Many people hate air travel. It's expensive, complicated, and a lot of work. Worst of all, it's uncomfortable.
With a few simple tricks, the whole experience can become a lot more pleasant. When you are waiting for a flight, the best place to be is the airline's lounge. At most major airports, the major airlines have their own VIP lounges. My personal favorite is the TWA Ambassador Lounge, where you get free snacks, a bar, and satellite TV.
Of course, to get into the lounges, you need to be a member: either by paying a lot of money or taking a lot of flights on their airline. Of course, there are ways around this.
Tour groups often give out single-day passes to the people in their group so they can wait comfortably. If you see a group of people standing by one of the lounges, work your way into the group and get a pass. If you can't get a pass, find out the name of the group, and tell the lounge's secretary that you are with them, and she'll usually let you in.
If none of the above techniques work, there is one more thing you can try. If you go to the airlines ticket counter and tell the person working there that you have a long wait, and ask if you can have a pass. If you are dressed nicely, they will usually give it to you.
Being nicely dressed can also get you into first class. One of the many complaints people have about air travel is that the planes are often overbooked. What they don�t know is how the airlines deal with it.
First class is almost never overbooked. The first thing the airline does is to start moving people up to make room in coach. They don�t want first class to look grungy; they pick people who are nicely dressed, like they�re going to a business meeting.
I�ve talked to some stewardesses and airline reps, and I found the reason behind this. The nicely dressed people are usually the ones who paid full price for their ticket (accounting departments don�t like to deal with discount plans). I�ve also learned that it helps if you complain to the ticketing people about how much you paid for your flight. The last thing they want is an unhappy customer.
If you remember the tips I�ve discussed, air travel should become a lot more pleasant for you. An important thing to remember is that the things you don�t think you could get away with, like walking away without paying your bar-tab, work surprisingly often.