Delays can stack up as the day goes, so your best bet to make sure you get on the plane is to choose a flight before 3 p.m. Wednesday is one of the cheapest days to fly, so there’s your plan: Wednesday before 3.
Pro tip: You can check where your plane is to get an idea of whether your upcoming flight will be delayed. The airline you’re flying might display this in the app, or you can use Flight Aware. Enter your flight number to get details on the aircraft and its status.
Mobile Passport Control is a free U.S. Customs and Border Protection app that lets you get back home faster. Unlike CLEAR or TSA PreCheck, you don’t need any pre-approval.
All you have to do is download the app and fill out the forms when you land, then go to the “Mobile Passport Control” lane at the airport. Sweet.
Download for iPhone or Android.
You always need to carry identification when traveling, but having a digital backup is wise, too. Worst case scenario, you lose your wallet. Getting home will be much smoother if you have photos of all your important documents.
The easiest way to do that on an iPhone is to use the handy document scanner built into the native Notes app.
On an Android, snap some photos and mark them as favorites in your picture gallery or scan them in with the Google Drive app.
Pro tip: Save your identifying documents as PDF files to send them to another device or two, like an iPad or Kindle. Download to access them offline beforehand and send a copy to your travel partner.
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If you’re not already doing this, you’ll thank me. Stop fumbling around with a printed board pass and access a digital version.
You can log in to the airline’s website and have them email your boarding pass or download your airline’s app to access it. From there, you can add it to your phone’s digital wallet.
Keep your tech-know going
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