9 Things a Pilot Would Tell You Before You Fly This Summer

No fluff. Just the moves that make summer travel faster, cheaper, and calmer — whether you fly all the time or dread every takeoff.

Pilot Nick · 4 min read

Summer flying is crowded, tight, and easy to get wrong this year. So here’s the short version — 28 years at the front of the airplane, distilled into the things I’d actually tell you at the gate.

A smooth trip isn’t luck. It’s set up on the ground, before you leave. Here’s how.

1. Take the first flight of the day. Delays compound as the day goes on — your evening flight is hostage to every problem the airplane had since breakfast. Mornings get cancelled less and fly through the smoothest air. Best single choice you can make.

More on why the worst-looking departure is secretly the smartest:

2. Go nonstop or leave real room. A nonstop can’t misconnect. If you must connect, give yourself 90+ minutes at a big hub in summer. The $40 you save on a tight layover is a loan, and the interest is your vacation.

3. Book in the window. Roughly 1–3 months out for domestic, 2–8 for international. Fly early in the week — it’s usually cheaper than weekends. Set a fare alert and let the price come to you instead of refreshing tabs at midnight.

4. Pick your seat on purpose. Over the wing if turbulence rattles you — it’s the steadiest part of the airplane. Aisle, forward of the wing, if you want a fast exit and first crack at rebooking. Skip the very back; it moves the most.

The exact seat I tell every white-knuckle flyer to book:

5. Skip the lines before you reach them. If you don’t have TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or CLEAR, this is the summer to get them. And whatever you do — arrive earlier than feels necessary. Rushing is rocket fuel for stress, and summer security is slow. The shortcut most passengers walk right past:

6. Pack light and stay powered. Carry-on only means you never wait at a belt and never lose a bag. Bring a charged battery pack every delay drains your phone exactly when you need it. Screenshot your boarding pass in case the terminal Wi-Fi quits. Ten days, one carry-on — here's exactly how I do it:

7. Track the airplane, not just the flight. Turn on your airline app's push notifications — you'll often know about a delay or gate change before the agent announces it, and the first person to act gets the good seat on the next flight. The pro move: open Flightradar24 and find your inbound aircraft, the plane that becomes your flight. If it hasn't left its last city yet, your "on time" departure isn't. Apps like Flighty go further, predicting delays and flagging aircraft swaps before the airline says a word.

8. Nervous flyer? Tell the crew. We’re trained for it and genuinely glad to help. Then: slow your exhale longer than your inhale, keep your eyes on the horizon, and skip the second coffee — caffeine mimics the exact racing-heart feeling your brain reads as fear. The bumps are uncomfortable, not dangerous.

9. Can’t-miss trip? Fly in the day before. A wedding, a cruise, a flight you absolutely cannot miss is not a same-day-arrival trip in summer. The extra hotel night is the cheapest insurance you’ll ever buy.

That’s the whole list. Do the unglamorous work on the ground, and the flight becomes what it almost always is — ordinary, and over before you know it.

First flight. Right seat. Real buffer.

Before you go ✈️

Quick one for you — the Fly Calm Masterclass is the thing paid readers ask me about most, and summer is when it earns its keep. Maybe you’re the nervous flyer in tip #8, or maybe it’s your partner, your parent, or your kid who white-knuckles every takeoff.

If that’s you or someone you love, you can gift it — paid readers get a bundle rate.

Fly Safe, Pilot Nick