For a pleasant leisure flight, you need to plan

For pleasant leisure flight you must plan Leisure air travel used to be fun and exciting.

Now, with increased airport security and downright stingy airline amenities, it can be the pits, especially if you make the kind of dumb mistakes that I made while traveling this month.

Here are five things that can trash a trip and some tips on how to avert a travel disaster:

• You wait too late to book your flight using travel rewards. Call the airline or go to its Web site and check what month you can travel to your vacation destination for the lowest number of frequent-flyer miles.

Wait too late to book, though, and the mileage-redemption requirement will shoot sky high, perhaps out of your reach for the desired date, or no rewards seats will be available.

• You wake up too late to get to the airport on time. On time means two hours before your flight, even if that means getting up at 3:30 a.m. to catch a 7:30 a.m. flight.

Before 9/11, it wasn't uncommon for a frequent traveler to arrive at the airport 30 minutes before a flight and make it, Richmond International Airport spokesman Troy Bell said. Nowadays, some airlines close boarding 30 minutes before taking off and won't let you on even if you beg.

"Once they close the gate, it sets off a series of notifications," Bell said. A computer system on board the plane starts signaling the airline's dispatch office that the plane is ready for departure. That's the point of no return.

But why two hours in the wee hours of the morning?

To leave enough time to park, check in, check your bags and get through security, Bell said.

The baggage-screening system alone consumes time, he said.

Conveyor belts take travelers' bags to a central screening room shared by the airlines. There, they are screened electronically, sorted and routed back to the proper carrier.

"It just takes time," he said, as short as 10 minutes to 15 minutes, as long as 30 minutes.

Being on time in the early morning is especially critical for travelers who must make connections, he said.

• You park in the expensive airport lot. With just minutes to sprint through security to the gate, you may choose the closest parking option.

If you choose the daily lot and stay away seven days, you might get a bill for $84. That's the $12-per-day lot.

Valet parking is $20 a day. Or if you pull into the hourly lot figuring that parking there is better than missing the flight, expect to ante up $24 a night.

Next time, leave early and head for the airport authority's economy lots A, B or C -- they cost $7 a day. Or Park'n Go's lot on Audubon Drive near Airport Drive costs $7.99 a day.

• In flight, the man's seatback in front of you is practically in your lap.

Next time, before booking, check TripAdvisor's SeatGuru online. It compares the leg room and seat width of many airlines.

On some airlines, you can pay extra for more space. For instance, passengers of JetBlue Airways can pay $10 to $30 more, depending on the flight length, to sit in its rows with the most spacious legroom, spokeswoman Alison Croyle said.

• There is no free meal on your long flight. Forget the free peanuts. They're up in first class.

Maybe only free sodas and juice. You may have to pay $10 for a cold hoagie or a salad with chips when your stomach starts to growl and there are two more flying hours to go.

The sure thing, if tasty meals make you happy on a trip, is to eat before the flight in the increasing array of popular restaurants inside airports. Or choose a flight that serves an included meal.

Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or .