15 Airport Mistakes You Don't Realize You're Making

Pro tip, if you have a short connection and there's someone waiting for you at the gate to help you get to your flight on time, don't automatically trust them. Yeah, that's me learning the hard way, something you should never do before a flight that I'll show you in this video. To avoid being like me and missing your flight, having a crappy flight, or worse, stick to the end because some of these things you might not expect. Let's start with another one that got me in trouble once. So in the US, it's legal to take photos in public places, including the airport security lines, even though they might have signs saying that you can't. It says you're allowed right on the TSA website. But just because it's legal doesn't mean that it's smart, at least if you want a hassle-free experience in the airport. More importantly, different countries have different laws. In some countries, you want to be careful about taking pictures anywhere in the airport. One time in Morocco, we were walking around the airport, taking shots that we wanted to use in a YouTube video, just in normal, non-secure areas. But when we got to a passport checkpoint, one of the officers stopped us and said, No photo, delete, delete. Then when we showed him that we'd deleted the pictures, he snatched our phone out of our hands and started looking through all of our pictures. I was just sitting there, praying that the guy didn't stumble on a pic of my wife's voluptuous body. Long story short, don't assume you're free to snap pics anywhere in the airport and just be smart about it. So believe it or not, I'm actually a pretty big introvert, and so it's tempting for me to just throw on my headphones whenever I'm in the airport or on a plane. But on a recent flight, I realized that drowning out the world around me was actually a mistake. You never know who you're sitting next to in the lounge or at your gate or on your flight. It could be your next best friend, your new boss, a business partner, or even a lover. All you have to say is, Hey, are you headed on vacation? And let the conversation flow from there. If it goes nowhere, fine, no harm done, and you can put on your headphones. But if you never try, you could be missing out on big opportunities. I suspect that this is even more true in business class lounges and flights. It seems like people who fly business realize that everyone who can afford these seats are successful and important. And so everyone just seems a little bit more friendly and chatty. It kind of feels like a secret club. For example, recently, I flew business from Nepal to Colombia, and in the lounge, I met an awesome YouTube subscriber. So, hey, Henry, if you're watching this. Then while waiting to board the plane, I met a fancy producer who has produced a bunch of series on Netflix. Then during my flight, I made friends with an interesting lady from Switzerland, a fancy digital nomad from Italy, and a powerful guy who runs multiple international companies and is related to the mayor here in Cali, Colombia. I now have multiple influential contacts around the world, and it's all because I didn't have my headphones on. The kicker is these rich and uber successful people don't realize that I pay practically nothing to be sitting up next to them. I have access to lounges and fly business practically for free because of the signup bonuses that I got from my favorite travel credit cards that I'll link to below. There's another reason why I highly recommend not using your headphones in the airport, and I'll get to that in a second. But first, I used to think I was smarter than everyone else by sitting in the seats at my gate and watching while everyone stood and waited in line for a half hour to board the plane. Then when the line died down, I'd stroll in all smug. That was until one flight when I realized there was no more room in the overhead bins for my carry-on luggage, which had a bunch of valuables in it that I didn't want to separate myself from. And after thinking about it more, I realized that it's actually probably good for you to stand before your flight. I mean, you're about to be sitting cramped in small seats on an airplane for hours, so now is your opportunity to move around and stretch your legs. The exception to this would be short flights where you're not going to be sitting long anyways, and there'll likely be space in the overhead bins because the people traveling probably aren't carrying much luggage. This next one's important. Unless you want to spend your whole flight pinching your butt cheeks together so your neighbors don't smell your farts, then there are certain foods that you definitely want to avoid the day of your flight. Greasy foods, salty snacks, eggs, soda, and alcohol can all make you bloated. And at 40,000 feet in the air, the cabin pressure makes gases expand in your stomach, which can lead to some awkward and smelly situations. You're better off keeping meals light on flight day and eating them slowly so you don't swallow so much air. Drinking lemon water the day of your flight can help too. Also keep in mind that while caffeine and alcohol can make flights more fun, they also make you pee more. That means more trips to the grody airplane bathroom, which can cause dehydration, headaches, and stronger jet lag. Next up is the latest airport mistake that I made that made me miss my flight for essentially no reason. Yeah, I didn't make it. In case you didn't catch that, a Turkish airline worker was waiting for me when I got off my flight to help me make my connecting flight because I had a short layover. If this ever happens to you, don't automatically trust the worker just because they work for the airline. Always, always, always check the screens with your own two eyes to confirm your gate number and confirm that the person helping you also knows your gate number. This Turkish employee walked me to the extreme opposite of the airport and then said, Oops, my boss told me the wrong gate number. You might be able to make it back if you run. It seems like I'm always getting myself into these kind of shenanigans and learning things the hard way. But the good news is that means you don't have to learn the hard way. So make sure to subscribe if you like to learn useful travel tips based on real experiences. Anyway, the same goes for your boarding pass. Don't trust it. Your gate may have changed since the boarding pass was printed. And so make sure to always check the screens. This is also that second reason why I don't think wearing headphones in the airport is the best idea. You might miss important announcements. It would suck if they were blasting your name over the intercom for last call, but you didn't realize it because you're too busy jamming out to Britney Spears in the lounge. And speaking of lounges, don't get too distracted. Some don't have screens on the inside, so you won't realize if your flight status has changed. Also, some airports have weird layouts with security screenings in seemingly random places. I made the mistake recently of staying in the lounge until the last second and then having to scramble through an extra security that I wasn't expecting, all stressed out, so I'd make it to my gate on time. So whenever you check into a lounge, just ask the attendant how far of a walk it is to your gate and if there's any extra security you need to be worried about. Okay, so I thought this next one would be obvious, but judging by the number of times I see people making this mistake in the airport, I'd be doing a disservice not to mention it. Recently, I was waiting near my gate and I couldn't help but cringe. I was watching a guy near me chasing around his rowdy kids with his arms full of stuff, super distracted. Then I glanced down and noticed that hanging out of his loosey-goosey pocket, nearly falling out, were his family's five passports. Come on, dude, protect those things. Don't walk around the airport with your passport in your hands. Don't slip it in your pocket. Protect that thing with your life. For me, that either means in my zipped pants pocket or my zipped fanny pack that's attached to me. My friend once got her passport stolen in the airport because she had it in her hand when someone asked her for help and she absentmindedly set it on top of her suitcase for a split second. That someone she was trying to help was actually a thief in disguise and she snatched her passport without her even realizing it. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though, because I'll cover a weird thing you need to do to avoid scams in the airport in just a second. While you're sitting around waiting to board your flight, don't forget to look up how to get from the airport to your hotel once you arrive in your destination. Is there public transportation, specific rideshare areas, maybe a specific rideshare app that you need to download beforehand? Does your hotel offer a free or reasonably priced pickup? And how can you avoid taxis at all costs, which is where you're most likely to get scammed? Finally, if you're going to be arriving to a small airport at night, is there going to be any transportation options at all or do you have to figure something out beforehand? One time, Diane and I flew 25 hours across the world to go visit my family in my hometown and it's a small airport. We arrived at midnight completely exhausted and realized there was no taxis, no Ubers, nothing. We were literally stranded there and had to wait an hour for my mom to come pick us up in the middle of the night. And in some parts of the world, it's not even safe to leave the airport in the middle of the night to go find transportation. So it's always a good idea to have a plan before leaving. And if you're traveling abroad, you can use this same waiting time to make sure you set up your travel eSIM so that you have data on your phone the second that you arrive. Then you'll be able to easily access those rideshare apps or maps or whatever else you need to arrive to your hotel safe and sound. I tested a lot of different eSIMs in this video and I'll link to the ones I personally use down below with some discounts. If you're traveling soon, you can buy one now and then just wait until you get to the airport to install it. The alternative is to just buy a physical SIM card once you arrive in your destination at the airport. But again, it's smart to use your time to do some quick research beforehand to make sure they actually sell some cards in the airport and that the kiosks are going to be open at the time that you arrive. While we're talking about phones, there are some things you definitely don't want to do with them when you're in the airport. The first and more obvious one is to never do sensitive transactions or logins on your phone while you're connected to public airport Wi-Fi. If you do, you're making yourself a target for hackers. Either use a data plan for your internet or if you don't have a data plan, then you can use a VPN to protect yourself while connected to that public Wi-Fi. This goes for any public Wi-Fi, by the way, not just in the airport. I personally use Surfshark and if you're not yet protecting yourself with a VPN, you can get 85% off and two months free using my link if you want. The second thing you want to avoid with your phone is using those public charging stations. Sometimes hackers will tamper with these USB ports so malware loads onto your phone when you connect it. If that happens, they can steal your sensitive data, passwords, and a lot of other things that you don't want. This sounds crazy, but it's actually so prevalent that there's a name for it. It's called juice jacking. Most news stories focus on airports, but I assume that this could also happen in the planes themselves. There are three ways you can protect yourself. The first and most obvious is a power bank. The second and cheapest is called a USB condom, which cost a couple bucks on Amazon and it's basically just an adapter that you slip into the USB port before you plug in your cable. And the last option is to just use one of those dumb charging cables that only let electricity through and not data through. Juice jacking is just one of the crazy ways that scammers try to steal from you in the airport. You'd think the airport would be a secure place, but it's actually a breeding ground for sneaky scams if you don't know what to look out for. Lucky for you, I made a full video on the worst airport travel scams that travelers fall for every single day, so make sure to watch that one next to protect yourself and your wallet. Subscribe, like, and do the stuff. Thank you. Love you. Bye.