm sure it's frustrating being a gate agent when flights start getting cancelled. It would be kind of all of us passengers to think of their stress levels, blood pressure, etc., and help them to have as good a day as possible when things are going to pieces...:) We only have our own flight to worry about...they have to deal with hundreds of upset passengers.

[Barb-SAN]

Actually I had that written in my first message that got timed out. Hutch :)

Just a technical tip here. When you log in, be sure to click that little box that says "remember me". That way you won't get timed out (which is incredibly frustrating after you have just written a long post).


If you are logging in on a public computer, be sure to log out when you are finished. That will remove the cookie from the hard drive of that computer, so no one else can come in and post under your name.

The other thing you could do is type part of your post, submit it, and then go back and edit it, and add to it, a few minutes at a time. I think if you don't click that "remember me" you only have about 10 minutes to type your post, and then it times out. Something about a security feature...

[Captain Hutch]

Thanks, Barb-SAN. The worst part was that I knew all that and still let it happen anyway!! :blush:

Hutch

[Barb-SAN]

Thanks, Barb-SAN. The worst part was that I knew all that and still let it happen anyway!! :blush:


Hutch


Don't feel bad...it's happened to me too (numerous times), when I've posted from public computers in hotels when I've been traveling. Sometimes I purposefully don't check "remember me" when I log in, thinking that I'll be quick, and won't get timed out. Then I start writing....and writing...and writing....and the post times out and it's all lost. :blush: