From booking the last flight of the day to checking bags, a former airline worker has highlighted various mistakes to avoid on your travels.
The tips were revealed in a post shared on Instagram by Megan Homme (@meganhomme), a 29-year-old full-time travel content creator based in Chicago, Illinois. Homme previously ran social media channels for United Airlines, she told Newsweek. The clip has garnered 1.6 million views since it was shared on October 14 last year.
She said in the clip: "I worked for an airline for four years and here are some things I would never do as a former airline employee."
"Most of these tips have been learned through personal experience. I've lost bags, missed connections, just about everything you can think of," Homme noted, sharing some additional tips with Newsweek.
The viral post comes as total passenger demand for air travel was found to be up 8.1 percent in November 2024, compared with the same month in 2023, according to a January report by the International Air Transport Association.
The November 2024 load factor—the percentage of available seats an airline sells on its flights—was reported to be at 83.4 percent, marking an all-time high for November, the IATA said.
Here, we unpack the things a former airline employee would never do on her travels.
Booking the Last Flight of the Day
Homme advised against booking the last flight of the day. "If you book the last flight, you're not going to have many options if you need to get to your destination. If you book an earlier flight, you'll potentially have a lot more ways to still get to where you need to go," she said.
Passengers should consider flying a day earlier "if there's somewhere you absolutely need to be," as "this will give you some leeway in case of any cancellations or delays."
Travel Without Budgeting for 'the Unexpected'
Homme said you should never plan a trip without having extra funds for "the unexpected," such as an additional night at a hotel due to a flight change.
She said, "If you have a flight cancellation due to weather and you need an extra night at a hotel, airlines usually cannot accommodate weather-related issues, so you will be stuck booking a hotel on your own."
According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), "airlines are required to adhere to the promises that they make in their customer service plan, including commitments to care for customers in the event of controllable delays or cancellations" and the DOT "will hold airlines accountable if they fail to do so."
A controllable flight cancellation or delay is "essentially a delay or cancellation caused by the airline," such as maintenance or crew problems, cabin cleaning, baggage loading and fueling, the DOT states.
The DOT states, "If your flight is experiencing a long delay or is cancelled, ask airline staff if they will pay for meals or a hotel room or compensate you for your time. While some airlines offer these amenities to passengers, others may not provide amenities to stranded passengers."
Book Flights via a Third Party Company
Homme said that she'd "never book a flight anywhere other than directly with the airline on [its] website or app."
If something goes wrong during your travels and your flight was not booked directly with the airline, its "customer service is not going to be able to help you," she said.
Book a Flight With the Shortest Layover
She also warned "never book the shortest layover" in the viral clip. For example, if you have the option of taking a flight with either a 45-minute layover or a two-hour layover, Homme advises choosing the longer layover. "It's pretty common for flights to get delayed like 10, 15 minutes and if you picked that shorter layover, you're probably gonna be out of luck," she said in the post.
Seek Help From Customer Service at the Airport
Homme said if her flight gets cancelled while she's at the airport, she wouldn't join the customer service line at the airport. The former airline employee would instead "immediately call the airline's customer service" on her phone, she said in the post, as she'd be "helped way before all the customers standing in line to talk to someone at the airport."
Check Any Bags
Homme would "never check a bag unless it was absolutely necessary," especially if she had a connecting flight.
The former airline worker doesn't check her bags "because the best way to keep from losing your bag is keeping it with you at all times," she noted in the clip. "So, I just prefer to save myself from the headache and packing light is, honestly, pretty simple once you learn how to do it," Homme said.
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