Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder. It is Tuesday the 1st of August, which means that it's the start of the peak season for all of those airports.

Well, not quite all of them, probably not peak season for Heathrow, but everywhere else you can be pretty sure it's going to be

peak season so today I need to talk about airport etiquette yes because airports of course

bit like hospitals and prisons you really don't want to be there when you are there you want to

get out as soon as you possibly can well I can give you some advice on that.

First thing is to make life much easier for you

and make yourself a nicer person, prepare for the journey.

Of course, check in online if you can.

Obviously, in the bizarre position, would you believe,

in Nuremberg, of not being able to check in.

And they just said, yeah, our systems don't work with British Airways and you can't.

Very annoying. And that made me not a good person.

Because, of course, you've got to remember that nobody who works in an airport is there for fun.

They are trying to get you on your holiday. They have got up at silly o'clock. They are working in a high

stress environment with a whole load of people who don't want to be there but who are actually

lucky them going somewhere appealing. So please be nice to them. Anyway, that's going to be increased

if you can check in online, if you make sure your baggage is compliant.

Of course, not just with security rules, but with airline sizes.

And of course, if you're traveling on a British passport to the European Union, be aware of the post-Brexit passport rules that we have signed up for.

So that's really important as well.

And then the less chance that you will fall foul of somebody who is simply doing their job.

You've got to get to the airport, of course.

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