Airports can be a stressful experience, even for the most frequent traveler. Find out how you can make your next trip a breeze.
Having a stressful experience at the airport can often ruin the start of a holiday or negatively impact your business trip.
Being prepared for a smooth airport experience means booking a Blacklane chauffeur to drive you to the airport in plenty of time.
When you download the Blacklane app, you can schedule a ride and rest easy knowing your airport transfer is in the hands of our professional and on-time chauffeurs.
Airport transfers come with one hour of complimentary wait time. If you provide your flight number when booking, your chauffeur will be able to track your arrival time and adjust your pickup time for any delays and early arrivals.
With your airport transfers sorted, there’s a few other ways to make sure your airport experience is smooth sailing.
Pack light
The golden rule for any trip is to pack light. There’s a reason frequent flyers often don’t check luggage – it saves time at the airport and takes the stress out of worrying if your luggage got on the same flight as you.
Travel expert Johnny Jet recommends wearing your bulky clothes and only packing enough clothes for a week at most. Hotels or on-demand laundry services can be helpful here for multi-week stays.
Storing laptops and liquids in separate compartments in your bag means you can also make security screenings quick and easy, without having to pull out the entire contents of your luggage.
It’s also worth packing portable chargers for your devices to make sure you’re fully charged and ready to go once you land at your destination.
Check in online
Most airlines have an app that provides updates to your fight and helpful information to make your experience easier at the airport.
You can often also check-in online ahead of time, saving you time at the check-in desk at the airport, especially if you’ve got no luggage to check in.
Arrive at the airport with plenty of time
One of the best ways to start a trip stress-free is to leave yourself plenty of time at the airport.
Pre-flight guidance typically says to arrive two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights, but the pandemic has impacted the pre-flight behaviors of travelers around the world.
Take a look at our recent white paper, which shows what time travelers typically get to the airport across 35 countries, to get a better idea of how early you might want to arrive.
Shorten wait times
Security screenings and passport checks can often add extra time on to your airport experience. That’s why having a few apps to speed up the process can help.
If you want to move faster through American and European airports, there’s a few ways you can do so. Most apps require an interview process or application prior to your airport visit, which will then help you expedite entry into your destination.
Relax in a lounge
When all you have left to do is wait for your flight, securing a spot in a preferred airport lounge will help you to relax.
Airport lounges can come with plenty of perks, including meals, quiet spaces, and fitness facilities, making them the perfect place to refresh on a layover.
Access to airport lounges is varied – flying first or business-class can often secure you a spot, or if you fly frequently, it might be worth signing up for a year-long membership.
