I think it’s safe to say that most of us love learning some good hacks - whether it helps us to save time every day, maybe waste less products or just save some stress - it’s nice to learn something new that helps. And especially if there is something that can help us to navigate more easily in airports - well, here you go!
A former employee recently shared her flight hack, where she explained that you can just text the flight number to yourself or anybody you want and you can see all the live updates about your flight.
More info: TikTok
Airports can cause quite a bit of stress to many - figuring out which is your gate or searching for your baggage claim information can be annoying
Image credits: Quintin Gellar (not the actual photo)
“I worked in the airline industry for three years, and this is my number one flying hack besides getting pre-check, but that one's obvious”
“The morning of your flight, you're going to text yourself your flight number, okay? But the key is you have to include your airline code. So for example, if I'm flying American Airlines flight 686, I'm going to type AA 686. Delta is going to be DL Alaska - AS, you get the point.
If someone's picking you up, send it to them. If you're Ubering, send it to yourself. That text will become a link to tell you everything you need to know about your flight. And it will update in real time - what's your gate. You're gonna go through security, open your phone, click on your link, and now 'Oh, D6 D, awesome.'”
Image credits: @durbinmalonster
“So you're gonna text your flight number, click the link, preview flight, boom - this is the plane I will be on, headed to Salt Lake, somewhere over Texas"
So I'm going to swipe - this is my flight. It's on time. We're going to be at gate B9, leaves at 2:24. And if I check a bag, baggage claim 25, as soon as I land. If it changes, it'll change in that link.”
Image credits: @durbinmalonster
“Whoever's picking you up can literally see your little airplane flying across the screen”
“When you take off, you're supposed to land at 8:30 in the morning. And then mid flight, there's a great tail wind or something and you end up landing at 8:06. It'll update in that link and whoever's picking you up can see exactly when that flight status changes.
“It's the greatest hack, I never look at the screens, I never have to look at the screens in the airport anymore. If you have a connecting flight, text yourself both flights.
The second you land, you can just click your link and know exactly what your gate is so when you get off the plane, bing! You're off to your connection. It's the greatest hack ever and I feel like nobody knows about it.”
Image credits: @durbinmalonster
Image credits: @durbinmalonster
You can watch the full video here
The creator of this video is a former airline employee, Darby Maloney, better known on TikTok as @durbinmalonster. In the video she shared her favorite flight hack, besides getting pre-checked, that she constantly uses, especially if somebody is picking her up. The hack video quickly went viral and collected over 17.5M views and almost 2M likes.
After the hack video caught a lot of attention, she made the following video answering one of the questions that asked how early can you send the text as airlines reuse their flight numbers. “I would just send it the day of in the morning of your flight,” she recommended.
Community members thanked Darby for this hack, stating that not only is it a great tip to learn, but also nice to find out that you can text yourself. “As someone who flies for work, this is SO helpful!” one user wrote. “When I started working for DL they taught us this in my training class and I was like, no freaking way!” another added.
However, many folks pointed out that airline apps serve a similar purpose, thus Darby mentioned in the following video that she uses this hack when somebody is picking her up, so they don’t need to download the app and it just takes less steps.
Also, as it turned out, this feature works only on iPhone (be sure to use iMessage, not SMS, and there is a line beneath the text so it's clickable), so if you are using Android - writing flight information in the Google search bar does the trick!
Image credits: Gustavo Fring (not the actual photo)
Continuing the topic about hacks, especially when it comes to traveling tips - such as how to catch cheaper flights and hotels or avoid mess in the airport - I am pretty sure all of us like to learn them and to find out that they actually work! So we did a little digging for you and found a few more travel hacks that you should try for your next trip!
So first of all, Going shares that if you are open for destinations or can’t decide where you want to go - use Google Flights to find the cheapest destinations from your airport. Just enter your departure city and dates at the beginning of your search, just like you normally would, and leave your destination blank. Google Flights will display the lowest possible flight destinations when you click search.
Additionally, business travelers typically fly on Monday and Friday, but leisure travelers typically fly on Friday and Sunday for weekends. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are often slightly less busy so there may be a price reduction on certain days. This isn't always the case, but you might be able to save some money if you can choose which days to fly.
Now, airport chaos sometimes may impact your holidays or business trip, so it’s important to do your homework and prepare a little bit to have as smooth an experience as possible. Check your passports, requirements of the destination that you are going to and make sure you have all the necessary documents!
Also, Condé Nast Traveler shares in case you are carrying only hand luggage and are concerned about utilizing all the 100ml bottles and ensuring they endure for a week, you should be aware that World Duty-Free and Boots provide an airside click and collect service. Therefore, you can order items online and they will be delivered to the appropriate airside store on the day of your trip.
So guys, what do you think about this hack? Have you used it before? Share your thoughts below!
People online agreed that this is a great hack and shared a few more of their suggestions
