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Question: In your experience, what

do pilots make of passengers clap-

ping upon landing? Do they generally

take it as a compliment or an insult? –

Anonymous

Answer: It always caused me to

smile. The appreciation of executing a

challenging approach and landing is a

compliment.

Often, pilots feel that we are just do-

ing our jobs when faced with a challeng-

ing approach and landing. We use expe-

rience and very good training to ensure

the safety of the flight.

Q: How do pilots prepare for an

early or red-eye flight? Are there

sleep requirements? Are you as tired

flying a 5 a.m. flight as passengers

are? – Anonymous

A:Managing fatigue is one of the

most demanding tasks flight crew en-

counter. It can be challenging to change

your sleep pattern to meet a red-eye leg

in the middle of a trip, and the best op-

tion is to try to get a nap in the afternoon

or evening before the flight.

Domestic red-eyes crews consist of

two pilots and the normal staff of flight

attendants. If the red-eye leg is the first

leg of a multi-day trip, the crew is ex-

pected to show up rested and ready to

fly overnight. If the red-eye leg is in the

middle or end of a multi-day trip, the

crew will have been in a hotel during the

day, allowing for off-duty time.

Flights over 12 hours have two entire

crews and dedicated rest areas for pi-

lots and flight attendants. On interna-

tional flights over eight hours, there is

an additional pilot. Each pilot is off-du-

ty in a crew rest area for several hours

during the flight. The captain decides

the order of the rest periods.

John Cox is a retired airline captain

with US Airways and runs his own avi-

ation safety consulting company, Safe-

ty Operating Systems.

ASK THE CAPTAIN

What do pilots

think of applause

after landing?

John Cox

Special to USA TODAY

noy you? Sure they do. I spoke with doz-

ens of frequent travelers who loathe

lines more than anything. “One of my

least favorite things about traveling is

waiting in line for TSA checks,” says

John Linden, a furniture designer from

Los Angeles. “I understand that it’s for

our safety. Ultimately, that’s a good

thing. But no one wants to stand in line

for 45 minutes.”

The solution: Hire more agents and

add them at the busiest times. But the

government moves even slower than

those TSA lines. So good luck with that

one.

In the meantime, passengers like

Linden are applying for known traveler

programs like TSA PreCheck, Global En-

try, and CLEAR. That should move

things along.

Travelers want the unvarnished

truth. Consider what happened to Lau-

ren Wolfe, an attorney in Washington,

when she tried to book a hotel in Florida

a few years ago. She discovered that af-

ter she selected the hotel online, it add-

ed a mandatory $25 per night charge. “I

said to myself, ‘This has got to be ille-

gal,’” she told me.

The hotels say it is legal. “Resort

fees,” which cover extras like the use of

a gym and “free” Wi-Fi, are common in

the hotel business. Wolfe started a site

called Killresortfees.com and made it

her mission to destroy the fees. And

that’s the long-term solution to these

unwanted extras. There ought to be a

law.

Is it any wonder that travelers arrive

at their destination exhausted? It’s the

indignities we suffer in transit. That’s

what you hate about travel.

The travel industry thinks suffering

is a normal part of the travel experi-

ence. So it doesn’t hesitate to sell you

an airline ticket with stupid restric-

tions or a hotel room with an outra-

geous fee. It doesn’t care if you have to

wait in a long line. Or if you can’t figure

out how to plan your trip online with-

out losing your shirt.

None of this should happen. The

travel industry ought to set the stan-

dard for customer service. But until

they do, at least we know we’re in this

together.

How to handle the hate

Take a deep breath.That’s the ad-

vice of Christine Scott-Hudson, a li-

censed psychotherapist. “Your deep,

long breaths stimulate your vagus

nerve,” she says. That, in turn, pro-

motes feelings of general well-being

and safety.

Take inventory of your situation.

Put your problem into perspective.

Your trip will eventually end. You’ll be

home, far away from the stress of holi-

day travel. Might as well take another

deep breath while you’re at it. That’s

right. Breathe in. Breathe out. There

you go.

Take action. If you experienced

something that made you hate to trav-

el, try to eliminate it from your trip.

Whether you’re starting a site to pro-

test resort fees, or just avoiding an air-

line or hotel in the future – do some-

thing.

Tackle travel annoyances so you

can start to enjoy your vacations

Every traveler has things that annoy

them. Put your problem into

perspective. Your trip will eventually

end. You’ll be home, far away from the

stress of holiday travel. GETTY IMAGES

On Travel

Christopher Elliott

USA TODAY

What do you hate about travel? And
is there any way to fix the problem, be-
sides staying home?
For Brett Manders, the answer to
“what drives you crazy?” is simple. “The
carousel cozy-uppers,” he says. You
know, the folks who crowd around the
baggage carousel after a flight lands.
“I’m 100% certain that your bags will
not come out any quicker the closer you
are to the baggage carousel,” says Man-
ders, an international airline pilot who
wrote the book “Behind the Flight Deck
Door.”
The solution is simple, too. Some air-
ports draw a line around the carousel
and tell everyone to stand back until
their luggage arrives.
As the busy holiday travel season be-
gins, let’s talk about our travel annoy-
ances and how to fix them. There are no
reliable surveys that examine the entire
travel experience, from planning to ar-
rival. But you already know what grates
against your nerves, right?
Travelers love to hate vacation plan-
ning, for example. Rey Alton, a travel ad-
visor with Travel Leaders in Houston,
says your anger is justified.
When air travelers go all DIY, they of-
ten purchase tickets they don’t under-
stand. “I see this issue arise more and
more,” he says. “Basic economy fares
don’t allow you to choose a seat, and to
upgrade to a confirmed seat assignment
can be pricey.”
I think the fix for this problem is pret-
ty straightforward: Make these
stripped-down “basic” fares illegal. I
mean, who doesn’t fly with a bag or need
a seat assignment? Whose plans never
change? Not mine!
Meantime, people like Alton – pro-
fessional vacation planners – are the so-
lution. A travel pro will keep you far, far
away from these absurd airline tickets.
How about long lines? Do those an-

The arrival of November marks the
unofficial kickoff to the travel season, be
it over Thanksgiving weekend, Christ-
mas road trips to see family next month
or perhaps a winter vacation down
south.
But in the digital age, travelers face a
few extra risks that we didn’t have to
worry about before laptops, smart-
phones, tablets and other devices were
included among typical travel gear. It’s
worth it to make sure to avoid some un-
safe behaviors, which could be exploit-
ed by criminals, to avoid putting your-
self (and your data) in harm’s way.
Here’s some travel-related tech mis-
takes you might be making, and how to
fix them:

Avoid posting pics to social media

While it may be tempting to post va-
cation photos in the moment, remember
these posts are also broadcasting the
fact your home is vacant at that time
(insert the “face palm” emoji).
Yes, there are countless stories of
travelers returning to a cleaned-out
home, because they posted holiday pics
to Facebook or Instagram, and didn’t
quite know whom all their online
“friends” were.
Even if you’ve got a closed social net-
work – where you’re super-selective
about whom can see your posts – a
friend could always leave their feed
open and others could see it (say, at
work).
Instead, if you want to #travelbrag (a
hashtag coined by Hotels.com), wait
until you get back home. It can wait!

Don’t use public Wi-Fi hotspots

While airports and hotels offer free
Wi-Fi, you’re putting your information
at greater risk when using these public
“hotspots.” Malicious types can more
easily access your data on these than
when you are on a private network. And
you might think you’re joining a legiti-

mate network, like “Miami Airport Wi-

Fi” when in fact it’s a fake (“rogue”) net-

work setup by someone nearby, who’s

seeking to access travelers’ info.

Also, those who provide free Wi-Fi

can (and often) collect and sell data

about your browsing habits.

Another misconception: a public Wi-

Fi hotspot is safe if there’s a password

required, often given out by the estab-

lishment. It’s not much safer than not

having a password if it’s freely given out

to everyone indiscriminately.

If you can avoid them altogether,

don’t use public Wi-Fi. Instead, consid-

er your smartphone’s cellular connec-

tion by creating a personal hotspot. If

you want to use free public Wi-Fi, at

least use a Virtual Private Network

(VPN) to browse anonymously. A VPN –

ExpressVPN ($99/year) is an example –

is a service you connect to that protects

your data from outsiders.

Be smart with your smartphone

All smartphones let you lock it with a

PIN code, password, pattern or biomet-

rics login (using a part of your body) to

confirm it’s really you.

So long as you lock your device in

some fashion, no one else can access

your information should your device be

lost or stolen. A thumbprint or face scan

is most convenient, if your device offers

it.

The same advice could be applied to

your laptop or tablet: require a password

to use all your tech. That way, if it’s lost

or stolen, no one can access your private

information.

Also, if you haven’t done so already,

be sure to set up your device’s “Find My

Phone” feature, so you can locate it on a

map, if lost or stolen. If it’s stolen, never

try to retrieve it yourself. Instead, work

with the local authorities, just to err on

the side of caution.

Some travelers choose not to have

any important files with them on the

road. Instead, they store everything in

the cloud – such as OneDrive, Google

Drive, iCloud, or Dropbox – and access

what they need, virtually.

How to keep your tech,

data safe while traveling

Marc Saltzman
Special to USA TODAY