Image: Dtom
Meanwhile over on Reddit, there's a recent thread that's full of tips (plus the odd Redditor "secret") from self-professed airline employees that has the potential to help passengers in the seemingly downward spiral known as modern air travel.
For example, one bit of information is an airline baggage handler's breakdown of the reasons bags get lost in "95% of cases"; two scenarios could conceivably be controlled (at least somewhat) by passengers.
Cosmopolitan has done a 12-tip roundup, some of which is excerpted below. View the entire Reddit thread here.
Unsurprisingly, dogs aren't into flying.
"If you checked your Dog there's about a 30% chance it's terrified before it even gets on the plane, who knows how scared it gets during the actual flight. Bag room agents will usually try to comfort a scared animal, but all we can really do is talk to it, so if you write your pet's name on their carrier it usually helps a lot." However, cats are chill-as-hell: "I've never seen a cat who was scared in the bag room, cats don't give a f**k."
Airlines operate differently in the air.
"An air traffic controller spills some secrets about how different airlines work once they get above the clouds: "One thing most people are surprised to hear is that it's absolutely true that certain airlines fly their planes differently. Southwest for example tends to climb like bats out of hell, and then request direct routing/shortcuts from us, since they're above most conflicting traffic. it's one of their signature tricks, and it usually works. This can cut significant time off the flight. American Airlines on the other hand tends to be gentle for efficiency and passenger comfort, and they always report chop and turbulence when other guys say it's smooth. Things like this are actually so profound, it can affect how we control traffic. You can usually count on guys like Southwest to climb and descend fast for you, for example."