Boarding an international flight for the first time? You must read this @ma3route

The preliminaries of travelling across the border begin with

• applying for a passport,
• acquiring a visa (filling of gazillion forms, interview, bio-metrics, medical (if applicable),
• booking an air ticket,
• packing – learn was weight you airline considers hand luggage and what’s not, certain quantity of liquids including cosmetics aren’t allowed.

Once you ready to leave the house you’ll take an Uber or a friend to drop you at the departure terminals specified on your ticket. You;ll the proceed to the security area where you are frisked and your luggage scanned.

Never forget the following tips:

1. Document and personal effects

The safety of your travel documents is paramount. Do no lose your passport or you are not boarding. Keep your passport on your person all the time.

Consider a sling bag, a cross-body bag or a backpack or even a purse with a strap for ladies so that you don’t need to keep the down where they might be misplaced.

In this bag, you put all documents – passport, Identity card, immunization card and a few necessary personal effects.

2. Clothing and shoes

• Shoes- choose comfortable preferably shoes without laces which are easy to take off and put on especially during security checks
• Clothes- comfortable clothes remember you’ll be require to undo your belt for security checks so make sure your clothes fit.

3. Security,check-in and luggage drop off

• Security is at every stop until you arrive to your destination including at the transiting airports
• At security checks, put all your stuff on a tray including shoes, wallet, glasses, phone etc. They will be scanned occasionally you might be asked to open your bag, don’t panic, just comply.
• Sometimes they may pick to observe an item to to understand what it is. If asked to step aside for questions, don’t panic. Answer calmly.
• When asked if you PACKED THE BAGS yourself, always answer YES. If you hesitate or say no, they will pull you aside for a thorough check up. 
• For check-in, if you will have done online check-in, present your boarding pass (if you will have printed it). If not, you will give the clerk your passport and ticket for check-in.
• When dropping off your luggage, it will be weighed, your bags tagged and placed on the conveyor
• It’s advisable to weigh your bags at home (strictly 23kgs allowed per bag for Economy class). Weighing in advance saves you disappointments of having to leave some stuff or paying more.
• Next time you are seeing your checked-in luggage is at you destination. You will however board the plane with your hand luggage.

4. Inside the plane

• After all the security checks are done, you’ll proceed to boarding the plane. Proceed to the boarding area and look for your gate as indicated on your boarding pass. Wait until it’s time to board the plane. You will hear announcements over the PA systems nearby
• Boarding the plane is done in the following order – First and/or Business Class, families with children and disabled people then finally everyone else
• The rest of the passengers may board by rows or by categories which are written on your boarding pass. Listen to the public address system and follow the directions
• As you board, your passport and boarding pass will be checked for confirmation. Open the page of your passport with your photo to save time
• Once on the aisle of the plane, look for your seat number on the side of plane where luggage is stored. There are numbered by rows e.g 24 A B C D E F
  A and F are window seats, B and E are middle seats and C and D are aisle seats on both sides

5. Take-off preparation

• The flight crew will go over safety procedures and what to do in case of an emergency. It includes  a demo, pay attention it is important
• Make sure your seat belt is buckled up and the seat is in upright position for take off and landing – other times you can recline your seat if you like.
• There is usually entertainment on-flight in. For overseas flights, usually everyone has their own screen on which you can watch TV, movies, music, comedy, etc. They’re easy to operate you will figure it out in a short time. You may also ask the cabin crew or your neighbour for assistance.

6. Food and snacks

• Food is served mostly within the first hour of the flight don’t dose of if you are hungry you’ll be by-passed. 
• There’s also drinks including soda, tea, coffee, beer, wines and spirits. but do not get drunk on the plane you might get in trouble.
• Drink lots of water instead of alcohol because if you are closing an international date line jet-lag is made worse by drunkenness
• For most long haul flights, food is served to everyone – it’s free(covered in your airfare), you will even have a choice of what to eat

• Eat before you sleep because you won’t be woken up so make sure you wait till food is served before you sleep.

7. Toilet (lavatory)

• Note where the toilets are on the plane. There may be up to 6 or more toilets on both sides of the plane spread throughout the length of the plane depending on size.
• For overnight flights, there might a queue at the toilet especially at night before “bedtime” and in the morning before breakfast or before landing
• When are inside the lavatory, make sure you lock the door because someone will push it open and catch you pants down. The lock is easy to operate – you just move it left or right to lock and unlock
• When you flush, it will not sound like a regular toilet but you will hear a strange loud sound. This is because it doesn’t use water but a vacuum system instead

8. During layover

• For a long haul flight, unless you have a nonstop flight (like 12 hours or more if you’re flying to North America or Japan for instance), you will have a few hours layover (rest) in say Europe or Middle East before you take your transatlantic or transpacific flight
• As soon as you get off the plane, you will see screens that show departing and arriving flights. Check your boarding pass or air ticket for the name and time of your next flight which is displayed on the screens. There are many “pages” on the screen so look out for yours. They’re displayed according to time of flight to make it easy to see your flight
• Check which gate your flight will leave from. Note the location of the gate. Sometimes they can change the gate so keep checking the screens and listen to the public address system for any changes
• Once clear on your gate, you can walk around the airport but don’t wander too far
• Check the time of boarding so you can come back to the area near that time
• Watch your bags all the time. If you’ve to go to the toilet, take your bags into the stall (cubicle) with you
• Don’t ask anyone to hold anything for you unless of course it’s someone you know

9. Disembarking

• Disembarking from the plane is by row. Wait for your turn then get your carry-on luggage just before you leave – not too early

• For a big plane carrying 300+ passengers, it takes at least 30 minutes before everyone gets off

10. Customs forms

• While still on the plane when you are almost touching down, you will be given a form to fill which to declare how much stuff you are carrying
• Indicate the stuff you’re carrying like hair extensions, tea, spices etc. and put a value – about $150-200 in total so distribute the cost accordingly
• Keep the paper with you as you will need it to scan or enter in a computer kiosk at the airport of entry

11. Arrival at your Port of Entry

• “Port of Entry” is the first airport the plane lands after flying in from another country
• These are usually bigger airports like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, etc. (in Canada) or New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Atlanta etc. in USA
• As soon as you come off the plane, follow directions (or follow people) as you all have to go through immigration
• There will be a big lineup, follow the appropriate line which will lead you to a kiosk where you’ll scan your passport and the card which you had filled out on the plane
• Directions to do that are given on the screen but if you have problems, there’s someone going around who can help you. Just call them
• After that, you’ll go through immigration and if it’s Canada, you’ll be given your Permanent Residence (PR), Work Permit or Study permit
• For PR, they will ask you to give them the COPR and will ask you a few questions like if you have anything else like a consignment to follow (being shipped)
• You will be asked which address you want the PR card to be sent to so give them an address

12. Luggage pick-up

• After immigration, you’ll go to the baggage claim area where you’ll get your bags
• Check to make sure you’re getting your luggage from the right conveyor belt as there might have been more than one plane that landed at the same time as your plane
• Check for signs showing flight number and city it came from. For instance will see something like AC845 from Frankfurt
• Look around, there might be a cart (trolley) that you can put all your bags in. Depending on the airport, the cart might be free or might require payment. Most of them are free
• There are people who may want to help you carry the luggage (porters). If they help you, they will expect a tip (money for service rendered). Just decline, especially if you have a cart. You will be fine

13. Customs

• After picking your bags up, if it’s the airport you went through immigration (i.e. port of entry), you will go through Customs as the last stage before exit
• Your bags may or may not be checked. If they see something they don’t know or is not allowed into the country, they will ask questions and either take it away or leave it.
• Be calm and explain what a particular product is, if it is food or a spice, just say so
• If they ask what it is for, just say it is for consumption or a present. Never say it is for sale unless you are selling them in which case you might have to pay customs duty

14. Connecting flight

• If you are flying to another airport (local one), you will have a final or subsequent connecting flight to that city
• You will have to check in your bags again so look for the screens for your new gate or if you have a boarding pass, your gate will be indicated there
• If you don’t have a boarding pass, you will be given one
• You will most probably go through security again so same idea as your first security check in your originating airport or “layover” airport
• Boarding the plane is exactly the same as other times although this will be a smaller plane
• If your layover is long, look for something to eat at the airport before boarding because usually, there will be no food offered on the local flight

15. Arrival at your final destination airport

• This is the easier part as you don’t have to go through immigration or customs
• All you have to do is get your bags exactly the same way you did at your port of entry
• If someone is waiting for you, they will be near the baggage claim area
• If you need transportation, you can get taxis, ride share or public transit