Former airline worker reveals her ‘number one flight hack’ for ensuring stress-free travel for you AND your loved ones

Do you want to have a smoother flying experience on your next vacation?

Well, a former airline employee has shared her number one flight hack, in a bid to reduce passengers’ stress levels.

Darby Malone, who worked for three years in the aviation industry as a baggage handler, shows in a TikTok now viral how, if you have your flight code, you can simply text it to yourself – or share it with others – for live updates.

In the clip – which has been viewed more than 14.5 million times – she demonstrates how to include the airline code as well as the flight number. So, for example, if you were piloting American Airlines Flight 686, you would enter “AA686.”

Darby explains that once you type in the code and have it sent to you, “it will become a link to tell you everything you need to know about your flight, and it will update in real time.”

Not only will the link show if the flight is on time, but it will also show the next airport’s gate number as well as the baggage claim number.

Not only is this information useful for your peace of mind, she says, but the same code can be sent to family, friends or taxi drivers so they can plan for any delays or early arrivals.

“Whoever picks you up can literally see your little plane flying on the screen,” Darby tells viewers.

She continues: “You know, when you take off, you’re supposed to land at 8:30.

“And then mid-flight, it’s like there’s a big tailwind or something, and you end up landing at 8:06.

“It will be updated in this link, and whoever picks you up will be able to see exactly when the status of that flight changes.”

Thanks to her clever trick, Darby says she no longer needs to look at screens at the airport and just keeps an eye on her phone.

If you have a connecting flight, she adds, you can send yourself both flight numbers and “as soon as you land, you can just click on your link and know exactly what your (next) boarding gate is.” “.

Many of Darby’s followers thanked her for sharing her hack.

One commenter wrote: “I NEVER knew this! This makes my Type A airport so happy.

Another perplexed viewer revealed: “I’ve been a flight attendant for 13 years and I didn’t know that.”

Other viewers were baffled that it was possible to text each other.

One surprised viewer commented: “I’m old. I didn’t know I could text myself. LMAO.’

While another joked: “Why do I barely understand the fact that you can text each other?”

Besides texting flight codes, Darby says her other favorite travel hack is investing in TSA PreCheck, which allows for expedited screening at participating security checkpoints.