Being an avid traveler, air travel will be one of the common choice for transportation across continents. Therefore, spending time in an airport is almost inevitable. And trust us, it doesn’t have to always be a tiring/frustrating experience.

Our team have compiled a list of airport hacks that you might find useful for your next hours in the airport, which will either save your time or save you some money.

Warning: It’s legally smart

1. Remove coins from your wallet before going through the scanner.

You will not have to worry about putting your wallet in the tray when you are going through the scanner anymore. This will greatly reduce the chance of your wallet being taken by quick handed individuals in the airport.

2. Always choose the left checkpoints.

Research has shown that most people would veer to the right naturally when they are choosing a security checkpoint line, which gives us a marginally shorter left line. Could easily save you minutes or sometimes, hours of your time.

3. Overweight carry in bag? No worries. Stuff it into your laptop bag!

If you are facing the overweight hand carry bag situation, this will be your best hack ever. Stuff small stuffs into your laptop bag and carry it in with you as well. They will never check/weight the laptop bag.

Don’t be surprised, a good hand carry laptop bag could fill up to 5kg of your stuff.

4. Always smile to the person at the check-in counter.

Trust us, no matter how long you have waited or how frustrating your day has been, smile to the person at the check-in counter. It will easily get you an additional 2-3kg for your check in baggage and if you smile wide enough, you might even get a nice window seat. There’s no reason to scowl after all. You’re on a vacation!

5. Ask for a “FRAGILE” tag to keep your luggage in one piece.

Whether you like it or not, your luggage will be roughly handled once it gets off your sight. I’m sure you have heard cases of broken items in the luggage or maybe the luggage itself got damaged from all the impact.

Solution? You need a bit of luck and charm for this, but whenever you are checking in your luggage, ask politely for a “FRAGILE” tag. If queried on the content, explain that there are fragile items that you wish to gift to your spouse or a close family member. And smile. It’ll work and yes, your luggage will receive a complimentary V.I.P treatment from the team.

6. Cut your baggage waiting time by almost 90%

This trick works almost every single time. The baggage system follows a Last In First Out (LIFO) mechanism, which basically means that if you check in your bag LAST, it will come out FIRST at the baggage claim area. This only applies for direct flight. As for connecting flight, it follows a First In First Out (FIFO) mechanism instead, where the first bag checked in will be the first bag out. Now that you know the trick, it’s not always bad to be late.

7. Always bring a non-spill water bottle with you.

Bring a non-spill water bottle and keep it in your bag when you are passing security check. Once across, fill up at a water fountain who you can almost find in any airport. That will save you some money on bottled water purchase. And yes, you can even bring it up to the flight with you. Drink away!

Additional idea: Get one of these foldable water bottles during your travel next time. We almost never leave for any travel without them! They are light, fits basically anywhere and takes up minimal space. And they provide you with a decent amount of water.

Do you have any personal hacks that we did not mention? Share it with us in the comments section below!