Out of Office: 10 Simple, Slightly Quirky Ways to Make Travel Less Irritating

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers and members share their business travel advice and stories from life on the road. Read all the posts here.

All of us are, by turns, scared, horrified, and saddened by any true travel or transportation disaster. Whether human, machine, or naturally occurring cause, it puts petty complaints in a far different category.

Recent events have been a sharp reminder.

So, rather than share outrage over my latest travel “disaster,” even as I sit on the LaGuardia tarmac — actually writing this on a second aircraft sent to a different gate after we had boarded the first one, shut the door, backed out from the jet bridge, and then the flight crew noticed something wrong with the equipment — I thought I’d share some of the simpler tricks of the travel trade.

The toughest part of flying for me is not the delays, bad food, fatigue, stress of being un-wired, overcoming my case of slight claustrophobia, or anything else. It’s the lack of control. Most of us, souped-up, ambitious, hurried, harried work folk are rarely in a situation where we give up as much control over the outcome of a situation as we do when we travel. There’s almost no part of the trip that we can actually have sway over — from weather, to a car service showing up when you told it to, to traffic, to the plane taking off and landing when it is supposed to, to the length of bathroom lines or the strength of a Wi-Fi signal, to the availability of an outlet. Most of what makes a trip “better” or “worse” is when those things over which we have no authority don’t rear their ugly heads and remind us of just how little power we have over this part of our lives.

So, whether you’re a frequent business or leisure traveler, here are some simple — and slightly weird, I admit — things that make my travel slightly less…(you pick the adjective) irritating, grueling, inconvenient, at times even heinous.

See what you think!

1) Download the App. Whether it’s for the specific airline you are flying (American, United, Virgin, etc) or a comprehensive airport and flight tracker (FlightTrack, Gate Guru, etc), each of them gives you information that is quick and easy (is my flight canceled? on time? Did the gate change? What’s the weather/what do I need to pack? Is there Japanese food at this terminal?). And that information allows you to have a bit more of a command of the situation from start to finish, which gives you a better ability to manage not only your valuable time, but your expectations.

2) Take a screenshot of the electronic boarding pass on your phone, as soon as it’s downloaded. That way, you don’t have to have a Wi-Fi connection, you don’t have to search for it in your ever-more-crowded email, you won’t have to wonder about that iPhone “Passbook” app that never turned out to be all it was cracked to be. Once you snap the screenshot, it’s just right at the top of your camera roll, and yes, in my experience the scanner works fine on the photo of the bar code.

3) Get qualified for TSA PreCheck. This is the thing that allows you to go to the alternative security line and, simply, put your bags on the conveyor belt and walk through the screening machine. No removal of toiletries, laptop, phone, shoes, belt, jackets, or anything else. Here’s the bad news: I have no idea how I was selected for it, so if you haven’t been already, just search “TSA PreCheck” and you’ll see a ton of links. Unfortunately, there are still a ton of inconsistencies across different airlines, different airports, and even in different areas of the same airport. When it’s set up, however, I’ve never been so grateful for something that feels like 1998.

4) Dress the Part. You don’t have to be in a power suit and tie or uncomfortable shoes before you board an overnight flight to London, but I’ve found that, in general, neatness counts. The more like a business traveler who has a place to go and a reason to need to get on the plane, the better you’re treated, whether in a line at the check-in counter or on the plane. And, even in first or business, my firm (100% non-scientific) belief is that a lot of “upgrade profiling” goes on. If you look like you bought the cheapest ticket in the world and cashed out every mile you had to get into that biz class seat, you get treated less well by the flight crew. I’d like to think that each customer gets treated the same — yes, everyone gets asked if they want a beverage or some nuts — but I’ve seen evidence to the contrary. Besides, anything you can do to soften the sometime sharp edges of a somewhat undignified process called commercial air travel, why not do it? Failing that, just trust me that you should always follow the cardinal fashion rule of airline travel: No sweatpants.

5) Be Nice. This is sometimes hard to keep in mind in the heat of the moment, but no matter how stressful the situation, we’ve learned by now that the Baldwin-esque tantrum or the old-school “I don’t think you know who I am!” approach just doesn’t work. So approach the counter with ease, confidence, and turn to the employee for help, not a fight.

On a related note: I believe that there are employees who are better and worse at their jobs, in every industry and at every level. Nowhere is it more apparent than when dealing with an airline employee. Whether you’re in a long line at the airport, or calling an 800-number, you can quickly get a sense of whether the person with your travel-life in her/his hands is merely (or barely) competent or is a superior employee whose mission in life seems to be to get you with the best price, best use of frequent-flier miles, that killer upgrade, or simply the best seat. I have, on several occasions, simply taken “no” for an answer, called right back, and gotten the help I need. And, if you have an extra two minutes and are given the opportunity, fill out the survey that recognizes the helpful and uber-competent employee. Maybe it will help keep them super-motivated!

6) Bring an old-to-new iPhone/iPad adapter, no matter what model you have. Why? The alarm clock/radio/speaker systems like iHome or Sonos in most hotel rooms are usually pretty good, just outfitted for the old 30-pin input. If you have the adapter, you can listen to your playlists, podcasts, Spotify, or streaming NPR as you unpack, or do your email.

7) An oldie but a goodie: buy your food in the airport, don’t assume it’ll be good on the plane. Even in business or first where it’s become de rigeur to tout the culinary expertise of a Top Chef, I’d almost always rather have a salad or sandwich or snack of my choosing rather than an omelet that looks to have been rolled out and filled on a football field or a something-or-other-crusted chicken breast that I don’t need to know the ingredients of. Ever.

8) Don’t toss your boarding pass even after you’ve boarded your plane. I have had several recent experiences where, on-board and door closed, some problem has arisen and we’ve “de-planed.” Whether you ultimately get back on the same plane or re-board a different flight with a different model equipment, you’ll need it. You really won’t want to stand on another line at the new gate to hassle around to reprint a new one if you don’t have to.

9) Uber. If you work for a corporation that provides a schedulable, direct-to-company billed black car service, by all means, take it! It’s still the most certain way to know when and how you’re going to and from the airport. But, compared to an airport taxi, most of the time the Uber price is comparable, the line/wait is shorter, and the driver and vehicle more professional. It’s really cool, the ultimate in controlling a situation you have no control over, as you’ll see when you download the app and watch the driver, whose name you will know, whose car you can identify, whose distance to you you can track, whose receipt is delivered to you instantaneously. Downside: yes, sometimes there are no Uber cars available and worse, the price gouging (sorry, I mean the ultra algorithmic “surge pricing” that the company touts) is not a good thing. But if it’s not in effect, Uber is totally worth it.

10) One last, kind of quirky, tip: Bring a Roll of Black Paper Tape — OK, this one might definitely just be a me thing. I find that I never know when a bad mattress, bad thermostat, bad smell, bad noise, bad jet lag, bad stress, or anything else is going to threaten a decent night’s sleep. But one thing I’ve noticed that is consistently on the rise is the number of electronics and gadgets in a room. From too-bright LED clocks, to blinking red lights on TVs, DVRs, sensors, audio systems, dimmer lights, window shade controls, inside-the-door controls for maid service or do not disturb notifications, the barrage of just-when-I-turn-out-the-light-I-notice-them blips of light can drive me crazy. Black paper tape, a staple of any film or TV set that I cut my career teeth on (it’s like masking tape, but black) can really save the day. It basically lives in my travel-bag and comes out on nearly every trip. It masks light completely and doesn’t leave any residue for the hotel chamber maids to deal with. If you ever see it in one of your hotel rooms and wonder why your clock-radio numbers are blacked out, I apologize in advance — sometimes I just forget to unmask them.

BONUS TIP!

Study after study says that consuming alcohol before or on a flight interferes with time zone acclimation, dehydrates you, and generally makes you less sharp when you land. My time-tested and ultra-non-scientific advice — forget it! If you have time, grab a good micro-brew at whatever airport bar there is, don’t waste your time with frustrating and inconsistent Wi-Fi signal on the plane, and enjoy the ride.