Traveling is definitely fun and exciting, but sometimes it can be a drag, especially the airport and in-flight experience. Luckily there are some straight forward steps that you can take right now to significantly improve your travels! In a nutshell here’s what you need to do:
- Get TSA pre-check (preferably Global Entry)
- Get a multi-airport lounge pass (e.g., Priority Pass, Lounge Pass, etc. )
- Get status with an airline (and fly first class preferably)
Now of course flying first class will definitely improve your entire travel experience straight up.Once you fly first class, you’ll never want to go back to coach. But that can get really expensive really quick. On a future post we’ll discuss way to fly first class for less and some cases free. However, right now we’ll focus on what you can do today, right now to improve your traveling.
So first things first, you should absolutely look into getting TSA pre-check (if you travel within the U.S.) and Global Entry if you like to explore all over the world. What this does is basically accelerates the time it takes for you to go through airport security screening when flying within the United Sates and expedites the border/customs process when you return from an out of country adventure. There are reasonable registration fees involved and once you’ve been screened and granted access, you’ll enjoy numerous security check-in benefits for 5 years, at which you’ll have to re-new/re-apply again.
Now that you’ve zoomed through security, the next step is to determine how and where you’ll spend your time waiting for your flight. This is where airport lounges come in. There are several options to choose from, some more exclusive and luxurious than others. Some are offered through credit cards (e.g., Centurion Lounge x American Express, Priority Pass x Sapphire Reserve) and some you have to pay for out of pocket. I haven’t personally tried all of the options out there, but I have zenned out at Priority Pass lounges, United Lounges, & Star Alliance lounges. As a beginning traveler, I definitely recommend Priority Pass because of the number of networks it has, the fact that they serve more “real food/meals” compared to United for example (that tends to serve light refreshments and snacks – even though there are some exceptions like ORD) and that it’s easier to get membership for Priority Pass than Star Alliance (where for the most part you’d need to have Gold+ status with them).
There are other and more intricate ways to enhance your flying experience that we didn’t discuss. But a basic minimum level, following the 3 steps listed above, will definitely get you going in the right direction!