<p>Thumper, good idea about early to Hartford. I flew in/out of Hartford both recent trips. Flying out of Hartford is more of a hassle than LA! I find travelers out of that airport are not as frequent fliers as LA travelers. Case in point: guy in front of me goes through security, removes his laptop, leaves a large portable hard drive in his backpack. Of course, security stops. They ask him “what is the large electronic device in your luggage?” He stares blankly, finally says “oh yeah, a hard drive”. Twenty minutes later the rest of us behind him can get through security.<br>
Time before that woman had a bottle of ice, arguing with security that the ice was not a liquid. Jeesh!<br>
DH may not be yours long lost twin but mine is an engineer type…perhaps yours is too?</p>
<p>And why people wear belts when they know they are going through security is beyond me. Why wouldn’t you just put it in your rollerboard, and then once through security, put it on? Really, no one’s pants are falling down. I’m going on a trip in a few weeks where I know the jewelry I’m wearing sets off security. So it’ll go on my rollerboard and then I’ll put it on after I’m past security. It makes no sense for me to put it on to stand in line and then take it off and put it back on. </p>
<p>Oh, and while we are (I am?) ranting … if I’m in the aisle seat and you are the middle or window, just step over me and be done with it, already. This whole “let everyone get out and stand in the aisle while the window person gets to the window seat” … oh, please, what a time waster that backs up the whole line. And no, do not get on packed flights and put your coat up in the overhead bins when people are trying to find room for carry-ons.</p>
<p>There. I feel better now :-)</p>
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<p>LOL, you must be flying business or first class. There is no humanly way possible to step over someone in coach without falling onto them. :)</p>
<p>I share your pain, PizzaGirl. I love to visit foreign countries but am so disillusioned with the flying experience that sometimes I just don’t think it’s worth the effort. My only wish is that I could afford to fly first class every time- it’s like a different world up there.</p>
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Can I make my counter-rant here? If I just paid $50 to check my bags, I don’t want to hear that I can’t put anything in the overhead in order to make room for somebody’s giant rolling bag.</p>
<p>As for stepping over a person, it might be possible in economy plus.</p>
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<p>It is doable in economy class if neither person is large.</p>
<p>Security measures vary from airport to airport. On a trip you think you have the game mastered and they do/don’t require what the other airport did. I find the recent boarding order a nuisance- it was easier when the back of the plane filled first, regardless of which seat. I once asked an airline what time I needed to be at our smaller airport for an ealy morning flight- they were surprised when they looked and the airport wasn’t even open early enough for their standard response (the reason I called- no sense needing to stay in your car, especially in winter, waiting to get in). </p>
<p>We prefer to drive now when we can. We’ve been enough places this factors into our vacation choices. It may sound glamorous to travel for one’s job, but from what I’ve seen it is a real chore.</p>
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The pain is eased if you travel enough to get Premiere Status with your airline (or whatever they call it). My wife has it, and the whole family (or “entourage” as we prefer to say) gets the benefits when we travel with her.</p>
<p>The pain is VERY eased for premier. For example, in our D’s recent move to Boston, we redeemed miles for me and H, and bought a one-way ticket for D. Since I am premier on this airline (and not even all that premier), I could check 2 bags for no charge - but that also held for anyone on the same reservation, so we could check 4 bags for no charge. (It didn’t apply on D’s reservation, since hers was separate.) That made all the difference in being able to move her out. The best part of it is, IMO, they put a “priority” tag on your baggage. We literally walked into the baggage claim at Logan and boom, boom, boom, boom, our 4 big bags were the first ones down - D and I had them out by the curb even before H had boarded the shuttle to get to the rental car.</p>
<p>For a small business owner who uses credit cards for business expenses, it is worth it to get miles on airlines. H racked up enough points / miles on American Express that essentially paid for 4 round-trip business class tickets to Europe and most of our hotels for our trip over the summer. It can become an obsession!</p>
<p>Trust me, it hardly matters if you have the airline’s “premier” status. My DH is elite with one airline (there is one level above his and 3 or 4 levels below in their “ranking”, not counting all the other masses with no ranking.) He arrived at his flight recently and there were 76 names on the upgrade list (ie people eligible to be upgraded to business/first class). 76!! The whole plane probably didn’t hold many more passengers. Between frequent fliers and people with credit cards that get them airline points and credits, not too many people feel “special” these days. So he gets to walk on a piece of indoor-outdoor carpet when he gets on the plane. Big whoop. </p>
<p>My gripe- if you have 2 carry-ons, don’t put them both in the overhead bin, especially if one , like a backpack, can fit at your feet. We returned recently from an out-of-town wedding, and many of the attendees were all on the same flight back. We got to board first (one of the few perks of that higher status) and watched many other passengers put all sorts of cr*p in the overheads. When the groom’s brother and his wife boarded, there was no room for their roller bag, so they had to gate check their bags. They had his tux and her nice clothes and jewelry and such. You can guess-- bags disappeared and were never to be seen again.</p>
<p>Also- forgot to mention- my DH is comfortable cutting it MUCH closer for flights than I ever will be. Ditto fo my s’s . They all dislike waiting around. They are all engineering/IT types. Maybe this is a trend…</p>
<p>But you don’t even have to be large to make it impossible to step over someone who is sitting, just tall or someone with long legs. My husband is 6 feet and you would have to leap over his knees to get pass him. Same for son who is 5’10". Might not be an issue for a petite woman but it’s really all about the legs, IMO.</p>
<p>On certain flights, elite status doesn’t mean a whole lot because the majority of the plane has elite status. On less elite-heavy flights, particularly those to leisure destinations, it makes a lot of difference. It’s really nice to be able to have priority lines for check-in, security, and boarding. Especially when I have a tight connection, I’ll use the Sky Priority line(s) to bypass the 100+ people in the regular line. If my upgrade doesn’t clear, I still have the advantage of boarding early and knowing that there will be room for my bag.</p>
<p>On certain aircraft configurations, the exit rows and/or bulkheads have plenty of space for a person to get to the window seat without the other passengers needing to get out of their seats.</p>
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<p>I’d just step over his knees. Seriously. Big deal. Better for me (as an average sized woman) to smush myself past a 6 foot guy in the aisle seat to get to my window seat, than for us to engage in the rigamarole of backing up, letting the aisle guy get out, having me put my bag up, having me go in to the window, now aisle guy gets back in, and meanwhile the line is backed down the jetway. I tell people to step over me all the time. It’s quicker!</p>
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<p>Sure - but it’s a nice perk when it clears and you get first class!</p>
<p>I don’t want to advertise United, necessarily, but the Premiere status people get Economy Plus seats, which are pretty good, even if you don’t get an upgrade.</p>
<p>DH has premier status on USAir which is part of the star alliance. We are flying United on part of our trip…we get the FF miles for USAir but DH did NOT get his preferential seating (exit row or equivalent) because it wasn’t USAir. BUT we can still go to the lounge at Dulles instead of hanging around in the airport for 5 hours.</p>
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<p>Not an engineer here but don’t see any point in being any earlier than I have to be 
DH, on the other hand, would be there the day before if he could.</p>
<p>I recently ‘engineered’ an itinerary which involved leaving Paris at 9:15 am on the Eurostar to London St. Pancras station with flight out of Heathrow (opposite end of London from the train station) to Boston at 1.30 pm. Had plenty of time to spare 
(cashing out our Oyster card, return rented phone etc). Full disclosure: we did gain an hour and have Sky Priority access. I nonchalantly informed DH of schedule, after we’d landed in Europe, while discussing how European trains <em>always</em> run on time. He took it better than I though he would.</p>
<p>My record however, which I have no desire to repeat, is waking up at home 45min before my flight departure and still making it on the plane. 2 minute debating in bed whether it was worth trying, 15 minute drive, 5 minutes spent trying to unsuccessfully tape the key to the underside of the car (don’t ask), asking to cut to the front of the security line (only about 5 people in line), and not being the last one on the plane. No shower that morning, though.</p>
<p>That is impressive!
I did once get to the airport having left my license and all other photo ID at home and sweet talked my way onto the flight with a sob story (which was true). This was pre 9-11 though.</p>
<p>DH once made his connection in Frankfurt in less than 15 min. He did not have any time to study the deaprture board, so called me and asked me to look up the gate number for his next flight on the Internet. :eek: Amazingly enough, his bag made it to SEA, too! I guess it is a good thing that bags have to be matched to the passenger :)</p>
<p>If you are departing from a European airport, I would suggest 3+ (even 4) hours early. The only time I’ve had a really easy time of it was flying Air France out of Charles-de-Gaulle in Paris. No lines anywhere, short lines at security. Almost everywhere else, the lines have been huge, chaotic, and slow.</p>
<p>^Yep. Rome (FCO) is particularly chaotic. Three hours prior is pretty much a necessity. And, as you mentioned, several of the other European airports have long, slow lines. Especially in the summer and around holidays.</p>