The Little Things - Danto's Little Flight Tips

David J. Danto

Travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD on

The Little Things: Danto’s Little Flight Tips May 2026

There are plenty of travel articles about the big things. How to pick a credit card. How to get elite status. How to survive an international connection. How to find the best fare. How to pack for two weeks in a carry-on bag, which I admire in theory but have no interest in trying at this point in my life.

This is not one of those articles.

This one is about the little things – my tiny habits, odd tricks, and personal systems that make my ordinary flights a little easier. None of these will change the course of aviation history. No airline will create a new loyalty tier because I found a better way to store stuff at my seat. But these are the habits I’ve learned over time because, after enough flights, you start to notice where things can break down or get easier.

I’ve decided to share these little things this week because airline travel is often not made miserable by one big thing. It’s often made miserable by a hundred small ones. So here are a few of my little travel things. Many may be obvious, unglamorous or even nerdy – but they work, and you may not know them all.

1. Even if you check a bag, carry enough to survive without it

At my age, with all the things I need to carry with me, I usually check a bag unless I am only going away for a day or two. I know there are people who consider checking luggage a personal failure. Good for them – I used to be one of them. I have nothing but admiration for anyone who can still travel for a week with a backpack, three shirts, and a religious devotion to hotel laundry or the closest Walmart.

That is not me anymore.

But checking a bag does not mean surrendering all control. Even when I check luggage, I still bring a carry-on rollaboard onto the plane. In that rollaboard are my medications, important supplies, valuables, and at least two days’ worth of clothing.

That is the key. If the checked bag does not make it where I am going, I am not stranded with nothing but the clothes I wore on the plane, waiting for whenever the airline decides to deliver my bag. I’ve learned that the baggage team’s “as soon as possible,” is airline-speak for “we hope you enjoy this character-building exercise.” They and their contractors have one speed, and it makes a growing Ficus look speedy.

A delayed bag is annoying. A delayed bag with your medicine, chargers, essential supplies, and every clean shirt you own is a problem. The goal is not to carry everything. The goal is to carry enough of the right things so that if your checked bag takes a side trip to Cincinnati, you can still function for a day or two while you either wait for delivery or go shopping.

The practical rule is simple: if you truly cannot do without it for 48 hours, it does not belong in the checked bag.

2. Book the aisle if you need space or freedom

Coach seats are not getting roomier. I know this will not shock anyone who has recently been on an airplane, but the modern airline seat is not designed around human delight. It is designed around the number of potatoes the airline bean counters can jam into the sack.

That is why I usually prefer an aisle seat. The obvious reason is access. If you like to get up, use the restroom, walk around, or reach your bag in the overhead bin, the aisle is your friend. You are not trapped. You are not negotiating with two sleeping strangers. You are not practicing yoga over someone’s knees.

But there is another advantage that many people do not know about. On many aircraft, and certainly on many United aircraft I have flown, the aisle-side armrest can lift up. There is often a small release button underneath and toward the back of the armrest. Push it, and the armrest comes up.

That can give you a couple of extra inches of usable seat width, or at least remove the feeling that the armrest is constantly pressing into your side. It is not magic. It does not transform coach into a suite. But on a long flight, a little extra shoulder and hip room can make a real difference.

There is a courtesy issue here, of course. You do not want to spill into the aisle when flight attendants are working the cabin or carts are coming through. The aisle is not your personal annex. But when service is not happening and you are just trying to sit more comfortably, lifting that armrest can make the seat feel a little less hostile. Sometimes the FAs ask you to put it down for take-off and landing, sometimes they don’t, but it can stay up for the majority of the flight.

3. Window seats can sometimes offer hidden room too

The aisle trick is more common, but window seats sometimes have a version of this as well. Depending on the aircraft, there may be an armrest between the window seat and the side wall of the plane. On some aircraft, that armrest may lift too, creating a little extra space between you and the wall.

It is less predictable than the aisle armrest. You cannot count on it as often. But it is worth checking.

The window seat has its own logic. If your plan is to sit down, stay put, look out the window, work, sleep, or generally not interact with humanity until landing, the window can be a great choice. No one is climbing over you. No cart is bumping your elbow. No person walking down the aisle is using your shoulder as a handrail.

But if you know you are someone who gets up often, the window seat is not your best friend. The little extra space, if available, may not be worth the social choreography of asking two people to move every time you want to stand up.

That is one of the overlooked parts of seat selection. It is not just about which seat is objectively “best.” It is about what kind of traveler you are on that flight.

4. Seatback pockets are not what they used to be

Seatback pockets used to be useful. Now, on many modern aircraft, they are barely large enough to hold the safety card, an airsickness bag, and the vague memory of when passengers had space.

The problem is that there are things you want within reach during a flight. Glasses. A snack. A cable. Earbuds. Napkins. Medication. A pen. Something to wipe your hands. Maybe a small pouch of essentials. But you do not want all of that in your pants pockets, and you may not want it under the seat either, especially if you have long legs or large feet.

The space under the seat in front of you is technically “storage.” It is also your footwell. Once you fill it with too much stuff, you have created your own personal economy-class bear trap.

I use two solutions.

The first is a pouch device that slides into the seatback pocket and hangs down, giving you a small zippered pouch for the things that are too big for your pockets but not big enough to justify the overhead bin. It is a simple idea, and it works.

The second is even simpler. I keep one of those collapsible nylon tote bags in my carry-on. It is the kind that scrunches down small enough to fit in your fist but opens into a usable lightweight bag. When I bring a bottle of water onto the plane, I put the bottle in the seatback pocket and hang the nylon bag over the bottle.

The bag generally hangs down and swings under the seat in front of me. That keeps it out of the way, keeps flight attendants from getting annoyed, and keeps the things I want handy without forcing me to sacrifice all of my foot space.

It is perfect for glasses, snacks, food, small supplies, and the other things that otherwise end up scattered around your seat area like you are nesting.

There is one extra courtesy step. If I get up to use the lavatory, I take the bag off the water bottle and place it gently on my seat. That way it is not blocking anyone else in my row who may need to get out while I am gone. The trick is useful only if it does not become someone else’s problem.

5. Do not assume the airplane bathroom water is your friend

Over the years, I have learned not to trust the water that comes out of the tap in an airplane lavatory.

Maybe that sounds overly cautious. Maybe it is. But I do not know how often those tanks and lines are cleaned, and the older the aircraft, the less interested I am in finding out. I am sure there are rules, procedures, maintenance schedules, and people who can explain why everything is fine. I am also sure I have seen enough airplane bathrooms to make my own decision.

So I keep a small bottle of Purell in my shirt pocket. If I use the restroom, need to clean my hands, wipe my face, or deal with something messy, I would rather use sanitizer or pour a little water from a bottle I bought at the airport than rely on the aircraft lavatory tap.

This is not about managing germophobia. It is about avoiding unnecessary risk. Air travel already gives you enough chances to pick up whatever the person in 22C brought onboard. I do not need to add mystery tank water to the list.

6. Cocktail napkins are underrated travel tools

I have developed a great appreciation for cocktail napkins, especially the kind you get on airplanes, in airport lounges, and at hotels. They are the perfect size to fold and keep in a shirt pocket.

Yes, this may make me look like I am one pen away from wearing a pocket protector. I accept that.

But those little napkins are incredibly useful. They are good for small spills, wiping your hands after eating, cleaning up crumbs, blotting something from a tray table, or dealing with whatever small mess travel throws at you. A full-size napkin is often too much. A tissue may fall apart. A paper towel is not always available. A cocktail napkin is just right.

Whenever I have access to them, I tend to grab a few and keep them handy. It is one of those small habits that seems silly until you need one. Then it feels like genius.

Small, low-tech, slightly nerdy genius.

7. Change your devices to the destination time as soon as the cabin door closes

When I am flying to a different time zone, I usually reset my mobile phone and watch manually to the arrival time zone as soon as the cabin door closes.

Not when we land. Not halfway through the flight. Certainly not leaving it on automatic. Right away.

The reason is simple: I want my brain to have the entire flight to start living in the destination time zone. If I keep looking at my watch and phone and seeing the time where I started, my brain stays behind. If I switch immediately, I begin adjusting mentally before the plane ever leaves the ground.

This is especially useful on longer flights. You can start thinking about whether you should sleep, eat, work, or stay awake based on where you are going, not where you have been. It does not eliminate jet lag, but it helps me acclimate.

It also helps to have a watch that can show dual or multiple time zones. Mine does, and I use that feature often. But even if your watch does not, manually changing your phone and watch at the start of the flight gives you a mental head start.

The moment the door closes, I am already trying to live on arrival time.

8. Bring your own entertainment, but use the IFE map

When I am flying on an aircraft with in-flight entertainment (IFE), I check early to see whether there is anything I actually want to watch. Sometimes there is a new-release movie I have not seen. Usually there is not.

I have learned to prepare for that.

I bring my iPad with me so I can either work or watch content I already have, including movies carried on an iPad-compatible flash drive. That way I am not dependent on the airline’s entertainment library or whatever licensing deal happened to be available that month.

But I still like the seatback screen when it exists. I just use it differently.

My preferred setup is to put the iPad on the tray table for my own work or content and leave the IFE screen on the airline’s moving map. That gives me the best of both worlds. I am watching or doing what I want, while the seatback display quietly tells me where we are and how much flight time remains.

It becomes a very comfortable combination because, at a glance, I always know where I am and how much longer the flight has. I do not have to interrupt what I am watching. I do not have to open the airline app. I do not have to wonder whether we are over Ohio, Kansas, or the part of the country where time loses all meaning.

The map is the best channel on the plane.

9. A battery case is a gadget tip, but it belongs here too

This one probably belongs in one of my Traveler’s Toolbox columns. (I’m actually due to put another one of those together soon because I have a few gadgets I want to share.)

But I am including it here anyway because it is too important to leave out.

I use a mobile phone case with a built-in battery. It makes the phone heavier, and I understand why some people do not like that. It does not bother me. More importantly, it does two very useful things.

First, it dramatically extends the life of the phone without requiring me to attach to a separate charger. Second, it gives the phone extra protection from drops and everyday abuse. Those are both valuable when traveling.

I still bring a USB cable. If I am on a domestic aircraft with a seatback USB port, I will usually plug the phone in through the battery case. I generally do not bother much with the AC outlets on domestic flights unless I need them, though I pay more attention to power options internationally. But if there is USB power available, I use it.

That means that after a five- or six-hour flight, my phone can land fully charged. That matters. When you land, your phone suddenly becomes your boarding pass archive, hotel confirmation, car service connection, map, wallet, email device, messaging system, and emergency problem solver.

Landing with a dying phone is a rookie mistake. Landing with a full one is a small victory.

The little things add up

None of these tips is dramatic. Nobody is going to build an advertising campaign around “bring cocktail napkins and distrust lavatory tap water.” At least I hope not.

But that is the point. Business travel is full of little frictions. Most are not big enough to complain about individually, but together they wear you down. The more of them you can smooth out, the easier the day becomes.

A little more room in the seat and the other tips are not grand travel hacks. They are just habits. But after enough years and enough flights, you learn that comfort often comes from the little things no one bothers to mention.

If you have tricks or habits I didn’t mention, please email me and let me know. I’ll share any worthy additions in a future article.

After decades of candid travel commentary – from loyalty program “magic tricks” to hotel check-in roulette – I’ve decided to turn some of that honesty into apparel. These aren’t novelty shirts; they’re the exact truths every road warrior wishes they could say out loud. Whether you’re quietly muttering “My loyalty points devalued while you read this shirt” or admitting “If delays build character then I’m the whole movie’s cast” you’ll find plenty of familiar sentiments… and more. Everything is produced by a reputable outfit, with black tees that work under a sport jacket plus hoodies and wicking travel gear for life on the road. The site also has my honest and snarky takes on technology trade shows. Take a look at Tinyurl.com/TechAndTravelWear. Even if you’re not buying they’re fun to read and commiserate – and if you do buy something, maybe I’ll break even. If you want a style you don’t see, just email me and I’ll add it.

This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

All image and links provided above as reference under prevailing fair use statutes.

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As always, feel free to write and comment, question or disagree. Hearing from the traveling community is always a highlight for me. Thanks!