h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If you do happen to travel business class, may I recommend taking a large, opaque, half-empty handluggage into the lounge? That way, if it's self service beers, you can secrete the odd 12 or so ready for stashing in the minibar at the other end.

And you get to mix yourself ridiculous cocktails.

Has anyone here been through Johannesburg airport lately? The materilisation of a News Cafe there is a great help for anyone who fancies a Flaming Lamborghini (at something mad like R28, why not have three?) before flying.

The only time you actually don't mind checking in two hours before a flight is when you can hit the free lounge. Admittedly, this is only usually good practice on short-ish flights as you will feel like death upon arrival if you have too many before(and during)a long-haul. Also, if you are flying on business it is probably best to go the night before if you are going to take full advantage of that £500+ ticket your kindly employer provided you with

The courtesy drinks are becoming increasingly more important on the ground as airlines seem to be getting tighter with the number of drinks they dish out in the air. I don't know if this is because of the proliferance of air-rage incidents recently, or just a way of cutting costs.

Don't forget if you cannot drink on the flight because you have to drive upon arrival to get a few bottles of wine or spirits left unopened for later consumption.