As previously advised, wear clothing made from natural fibres. But not just for comfort - it could save your life, too.

Just coming up to 79 years old, and my wife[aka Senior management] has decreed no more flying!!!!. B....er!. Had years of it, loved every minute. Always treated the C.C with respect, even after having coffee spilled all over my new trousers. As many have said, count rows to exits, get up and walk about, even down to the Canaries. Never used a call button, just waited my moment. It pays off, especially with Chocolate puds!!. [3 on a Virgin long haul]. Commiserated with the Chief Steward on a Malaysian 380 about the rotten luck they had had. Got a tour of the aircraft,except flight deck, and gifts on leaving. Several flight deck landings before 911. We always regarded ourselves as privileged to be able to fly, and always treated the C.C. as friends. Some good advice on here. Above all, enjoy!!!!. Over for me, Cruises from Southampton when they come back, but what lovely memories [including Concorde]!.

Thanks for keeping the thread going. Yes it is good to treat the crew with respect.

Some very good tips / advice there. It does however amaze me seeing people walking around the cabin or into the toilets with no shoes on. After a few hours you can guarantee there will be liquid on the floor in the toilets and it may or may not be water.

I'm a Frenchman established in Canada, and I remember my ancestors crossing the Atlantic in sailing ships, eating roten food for three weeks, and sinking once every ten times. I enjoy every flight, and when something non-normal happens... some adventure at least!

Eighteen hole Doc-Marten boots are not a good choice for air travel either; young lad on a Dublin-London trip behind me in the security line up had them on, It was the usual shoes off and place them in a basket for the scan. I think he spent more time taking them off and putting them back on again than we did in the air.

Boots I often wear for travel trigger some magnetic arches and not others. When my mother was living on the Isle of Man (in the days before automatic 'shoes off') the boots always triggered the detector at IOM but never at LTN or LGW. I mentioned this on a couple of occaisions at the IOM and they returned a frosty stare and said that all UK magnetic hoops were set to the same levels!!

Nonsense - try ABZ - its always set higher there than at LHR - gives them something to do

I used to fly a lot, being in Regional roles, mostly within SE Asia and Dubai, plus 2 or 3 a year to France or UK so I have a few routines.

Never fly in the morning if you can avoid it, unless you can take gin and tonic at breakfast.
Never wear formal trousers, pack those and wear easily laundered chinos or similar - you don't want to look a peasant in rubbish strides
Have a gin and tonic in the lounge before boarding
Skechers footwear that slips on and off easily for security
Sony WH noise cancelling headphones
iPad with movies already in case the IFE is out of action
Be courteous to the crew
Be at the gate early - you don't want to board last and have the glares from the people you are delaying
Long haul, drink until unconscious.
Overnight flight, change into PJs or similar
Go up the pointy end if you can

Keep passport, phone and wallet/purse on your person until after takeoff and again, before landing.

Don't wear brown shoes with a blue suit.

I would make a case that they should never leave your person. In an emergency you may not have time to retrieve them.

Thanks meleagertoo!

My passport, wallet, phone and a couple of other things are in a small shoulder bag at the seat. The plan being that I can quickly loop the shoulder strap over my head - with the bag sitting in front, not to the side. Then I will know where it is and it should not snag on anything during an emergency exit.

Agree with almost all the above; a couple of suggestions about booking which may make the flight less stressful.

Make your bookings yourself so you can consider all the options.

If it's a long haul trip through a hub like CDG, AMS, FRA etc, there will probably be multiple daily flights on the short leg, but only one or two on the long leg. Leave a longish transit time outbound (at least 2-3 hrs) because missing the long haul flight or arriving without a checked bag may be seriously inconvenient (especially if you are going up country or boarding a ship). On the homebound trip book the shortest possible transit time - there's always a later flight back to UK, and if your bag doesn't make it your dirty washing will be delivered to your front door surprisingly quickly.

If it's a short haul flight on a low cost airline, try to avoid the last departure of the day - that's the one that may be cancelled if delays have built up during the day.

Strongly support keeping your vital documents/cards/phone on your person or very close all the time.

And finally, if your luggage never leaves your sight (because it's in the cabin with you) you won't suffer the heartsink of being the last person waiting in vain at the carousel...

Bring a biro with you. Always useful for filling in those complicated landing cards!!

except in countries that insist on pencil..................

"If it's a short haul flight on a low cost airline, try to avoid the last departure of the day - that's the one that may be cancelled if delays have built up during the day."

Applies to any airline - and the last flight of the day often means you're parked at some unknown corner of an airfield rather than at a gate and have to wait for the only bus still working to ferry you all to the terminal- LHR is very good at this.

Tablets
 

To make your time away from home more comfortable take your tablets and a copy of your prescription with you. Not in the hold bags. Baggage often goes missing.

Once, they overbooked economy, and needed to move somebody to first class to make room.

We saw the cabin attendant walking down the aisle with a list, and we happened to belong to the frequent flyers club and were dressed nicely, so we got bumped up to first class. :)

I think the dressed nicely was key. One of us in a jacket…. A step up from business casual.

I’m always nice to the cabin crew.

If you have a tight connection between flights, ask the crew on the first leg if they know what gate the connecting flight departs from. It can make the difference between catching a flight and cooling your heels for hours.

Avoid the last row of seats. They can’t recline. The seats by the emergency exit over the wing have more leg room, but you have to be physically able to remove the exit door in case of emergency.