The Friendly Skies

Strategies for surviving the summer travel season.

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Fresh off a trip to Scotland I had some thoughts about long haul travel. I was running through my personal strategies. What airlines to book. What to to in the face of incredible chaos. How to handle luggage and other thoughts which might make things easier for some of you. Or maybe there is just no avoiding the suffering! But here are some of my updated tactics.

As everyone has heard — the busiest airports in Europe are a full blown disaster right now. Recently I flew from Edinburgh to LA via Boston and things went fairly well with only three delays and no lost luggage. Smooth probably isn't the description travelers in London or Amsterdam would use at the moment. I think if you need to get to Europe this summer you then you perhaps want to try a smaller airport (one that is not Copenhagen). You might also just want to wait this summer out and go next year when things will hopefully be more normal. If you do go, these ideas my make things less painful.

Luggage

This summer more than any time I can remember it's important to pack light and avoid checking a bag. Many are having issues with lost luggage. Even if your bags do come they are taking longer than previously. So just bring your carry-on and it's one less thing to stress about. Dave Coggins was right about this one. Oh, and wheels are fine let's not go too far.

I've been using Apple's AirTags in all of my bags and it's really handy for knowing if your luggage is close to arriving at claim. It's also helpful when trying to ensure your bag makes the flight. Recently at JFK I noticed my bag was uncomfortably far away from our departing aircraft. Turns out the bag didn't make its way to my connecting flight as it was supposed to and was delivered to baggage claim. Because of the AirTag I was able to get a Delta representative to successfully get the bag on track and on my plane. I don't pack a bag without one of these tags now. I would even put one on my kid as an unaccompanied minor just to make sure everything goes smoothly.