Preparation! Blog Post Three!
Phew! Korea Here WE Go!
Airline Tips-
Before searching for rates on flights I'd recommend creating a google excel sheet in order to keep track of all the information that you'll will be compiling!
Tips for International flying:
1. Get a roundtrip ticket
2.Buy your trip as one ticket, don't buy separate tickets. By buying tickets separately for every leg of your trip you lose the security of the airline taking care of your flights if one gets cancelled.
3. Buy directly from the airline for more protection.
4. Get a refundable or "flexible" ticket.
5. Most International flights allow you to bring two checked bags, a carry on and a personal item. Even though I'd like to bring along more bags I opted for one checked bag instead of two= less hassle. Remember you can always buy items you need at the local stores in your area. If you are going for a short trip that's only a couple weeks then I don't see much harm in packing those extra items.
6. Check if your credit card or services such as Rakuten give you cash back on large purchases such as airplane tickets.
7. I'd recommend getting a ticket that includes a layover over an hour and a half long, serving as a buffer just in case something did go wrong with your connecting flight. Unfortunately, since we only had a limited window to fly into for my program (because of quarantine) I was only able to get a layover for an hour and fifteen minutes.
8. Check the $$ prices and flight times for different days through your airlines, a day can make a major difference. If I had flown out a day earlier...instead of having a 17 hour flight I would have wound up with a 36 hour flight.
9. During Covid consider buying your seat near the bathrooms in the section that only allows two passengers, this is really good if you have a friend that is flying with you.
10. Consider driving to a different airport, sometimes local airports don't give you a direct flight to your destination or they cost way too much $$ especially if they are a small airport. For example my local airport was selling tickets to ICN for about $2400-$3500, while an airport about 2 hours away gave me the option to fly for $1400 to ICN.
11.Bring some snacks in your bag, and a water even though you will be fed at least one meal and one snack on an international flight. I'd also recommend bringing chapstick, a mask (even if it wasn't a pandemic to help yourself not get sick/dry), probiotics, and a vitamin C packet.
12. Bring some gum to help pop your ears when the plane is taking off and landing.
13. Sign up for TSA pre-check a few days before your flight to cut the lines.
*Extra note if you have flight anxiety (or just anxiety in general) take one to two of these natural anxiety pellets, I 10000% recommend them. Here is a link to them on Amazon
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International Flights-
-Korean Air (my friend had an international flight with them and she liked how comfy the seats were though most international planes are comfy.)
-American Airlines (this is the airline I chose, they were cheaper than the other airlines for my trip.) They offered their tickets as "flexible" which means if something goes wrong they will put you on a different flight and all you have to pay at this time is the difference in the flight costs $ . After Covid they may reinstate the $300 change fee.
-Delta
"wholly unused-fully refundable, ticket validity period is a year, if partially used will calculate a refund of value. For international travel, for tickets issued with a combination of refundable and nonrefundable fares, Delta will process a refund of the refundable segment and all applicable taxes, fees and charges applied to the entire ticket."
-United. You can't make changes to your tickets but if your ticket is a refundable one you can ask for a refund within 24 hours of booking if anything has gone wrong.
"Flexible economy flexible fare tickets are refundable with no questions asked"
-Asiana
-Alaska
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Recommended Luggage-
Personally I'd recommend a hard shell bag for International travel that also includes a TSA approved lock on it from either JcPenny or Amazon. 💓
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💓💓💓This is the one I got from Amazon
Try going with a color that differs from what people usually pick which are silver and black bags. Try adding stickers, ribbons, and other features to your bag to help you pick it out from the line up of luggage. All of the airlines above require your checked back to be (max) 62inches, and under 50 LB (Asiana is under 44 LB.)
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*Please note if you've had a previous leg injury or are prone to swelling check out one of those airplane foot swings that helps elevate your foot (they are on amazon), as well as compression stockings.
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