(Domestic, economy class)

Air travel, you may have noticed, ain't what it used to be. Therefore:

1. Check your large bag. Carry your make-up and computer bags only. The airlines rarely lose luggage. Besides, you need to be free to wander airports unburdened. No clothes are worth tying you down, if you think about it. Also, no clothes are worth the effort of stuffing a suitcase into the overhead bin next to four others. The flight attendant pulls it out, turns it around and shoves it back in again with a smile. But you feel the anger in his back muscles.

2. Plan to spend as much time in airports as you do in the air