Last-minute airport tips and tricks

1. Check in for your flight and print your boarding pass on your home computer the night before.

2. Upon your arrival to the airport (especially for a morning flight), skip the departure level. It will be a traffic jam. Remember, you have no baggage to check and you already have your boarding pass. Instead, avoid the people and car traffic and go straight for the arrivals level. First thing in the morning, it’s almost empty (most of the time). Head upstairs and go through security to your gate.

3. Once you arrive at the airport, have your friends or family pick you up at the departure gate. Most other travelers will be downstairs screaming and pushing, hoping against hope that their bags were actually on the same flight they were, and waiting for at least 40 minutes or more for that carousel to start moving.

You, on the contrary, will already be in your car and headed out of the airport. And where will your bags be? At your final destination.

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