Air Travel

After arriving at the airport, the baggage is taken to the airline counter. The officer on duty examines your tickets. There may be a long queue at the counter, but be patient, it won't take long. And in any case, creating a scene here won't be of much help.
After your tickets have been checked, the baggage is weighed. Standard baggage permitted is 20 kg per passenger travelling on economy class and 30 kg for those travelling in the first class on both domestic and international flights. Baggage that is not required for the duration of travel is checked in, that means it is kept in the storage compartment of the aircraft and delivered on arrival at the destination. Usually, the airlines provides stickers and baggage tags for fixing onto the baggage.
Avoid carrying excess baggage and save yourself the trouble of looking for fellow-passengers to dump some of your excess baggage onto.
After checking the ticket and baggage, the counterfoil is returned by the airline representative with a boarding pass. In case of an international flight, there is a customs, immigration and security check before one actual ly proceeds towards the aircraft. Nowadays, in order to protect passengers and the aircrafts from hijackers and terrorists, strict security measures have been enforced. Baggage, briefcases and handbags are passed through an X-ray machine and passengers are frisked in small booths by a security officer of the same sex.
Since there is a lot of checking to be done, as a rule, you should reach the airport at least one hour before the domestic flight and three hours prior to an international flight.
Once inside the aircraft, the airhostess will show you your seat. In fact, before going through security, you can indicate to the duty officer your choice of seat regarding the 'Smoking' or 'No smoking' zone or a window or aisle seat.
If you are an economy class passenger and arrive late, your chances of getting a middle seat (the least desirable) are more. This, however, can prove to be quite a bother, specially if the elbows and shoulders of your copassengers keep digging into you.