Long haul flights can be a bit of a love/hate thing. For some, they relish the chance to be able to sit down for eight hours straight, to read or watch movies. For others, they hate the fact that they have to be sat and the whole flight might make them nervous. But there are a quite a few factors that can make or break the experience that you have. Do you know the airline? What kind of meal plans and entertainment are available? So here are some things to avoid when you are thinking of planning your next long haul trip.
Avoid Judging the Flight By Price Alone
When you hit search to look for flights, the prices that come up can be a little scary, depending when you want to go. It can be easy to just pick the cheapest without any other considerations. One thing to do is to break down the flight into hours. Would you mind paying an extra $5 per hour on a ten hour flight, when a slightly more expensive airline would do things better? They might have better entertainment, seating choices and food. So those kinds of things are good to consider. Don’t just make an instant decision because of price. Using a flight scanner like https://www.skyscanner.net is a good way to look for flights.
Don’t Ignore the Flight Times
Like with the prices above, you might just have a glance and choose the cheapest. Be sure to check what the actual flight times are. Long haul flights are one of the most physically demanding of your trip. You don’t want to get the timings wrong. Otherwise you will be exhausted by the time that you get to your destination. Think practically about the timings of flights and what might work best for you, particularly if you have children.
Don’t Forget Your Paperwork
When you are flying long haul, you will be going internationally. So you need to make sure that you have the right paperwork that you will need for that country. If you don’t have it all in place, you could just be sent right back on another long haul flight! If you are coming over the to US, for example, then you would need to apply for an ESTA visa waiver before you fly. You’d also need a homeland security form that you would get on the plane. You can apply for an ESTA, somewhere like https://www.official-esta.com.
Don’t Ignore Connections
Getting to some destinations will involve you having a connecting flight. While this is a given for many places, make sure you look carefully at the connection. Will you have enough time to make your flight? Or will you be waiting around for hours? You have got to think about time of day too. If your connection will be for a few hours in the middle of the night, there will be very few stores open. So it would be harder to get food, drink and a magazine, for example. Just something to consider before deciding to book your flights.