Check-in, Security, Baggage Claim and more...

Welcome to the Travelling Kid Essential Airport Walk-Thru - designed to make your trip with your Travelling Family a smoother, perhaps more joyous experience as you navigate airports in this post 9/11 thicket of security.

1. RULE # 1:   PACK YOUR PATIENCE AND BE PREPARED!
   

This is The Travelling Kid motto.  This article will help you prepare. The ‘patience’ part is up to you.  Patience is defined as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset” and comes from the Latin verb pati : to suffer/endure.    ‘Nuff said.

1. RULE # 2:  BETTER EARLY THAN ‘BYE-BYE PLANE’!
   

Need I say more?  My husband and I always have a ‘go-round’ about this.  I’d rather be figuring out how to cool my heels on the other side of check-in and security, than freaking out in a super long line with Jacob whining, ‘Mommy, Mommy’ while pulling my purse as I’m trying to load it onto the x-ray belt. 

You get the picture.  So, I aim at being there a solid three hours in advance for international and two and change for domestic.  This is especially important when you have mileage tickets.  You don’t want them to ‘disappear’ your spots if you are tardy checking in.  So…I am a bit of an early bird and I have no regrets.  My husband stopped complaining about my early bird obsession after a trip to Europe.  That fateful day...as we arrived at the airport my husband discovered that he had forgotten his passport at home!  With the aid of my mom who met us halfway, we had time to retrieve it and we still made our plane. Barely. 

I repeat: better early than bye-bye plane.

1. CHECK-IN: 
   

Remember: you are prepared and you are patient.  And you are smiling.  Let’s face it – being behind the counter at the airport is practically a thankless job these days.  A sunny disposition can win friends and influence among the staff at the airport.  Think of them as your allies.  They hold the power.  They are the masters of their domain.  Do not abuse them.  I have had miraculous upgrades appear, gotten good seats, etc. just by being nice.  Even if you don’t ‘get’ anything you will at least have a pleasant time.

1. Be Prepared:
   

Keep stuff handy-dandy!

I travel with one of those ticket jacket things that you hang around your neck.  It keeps my tix, passport/driver’s license and other important bits handy and keeps my hands free for holding tiny hands, schlepping luggage and wiping noses.  It also keeps stuff all very safe and in one place.  Let’s face it.  Travelling with kids can be distracting and the last thing you need is for your important papers to go missing when a small one insists that you ‘look at that silver jet’ or ‘look that red balloon’…NOW!   I love the ticket jacket I have  - it has open pockets in the front for easy access to docs when you need them and a secure zipper compartment in the back for sequestering them when you don’t.  The ticket jacket is made by Travelon.  No matter which one you end up buying, make sure you get one long enough to hold tickets.  I made the mistake of first buying a shorter one.  No good.

Jacob has his own ‘ticket jacket’ (the shorter one that I don’t use).  Inside I put a Xerox of his passport and my driver’s license with my name contact info including my cellphone scribbled across the passport copy.  

I also travel with 2 copies (one in checked and one in carry-on) of all other important papers. (See my ‘WHAT TO TAKE’ article).  I put these in a clear plastic file folder that semi-seals.  You can get them at Staples.  Having all the important stuff in one place in the carry-on is very convenient. 

1. LUGGAGE:
   

1. ★If you are travelling solo: you will need to be able to fit all your stuff on a cart so you can watch your kid (s) in line and not be pulling and juggling a bazillion bits and pieces like some crazy gypsy.
   

1. ★If you are travelling with someone else: teamwork is the word.  One person should stand in line and the other should amuse the young ones within earshot so that when the cup needs to match the saucer (documents matching id) the person behind the counter can see all the travelers. 
   

1. ★BEFORE you put that luggage on the scales to check them – just do the following double check:
   

1.Make sure they are all properly tagged.  (See my ‘WHAT TO TAKE’ article)

2.Make sure they are all properly secured (zippers zipped, etc.)

3.Watch them being tagged and then CHECK YOUR STUBS that the staff neatly tucks away into your ticket envelope.  If you’re going to PARIS make sure the luggage has not been tagged to, let’s say, ISTANBUL.  People make mistakes sometimes.

4.IF you are checking the stroller at this point - make sure it is secured and tagged properly with your id and itinerary.  If you are keeping it until boarding, ask for a ‘gate check tag’.  If you have a tight connection I suggest checking the stroller.  If you have a long connection you will need the stroller for the other airport.  For more details see my “WHAT TO TAKE” article.

1. ONLINE CHECK IN:  SKIP A LINE...ANY LINE:
   

1. BE PREPARED for little regional glitches that can add mucho time to your check in.  For example, in Hawaii they have SERIOUS lines for agriculture check sometimes.  You have to take your bags and clear them with agriculture before you check them.  It’s a double line situation and can REALLY increase your check in time.  Another example is airport taxes.  Some airports make you buy a little ticket kind of thing and you can’t get to the departures area without it.  Some airports have LONG bus rides to your plane and therefore require you to be at the gate MUCH earlier than a normal ‘just get on the jetway’ situation.  So, do your homework and see if the airport/airline has special procedures that can add time to your check in.
   

1. BOARDING PASSES: Request and double check that you have boarding passes for your entire journey if you are changing planes so that you don’t have to stand in line and get boarding passes at the next airport.  This will only work domestically in most cases.  If your connection is in Europe you might need to get boarding passes there.  Check the seats to make sure they are together.  Hopefully you will have gotten your seat assignments in advance and will have checked a site like www.seatguru.com to make sure that the seats suit your family’s needs. 
   

1. ONE LAST NOTE:  OK.  Now, just after the friendly check-in person is through checking you in – step aside and do a ‘double check’. 
   

Take a moment and check to:

•Make sure that you have all the luggage stubs. If you have checked 3 bags – make sure you have 3 stubs.  Make sure the stubs have YOUR destination on them.

•Make sure that you have all your tickets back and that the agent pulled the right flight coupon.  It is rare – but sometimes the agent can accidentally pull the wrong ticket coupon – which would be a big problem for you later in the trip.  If you have an e-ticket this is not a problem.  Just make sure you have your e-ticket receipt. 

•Make sure that you check your boarding passes and seat assignments.

•Make sure that you have all the passports/ids back.

Now take one more moment to secure all the important papers into your groovy little ticket jacket.  Now you can head for:

1. SECURITY :
   

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

Walk shoe-less and don’t carry a big stick…or anything that could pass for a threatening object or raise the suspicion or ire of the gatekeeper…aka the Security Personnel.  They have a thankless job and get paid poorly.  Don’t piss them off.  Be organized and do your homework.  Go to www.tsa.gov  for information about what you can and cannot carry-on.  You can also get some tips and pointers from my TSA REGULATIONS article.  In addition, most foreign airports have websites that will update you on their procedures and regulations. 

The Travelling Kid Motto: ‘Pack Your Patience and Be Prepared’ is in full force here.  If you kind of know what to expect you will have a better time of it.  Putting bags and strollers through and then getting kids and selves through takes a little choreography. 

1. •Make sure you have your boarding passes and id at the ready.  They will want to see everything.  This is where my handy-dandy ‘necklace’ ticket jacket comes in. 
   

1. •If you are travelling with your partner or someone else, have your teamwork in place.  Decide who is going to deal with the kid (s) and who is going to deal with the bags going through the x-ray.  Each member of the team needs to be ‘on’ so that kids and bags don’t go missing. 
   

1. •‘Babes in Arms’: If you are travelling with a stroller – get the child out and collapse the stroller and put the stroller through first. (See my stroller suggestions in my ‘WHAT TO TAKE’ article)
   

1. •If you are travelling solo – put the stroller and bags on first – except a purse or laptop.  Have the purse or laptop completely at the ready…(i.e. a laptop needs to be out of its case and they might make you turn it on.)  Make sure the purse is not strapped across your body.   Let your child go through to the waiting security person who may decide to pat your kid down. No joke.  This happened in the Munich airport and my son fell down on the ground in a pile…shrieking his lungs out.  So…if your child is old enough to understand…warn your child that this might happen and that you are there and bla bla.  Next put your purse or laptop through – keeping your eye on your child.  Next you will go through…keeping your eye on your child the whole time, talking to them.  Once you’ve been patted down, taken your shoes off, whatever…take a moment to calmly get your child out of the way, safe and then take the bags off – valuables first (purse and/or laptop) Take a moment to gather your wits and your bits and then move onto the gate or lounge.
   

Here are the things that the security personnel might ask you to do:

•Take your shoes or belt off

•Open your bag (s)

•Open the stroller for hand inspection

•Pat you down

•Pat your child down and/or inspect your child’s stuffed toys (so you need to warn a sensitive child that this may happen)

As long as you know that, it will be a bit easier.  In all cases keep an eye on your child.  I actually have asked the security personnel if I may please secure my child in the stroller before I open my bag.  They are usually amenable.

In all cases, be prepared for hefty lines. A handy TSA web link that lists average wait times in the US is:  http//:waittime.tsa.dhs.gov/index.html. 

1. WAITING:  or THE ART OF AIRPORT SURFING
   

If you’re lucky, you will be waiting on the other side of security as opposed to running at break-neck speed in an attempt to catch your plane.  You need to learn to love airports. 

Airport waiting is a sort of sport and a skill all rolled into one.  Let’s call it ‘Airport Surfing’. If you can learn the ‘Zen’ of this sport you will have happier travels.  Surfers sometimes have to just sit on their board, waiting for a wave to take – but it’s part of the sport.  While waiting for a plane you kind of have to go with the flow and it doesn’t have to be boring.  So, do as a surfer does and enjoy the scenery, kick back and ride the waves. Airports are little mini-worlds and each has something to offer.  Well, not all of them.  Some can be downright bare-bones – but the big major ones can be fun.

1. DO YOUR HOMEWORK:  most airports have a web site with maps, amenities, lounges, observation decks, hotels with pools, playgrounds, etc.  Yes…playgrounds.  Munich airport among others – has a playground for kids. 
   

Depending on how much time you have…doing a little pre-airport surfing reconnaissance is a good idea.  You will be surprised what some airports have to offer.  The Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has a fine art museum and a casino! (When you travel without your travelling kid you can try the casino.)  If you have a TON of time to kill on a layover….say 10 hours…you may want to check to see if there is an attached airport hotel with a pool and spa.  Some airports are just minutes from the center of town and you can ride a train into town and have lunch. If none of these things appeal to you, throw money at the problem and go to a lounge.  Even if you are not a member of that particular club, many will allow you to purchase a day pass. (Check out this excellent article on lounges: http://www.latimes.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=If+the+noisy+wait+at+the+airort+is+getting+to+you%2C+join+the+club&target=travel)

You will be much happier if you know what the options are before you go.  Even if you haven’t done your homework – every airport can be ‘surfed’ with kids.  Make up games like ‘count the green shirts’ or find a blue airplane.  Look at it as an adventure and an extension of your vacation and you will be happier for sure. 

Doing your homework can also save you headaches and keep you from missing a flight.  For example, FRANKFURT airport is SO big and the distance from one terminal to another is SO far, that people who work there get around on little bicycles.  If you don’t know that in advance you could miss your flight.  Cowabunga!

1. PRE-BOARDING:  or Somebody MUST Love Us
   

1. NOTE:  some airlines do not have a pre-boarding policy.  So ask before you go.  If they don’t have a pre-boarding policy then either line up early or be the last ones on.  Sometimes if you are nice to the gate agent and ask if there is pre-boarding and what is ‘their’ suggestion they may take pity on you and let you in the front of the line. 
   

If you are travelling with someone…divide and conquer.  One person on luggage and the other on the kid (s).  In all cases, pre-think it all and you will be a happier person for it.  Choreograph your strategy in advance.  This is even more important if you are flying solo with your travelling kid.  I prep Jacob.  “We’re going to go down the ramp. Mommy is going to fold the stroller.  You stay with me.  Then we give the person the ticket.  Then we find our seat.  OKAY?  GREAT!…let’s go!”

You get the idea.

In general, for kids of all ages – not knowing what is going on in advance creates the likelihood of a meltdown and including them makes them feel important and happy.

One more tip.  Put your luggage in the bin in FRONT of you as opposed to BEHIND you.  When the plane lands you will have no chance of accessing that bin behind you against the stampede of people trying to exit the plane.  It’s like running against the bulls at Pamplona.

1. WAITING FOR GODOT AND YOUR GATE CHECKED STROLLER:  Those of you familiar with the GODOT existential play know what I’m talkin’ about.  Don’t bother rushing off the plane if you have gate checked a stroller, ‘cuz it ain’t comin’ fer a while.  Just know that 99% of the time it actually will come and 50% of the time you may have to ask someone about it.  In a foreign country you will need to ask the airline staff before you get off the plane where the stroller is likely to come out.  Sometimes the stroller arrives just outside the door of the airplane.  Sometimes it arrives at a little elevator at the end of the jetway.  Sometimes (in places where you have to ride a little bus to get to the terminal) you may have to wait on the tarmac.  In Krakow, they had to hold the entire busload of people up until we got our stroller off the plane.  In London, I sat with my son and another family LONG after all the flight attendants AND the pilots had exited the plane.  In Athens they send strollers to baggage claim.  Go figure.
   

1. BAGGAGE CLAIM: The land of the lost bags.

   

   
   

If you thought exiting the plane was bad…you will never encounter herd mentality like this anywhere else but at Baggage Claim.  Everyone is completely knackered, mouths tasting like the inside of an old ashtray in a cheap bar. And…oh goody.  Now you get to wait for your bags. 

Here are some tips:

1. Divide and conquer. If you are lucky enough to be travelling with another adult – divide up kids and bags.

2. Look for the right carousel. Make sure that you just don’t follow the crowd.  I have already made this mistake for you and am here to advise you - so that you do not stand staring mindlessly at a revolving belt that has zero chance of delivering your bag to you.  Take a moment and look for WHICH carousel has the bags for YOUR flight.  There are usually little TVs with the info of all the arrivals and their corresponding belt numbers.  Some of the carousels just have the name of the flight on the belt itself.  The biggest crowd isn’t necessarily your crowd since you probably are the last ones to get there because you are travelling with a travelling kid. (and p.s. probably had to wait for a stroller)

3. Stand downstream. Most people gather like a cluster of fish at feeding time at the mouth of the carousel where the bags drop onto the belt.  Stand just a bit ‘downstream’ and your bag will come to you and you will have a little more elbowroom to yank those puppies off.  

1. NOTE:  your stroller and any other ‘strange’ objects that you may have brought with you that do not resemble regular old luggage – may come out at a DIFFERENT place….possibly far from the luggage carousel.  At Los Angeles Airport, these items come via a mysterious elevator and they fling the things onto the floor in the general vicinity of the elevator doors…and mind you…this area is not marked.  Just mysterious.  The RIO airport has a separate little room and we were lucky enough to be with someone who speaks Portuguese to uncover this little treasure of a secret.  So, don’t just stand around looking for something that may not arrive.  If your ‘odd’ item seems to have gone missing, it may actually just be in some baggage claim version of Siberia.   Speaking of lost luggage…
   

1. LOST LUGGAGE:  Alack and alas…things do go missing sometimes. This is the moment where my suggestions for tagging your luggage with your itinerary will make sense to you.  (See my article: WHAT TO TAKE) Also marking your bags and placing the itinerary both inside and out will also make sense to you now.  Why?  Because your bag or stroller is in the ethers somewhere and the goal is for you to be reunited with your stuff sometime before you return home.  Making sure the item is well marked is important.  Think of your average baggage handler, how much they get paid and multiply that by ‘how much they care’.  You get the idea.  Our stroller went missing at Charles De Gaulle in Paris – but it was delivered three days later to our hotel.  Our mobiles and the address and phone number of the hotel were clearly typed onto our little itinerary tag on the stroller handle. 
   

Make sure you deal with lost luggage issues before you exit the premises.  MOST lost luggage counters are located before you exit the baggage claim area.  Not all, but MOST.  So – don’t just blithely amble on because they may not let you re-enter the area.  Sometimes (if you ask) ‘they’ will issue you some compensation to buy clothes or toiletries.  You can try – don’t expect it – but try.

1. CUSTOMS/PASSPORT CONTROL: 
   

Thought you were home free, eh?  Now you must exit the airport.  If you are travelling internationally this means customs and passport control.  Look for the GREEN sign.  You can usually breeze through Customs by going through the ‘Nothing to Declare’ place.  Sometimes they pull you over, but not usually.

Passport Control can be fun.  My son gets ‘pumped’ about Passport Control. He loves the ‘CHING-CHING!’ of the stamp and wants to see the guy doin’ it.  Talking about this momentous event while waiting in line and then having it happen sort of paves the way for a smooth entry/exit.  It also seems to win the hearts of the passport agent every time.

1. YOU’VE ARRIVED! Congrats.  You have effectively navigated the departure and arrivals areas.  Now it’s time to get to your final destination and perhaps visit an ATM to get local currency if you are travelling abroad. 
   

1. Try to go to an ATM right away and get some cash, unless you already have some.
   

1. Now you will get a taxi, rent a car, catch a train, have someone pick you up, take a bus or…my favorite…be met at the exit of Baggage Claim or Customs by a man with a little sign that has your name on it.  Sigh.
   

1. EXIT STRATEGY:
   

Do yourself a favor and REALLY, REALLY, REALLY know what your ‘exit strategy’ is going to be before you arrive. 

1. If you rent a car:  make sure you know HOW to get the car.  Some places are on site and some require a bus ride to the location.  MAKE SURE you have requested a car seat if you are not bringing your own and make sure you have proof of that. 
   

1. If you take a taxi:  make sure you have local currency. Make sure you have the correct address (in the local language if you are travelling abroad someplace like Japan or Greece where they use different characters) of where you are going WITH the phone number.  Make sure it is handy and NOT in your bag which is now in the bottom of the trunk under the stroller - which is now secured in a spider’s web of bungee cords.  If there is a language barrier or if the cabbie doesn’t know where your destination is - you can dial the place on your mobile and hand the phone to the taxi driver to get the directions from the people at your destination.  (Yes, you should have a mobile and if you don’t know anything about cellular service abroad go to: www.cellularabroad.com and fill yourself in)
   

1. If you catch a train:  familiarize yourself about the location and timetable.  For example if you are arriving at 4:00 AM (don’t laugh…many planes at Athens Airport for example, arrive then) make sure the trains are running or you may be sitting in the airport and watching the sunrise.  Also ‘do the math’.  Will 4 train fares be as much as a man with a little sign escorting you to a private car?
   

Do the math.

1. If you catch a bus:  ditto
   

1. If you have someone picking you up:  Make sure you talk about where they will be meeting you.  Have their cell numbers and/or a back up plan.  Airports are little jungles at best and trying to find someone can be a nightmare. 
   

1. If you are being met at the exit of Baggage Claim or Customs by a man with a little sign that has your name on it:  Ask in advance where they will be meeting you.  Ask for a cell contact and/or make sure you have the name and number of the car service with you in your handy-dandy ticket jacket so that you are not rummaging around looking for it while trying to manage simultaneous luggage hauling and whining.  Also make sure you DON’T do the dumb thing I did.  I accidentally gave the car service the wrong day.  I departed for London on April 23rd and when I ordered the car I emailed them that I was arriving April 23rd.   DUH.  I left on the 23rd, but arrived the 24th. 
   

My advice is: don’t do that.

As you can see, I’ve made many a mistake that I hope that you will learn from and I also have made some good choices that I hope you will benefit from.  

This concludes our little airport walk-thru.  Now…

Go forth and travel!

Here are a few good links to track airport delays:

www.aerochannel.com

www.aero2go.com

www.flightstats.com