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10 Smart Travel Tips for Families

Insure Your Airport Experiences Are Quick and Easy

A very busy summer air travel season is forecast, as rising gas prices send many families to their destinations by plane this year. Full flights are anticipated, making planning ahead essential.



1. Make plane reservations as soon as possible to lock in current inexpensive fares. As fuel prices increase, airfares will also.

2. Select seats when you make the reservation - this is the only way to ensure that you will be seated together. Waiting until you arrive at the airport will scatter each of your family members throughout the plane, or will require asking other passengers to accommodate you by moving seats when they are trying to get settled themselves.

3. Print boarding passes before leaving for the airport. This option is generally available 24 hours in advance of the flight and will save standing in a check-in line at the airport.

4. Pack light. Many airlines are charging $25 each way for a second checked bag (most still allow one checked bag at no additional charge). Plus they also charge big fees that vary between airlines for checked bags weighing 50 pounds or more. Weigh each bag at home on a bathroom scale before leaving for the airport so you can lighten the load. Also measure each bag before packing as no bag may be over 62” based on linear measurement of length + width + depth. Larger bags may incur a large fee.

5. Take less. Organize what each family member wants to pack far in advance to allow time to wash favorite things and to encourage participation by each person. This minimizes complaints upon arrival, as each was part of the packing decisions. Plan to find a coin-operated laundry half way through the trip so you can pack half as much clothing. Tucking in a self-sealing plastic bag of laundry detergent saves money and hassles.

6. Self-sealing bags of several sizes are the travelers' best friend! Organize clothing by grouping adult’s items: socks in one container, underwear in another. Children’s clothing is easily organized by folding or rolling an entire days outfit together — pants, tee-shirt, underwear and socks — and tucking into a bag. Pop the dirty items back into the bag at the end of the day to isolate soiled clothing from clean.

7. Pack into as few suitcases as possible - the more bags the greater the chance that one will be misplaced or forgotten. Plus, a hefty fee may be charged for additional checked bags. Some airlines now allow only one checked bag plus one carry-on per ticketed passenger (young children who ride on a parent’s lap are NOT considered “ticketed”). Many families pack into community bags of one adult with one child per bag, for a family of four this means two checked bags plus carry-on.

8. Travel with your child’s safety seats and strollers whenever possible. Each airline has a slightly different ruling on traveling with this gear, so call or visit your airline website to check in advance so you won’t have any surprises at the airport.

9. Pack a backpack for each person. Parents can manage children better if they are hands-free, so purses and in-flight necessities are best carried in an adult backpack. Kids fly quieter when entertained, so allow them to choose their toys and to carry them. Smaller children manage better passing through airports, airport security, and aircraft aisles with small backpacks; bigger children can manage small rolling bags that will fit under the seat.

10. Savvy frequent flyer parents advise bringing on the following in your child’s carry-on:

• Gameboys, games and extra batteries and travel-sized games • Books (thin paperbacks are best!) and/or coloring/activity books and crayons • Portable DVD player (however battery length is usually only about 3 hours) • Pajamas and slippers for a long flight (if comfortable, children are more likely to sleep) • Hard candies to suck on, water or juice to combat pressure changes during take off and landing • Anything your child must have such as a favorite blanket or bunny.

Packing light will spare your back and your budget and minimize baggage hassles. Plan ahead, take less, and have a great vacation!

       
Revealing Body Scanners 
Used in N.Y., L.A.

Airports in New York and Los Angeles have become the latest equipped with body scanners that allow security screeners to peer beneath a passenger's clothing to detect concealed weapons. The machines, which are about the size of a revolving door, use low-energy electromagnetic waves to produce a computerized image of a traveler's entire body.

Passengers step in and lift their arms. The scans only take a minute, and Transportation Security Administration officials say the procedure is less invasive than a physical frisk for knives, bombs or guns. Someday, the "millimeter wave" scans might replace metal detectors, but for now they are being used selectively.

Los Angeles International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York saw their first scanners installed Thursday, each at a single checkpoint. Phoenix Sky-Harbor International Airport got one of the machines in October. Modest travelers may have concerns about the images. The black and white, three-dimensional scans aren't as vivid as a photograph, but they do reveal some of the more intimate curves of the human form, maybe with as much clarity as an impressionist sculpture by Auguste Rodin.

The system comes with privacy protections. Officers reviewing the images don't interact with passengers, or even see them. They sit in a separate area, look at the pictures on a monitor and push a button to either clear travelers or alert security about a suspicious item. Images will not be recorded or stored. Passenger faces are blurred to further protect their identities.

For now, the scans will also be voluntary. Flyers selected for a secondary screening after passing through the metal detectors will have the option of stepping into the wave scanner, rather than undergoing a physical pat-down.

Millimeter wave scanners, which cost as much as $120,000 apiece, are already in limited use at international airports in seven countries and at a handful of courthouses and jails in five states. Their introduction to U.S. airports is on a trial basis while authorities evaluate their effectiveness. The TSA said the devices pose no health risk and project 10,000 times less energy than a cell phone transmission.

 
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