A study published in the online journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine found an association between people who live close to an airport and an increased risk of heart disease. It found the people who were exposed to the highest noise levels, particularly at night time, were at a greater risk of developing high blood pressure and heart flutters.
Leave – or lose – anything at the airport, and it will go into a storage area where you have up to 90 days to collect it. That includes luggage misplaced by airlines. After that, most airports donate unclaimed items to charities – or even sell them off for cash at huge auction houses. Find out more tips on keeping your luggage safe.
Unless you’re a frequent flyer with the airline or have paid a premium fare for your seat, your chances of an upgrade are pretty much non-existent these days. And it won’t help to dress up, mention that you’re on your honeymoon or ask nicely, either. Even being mates with a pilot doesn't cut it nowadays as getting upgrades for friends and family is a perceived fringe benefit for most airline employees. Want to upgrade your in-flight experience regardless of class? Read our guide here.
Ever feel like you’re walking forever? Well, you are. According to research by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), passengers at London airports face walks of over half a mile with each visit. London’s Stansted airport has one of the longest distances between check-in and the departure gate with a walk of 3,822 feet. Other long walks include 2,953 feet at Luton airport, 2,697 feet at Manchester and 2,461 feet at Glasgow airport.
Want to save your legs at Heathrow? Well, Martin Thomas, BA’s product brands and customer experience, revealed a top tip in an interview with The Daily Mail. “If you’re arriving at Heathrow from the London Underground or Heathrow Express there’s a quicker way to the Fast Track security lanes, accessible behind the B bank of desks at the northern end of Terminal 5.” Looking for more shortcuts? Check out these maps of Heathrow before your journey.
They’ll rarely announce it as your tardy flight is touching down, but if an EU-based airline (that includes Ryanair, Easyjet and British Airways) arrives at its destination three or more hours late, they owe you cash. The rules are €250 for flights under 1,500km (932 miles), but payments can reach €600 for flights over 3,500km (2,175 miles). Although, it's not payable in “extraordinary circumstances”, which could be anything from war, civil unrest or security issues, to natural disasters, extreme weather, air traffic control restrictions, and crew strikes.
You’ll never get a great rate at the terminal because exchange bureaus prey on those disorganised travellers who have left things to the last minute. If you’ve forgotten to buy your currency in advance, you’ll get far better rates by ordering it online for collection at the airport instead. Travelex, for example, only needs four hours’ notice for orders. Or go to an ATM at your end destination. If you want to try something a bit different, here's our guide to peer-to-peer currency exchange.
When flying from the UK to a non-EU country, shops are allowed to claim back from the government the 20% VAT they pay on goods sold. The problem? They don’t always pass on this saving to consumers, with prices typically the same in high street shops as they are at the airport. When savvy British travellers found this out in 2015, a mass revolt occurred when thousands refused to show their boarding passes.
Airlines’ computerised booking systems often throw up pricing glitches, which are available to book until they're spotted and rectified by the airline. Eagle-eyed online shoppers snap them up and some websites such as secretflying.com are dedicated to broadcasting these deals, which means if you're quick you can bag yourself some serious bargains. We've got more tips on how to get cheap flights here.
According to a Which? Travel survey of 850,000 flights earlier this year, only 74% of flights arrive on time. One of the worst culprits is easyJet – one in three of its flights arrived at least 15 minutes late in 2016. Even if your flight took 15 minutes less than you expected, you probably haven’t made up time en route. It’s more likely that the arrival time was adjusted to allow for delays and make airlines look more punctual than they actually are.
If you check your luggage in late, there’s a very good chance that your bag will be one of the first ones out onto the carousel at the other end. The last bags loaded in the hold for a flight are typically the first ones off, which means yours will come coasting off along with the business class items and you can waltz smugly off to be first in the line for the taxi queue. We've got more insider knowledge from baggage handlers here.
Becoming an air traffic controller is intense, one professional revealed in an interview with The Telegraph. There are three phases to the selection process before successful candidates enrol at the National Air Traffic Services training college. This is followed by on-the-job training before a nail-biting final assessment. But contrary to popular belief it’s not a stressful workplace. “People are always surprised when they come to the tower and see how calm it is," he says. "They imagine this really hectic place where people are screaming and throwing things at each other... But it’s a serene space.”
A worrying discussion among airport employees on Reddit which reveals that some workers aren’t subject to security checks every day. “I go through security maybe twice a month, it’s a joke,” one wrote. However, most of the employees in the discussion say that they are subject to very thorough background checks before getting security clearance.
Some glaring vulnerabilities were discovered in security scanners by researchers from the University of California and the University of Michigan, according to an article on Wired. They found that weapons could be taped and hidden from view and plastic explosives moulded around a person’s body were indistinguishable from flesh in the machine’s images. However, more reassuringly the research was carried out on Rapiscan Secure 1,000 machines, which are no longer used in airports. Let's just hope they were a little more thorough when testing the new ones.
A lot of thought has gone into airport layouts to ensure the flow of travellers. The key to successful airport design is easy navigation, according to an article on Mental Floss. This is achieved through subtle but effective design cues that help people find their way from security to the gate. One way is through signage – many terminals have their own distinct colours and fonts so you know if you’ve wandered too far. In many airports the tarmac is visible as soon as you clear security, which supposedly allows travellers to get their bearings right away.
Airport travellers are prime customers for retailers: a captive audience that’s in a “self-indulgent” mood, according to the Maximising Airport Retail Value report by InterVISTAS. That’s why there is plenty of seating and "dwelling space" in the retail areas. This is known as "revenue seating" and it’s designed to lure passengers into shops while they’re in the so-called “golden hour” – the first 60 minutes after clearing security when they're most likely to buy.
Airport geeks may already know that airport codes are dished out by the International Air Transport Association, but did you know that the letters don’t always stand for something? Los Angeles, for example, simply added an ‘X’ when the codes were changed from two to three letters after the 1930s. Portland did the same to make PDX. You can find out what the letters mean at this website dedicated to airport codes, perfect fodder for quiz nights.