Picture credit: Wazouille 2 March 2007

Seasons

You will pay prime buck if you travel “in-season” or rather during a peak season.  Mid December to mid January is one of the most expensive times to travel in most parts of the world.  The only exception to this is the last minute specials that do come out periodically where you have a limited time to book, such as the last week of November, for say seats from 1 December to 15 January.  But even if you do get a good price on flights, weigh up the costs, as the good flight pricing may not be carried through to your accommodation prices.

A really good low season is from February through to mid March.  The big season is over and airlines are trying to fill seats.  April and May is a shoulder season, an inbetweener with middle-of-the-range prices.  June through to July is the second peak season of the year, as it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere and you are therefore not likely to get the best deal.

Avoid travelling on weekends

Friday through to Saturday is a busy time for most airlines.  Flights are 75% to 100% full.  Cheaper fare levels are more widely available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  It’s a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how many people simply don’t understand why its expensive to leave on their most desired days when they are sitting opposite the travel agent or on the internet looking for a Friday or Saturday flight at a good price and getting frustrated.

Best Times to travel

If you are flying locally on a high-frequency route with flights every hour or so, avoid the peak hour.  Flight peak-times for business travellers are pretty much the same as traffic-jam times around the world.  6am through to 8am and 4pm through to 6pm.  Late night flights, crack of dawn flights and flights at unfashionable hours for businessmen such as eleven in the morning are cheaper than the ‘traffic jam’ flight times.

Holidays

Sometimes it is cheaper to book last-minute, other time it is better to book in advance.  When you are planning to book over a holiday or special occasion such as Thanksgiving in the United States, book in advance.  Book late, and the chance of paying top dollar over these periods goes up dramatically.

Cheaper destinations

While a trip to France is romantic, it is also costly.  A cheaper, but equally romantic trip could see you lazing on the beach at Phuket.  The Far East and South America are particularly good-value-for money destinations at present.

Remember

A good guideline to follow is: out of season, inconvenient and unfashionable.  These are the times when it is cheaper to book and you are going to save some money that you will enjoy spending on the actual holiday itself, while there.

Wheelchair symbol

There are three main codes that can be placed in the booking when a travel agent makes a wheelchair request.  The agent will need to ask several questions such as: “Can you climb up and down stairs” and “Do you need assistance once on board”, and so forth.

Here are the main wheelchair requests:

• Wheelchair to aircraft door request – WCHR
• Wheelchair up / down stairs required – WCHS  (can walk, but maybe have a leg injury that incapacitates one to climb stairs)
• Wheelchair to seat request – WCHC

You will have to provide the information below as it is required by the airline before they will confirm:

• Your age.
• Can you control your bowel and bladder?  (This is asked to determine if you are paraplegic, have an injury, or are incontinent due to being frail.)
• Contact telephone number.
• In certain cases, the airline may request a letter of good health from your GP, stating that you are able to travel by plane.  This may be requested at any time prior to airline confirmation.

Wheelchair requests are not guaranteed to be confirmed for operational or policy reasons.  (There may for instance be a limited capacity to handle more than a certain number of wheelchair-using passengers on a given flight.)  We accordingly strongly recommend against getting the ticket issued on the booking until the wheelchair is confirmed.

If no GP letter is requested, most airlines take between 24 and 48 hours to confirm.  If you are booking through a travel agent, they should only have to ask for these details once and then a profile can be built in their GDS (general distribution / reservations system) that automatically makes the request every time a flight is booked, speeding up the process.

If you arrange a wheelchair is on a DIY booking basis then you will likely have to go through the process each time you make a booking.

hors d'oeuvre as seen aboard Emirates in business class

Most major airlines include meals in the fare on all long haul routes and certain regional and domestic routes.  There are certain meals that can be requested, but not all airlines support each request.  For example, the ‘fruit platter’ meal has been discontinued by a lot of airlines.  (It is now doubtful that you will receive a ‘platter’ of anything unless you are in First Class.)

Here is a generic list of meals that can be requested on major airlines.  We have included the code that would be used by an agent or an airline reservations staff member to book them.  If you know the code it may save a lot of explanation.

Here’s a surprise to many: there are six different variations of vegetarian meal that can be requested, depending on the airline.

Vegetarian Vegan meal  (VGML)

Vegetarian Lacto-ovo meal  (VLML)

Vegetarian Oriental meal  (VOML)

Vegetarian Jain meal  (VJML)

Vegetarian Raw meal  (RVML)  [not highly recommended by my vegetarian passengers]

Vegetarian Hindu meal  (AVML)

There is even a specifically non-vegetarian religious meal (no beef).

Hindu (non vegetarian) meal specific  (HNML)

Our next list includes meals for travellers who need to be specific for health reasons.

Diabetic meal  (DBML)

Gluten intolerant meal  (GFML)

Low calorie meal  (LCML)

Low fat meal  (LFML)

Low salt meal  (LSML)

Low lactose meal  (NLML)

Then there are meals chosen for religious reasons and these are available on almost all major airlines and include:

Kosher meal  (KSML)

Moslem meal  (MOML)  (also referred to as a Halaal meal)

The rest mainly falls under what we could call ‘miscellaneous’.  Our reason for calling it this, as with the exceptions of a baby or child meal, some of these would be chosen out of choice rather than biological or religious requirements.

Bland meal  (BLML)

Baby meal  (BBML)

Child meal  (CHML)

Fruit Platter meal (FPML)

Seafood meal (SFML)

You can now phone up your friendly travel agent and ask for the specific meal code to be booked.  These meals are not available on all airlines so you may have to have a second or third choice, or to decide your airline on the availability of the meal you choose.  (Why not? – It is your money after all.)

There is one meal code we left until last because it is hardly ever confirmed.  This is a SPML (special meal request) where you can stipulate what you want.  With cost cutting at an all-time high in the industry, you are very unlikely to get this confirmed unless you are travelling first-class and the airline is really keen to please.  Passengers allergic to nuts could try this category, but success cannot be guaranteed.  Of course, if you wish to test the limits of how flexible the catering is at your chosen airline, you could get really exotic here, and see what happens…

Compression socks

Please consult your doctor if you have any concerns about Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). Even if you are not in the high risk category, one’s medical history must be assessed by a competent medical practitioner in order to come to an accurate prognosis.

What is it?

Deep vein thrombosis is the formation of blood clots in the deep veins of the legs. It can have potentially fatal consequences if the clots break loose and pass through the lung (pulmonary embolism). Even non-fatal cases can mean significant emergency surgery to remove the clots.

The cause is sitting still in cramped seats for prolonged periods. Air travel is just about the perfect way to promote it. There can be symptoms such as pain, swelling and redness of the affected leg. However, this is not always the case, as some people don’t show symptoms.

How do you protect yourself?

Compression stockings / socks
These special socks are designed to keep the circulation up. When buying, be sure to have yourself measured as over-tight socks can cause problems as well. Also, unless you are considered at higher than average risk, these are not a must.

Exercise
Doing regular exercise before going on your trip (if you are not in the habit of doing so already) is a good idea. The more fit and active you are, the less likely that you will be affected by DVT due to a long haul flight. It needn’t be anything heroic, a walk around the block or fifteen minutes on the treadmill at the local gym a few times a week will do the trick.

Be active on-board
Try to do something physical every hour during the journey: walk around, go to the toilet, even if it’s just to wash your hands. If you are one of us that belong to the group that do not like being the object of all bored eyes when you walk around, you can do foot exercises. This should be done even if you are wearing compression socks. Here are two examples:

• Foot lifts. Put your heels on the floor and bring your toes up. Hold for 30 seconds or so. Next, put the balls of your toes on the floor and bring your heels up. Hold for 30 seconds.
• Foot circles. Lift your feet off the floor and move your toes in circles. Do it for about ten – fifteen seconds, then change direction.

If you can’t sleep on a plane then adopt the attitude that this just gives you more opportunity to do exercises!

High risk conditions
Some of the known risk factors for you to consider are:

• Pregnancy
• Smokers
• Dehydration
• Varicose veins
• Obesity
• Heart problems
• Undergone cancer treatment or surgery in the past 12 months
• Previous cases of DVT in yourself or your family

• Age: being over 40 is a mild risk by itself, being over 60 gives you medium risk and if you are 75 or older you are automatically at risk

Aspirin, which is so useful in treating other circulatory problems, is regarded as ineffective in treating DVT.

It is not expensive to take precautions.  One of my passengers is a big man, around 50 years old, noticeably overweight and his feet swell when he is tired. He bought himself half-hose light compression (18-20 mmHg) socks for long-haul flights (over 8 hours) and elasticised anklet mohair socks with slight compression for medium distance flights (4 hours).  For two hour flights he “just keeps his shoes on”.

Please always consult your doctor when in any doubt. The above is not to be taken as medical treatment advice but is supplied for information purposes only. Please refer to our terms and conditions on all information supplied on this site.