Living in LA, I rarely experience travel disruptions like the most recent cross country trip to the East Coast.  Snow conditions created cancellations and missed connections and a whopping 18 hour itinerary.  

Determined not to be sour at the 10+ hour delay, I sailed through the long day thinking about WTJ's Travel Happy. Travel Well. tagline. Below are some tips and strategies that made the delay quite ok. 

1) FOOD: Packed healthy snacks. Check.
2) FLIGHT STATUS: The moment my flight landed, I checked email and saw my next flight was cancelled. This allowed me to act quickly and ask a flight attendant on the way out, where the customer service counter was. Luckily, it was right across from the arrival gate and I was first in line. Bonus! My customer service rep couldn't have been nicer and so was I. Looking back as she typed in options, the line behind me was h---u--g--e.  Lesson: Check your phone for connecting flight info and flight status ASAP and regularly. 
3) BE NICE to the person that is helping you and those around you. Should go unsaid...but just saying!
4) BE FLEXIBLE: Commuter flights were cancelled and Phili had limited connections. In order to fly North, I had to first fly South to catch a bigger plane. It added a 3rd connection but it also saved me from spending a night in a hotel or worse, in the airport.
4) WATCH FOR EMPTY SEATS:  Across from me were 3 empty seats. Waiting for final boarding cues, I simply asked the flight attendant if I could move and viola - instant extra space. Hurray.
5) BE PATIENT: Landing in Charlotte, I didn't make the next connection. I now had 5+ hours to wait What to do? I was on the look out for "wellness" experiences - sat in a rocking chair and watched the world go by, peeked into Comfort Suites (where there are private napping quarters), walking by the shopping options and decided to take advantage of Southern comfort food - cooked greens, cornbread and brisket. Very comforting. Good choice.
6) BE AWARE: Gate changed happen all the time; don't make the mistake of hanging out, zoning out and being in the wrong spot at the right time.  
7) SHARE: My last gate stop, there was one outlet, situated in a tight corner. Three of us shared one outlet. It made the pre-boarding more enjoyable.
8 ) BE PREPARED:  Landing in Albany airport, I was a bit shocked to learn, there was no gate bridge. We would be walking off narrow staircase, into the snowy, blowy, cold where we would have to wait for our carry on luggage that had to be valet checked due to the small bin space. 
9) BE GRATEFUL:  A little late, a little weary, but well-fed, warm, and happy to have arrived.

#1 - Establish the Support of a "Happy Dog Pelvis": To do this while sitting on an airplane, sit at your seat with your feet flat on the floor. Lean forward slightly to the left and "walk" your right sit bone farther behind you on the seat. Now repeat to the other side by leaning forward to the right and walking your left sit bone back. Notice that your sit bones are not only further behind you, but they are further apart from each other. Your pubis symphisis or "pubic bone" is now closer to the surface of the seat. Think of yourself as a "happy dog," wagging your tail behind. This is the opposite of a "sad dog" pelvis, where the tail is tucked under and the pubis curls up toward the navel. Tucking your own tail is what causes your spine to round and collapse.

There is still one more part to this. Often, positioning the pelvis like a happy dog (the way all healthy babies naturally sit) will cause your chest to lift up and your lower back to arch. This is almost always due to long-ago conditioning of unnatural patterns in your body. To correct this, maintain a "happy dog pelvis" while exhaling and releasing all tension in your body. Let your chest settle downward. Your head may move forward slightly as well. At first, this may feel quite strange and collapsed but, compared to the over-lifted, chest-up way of sitting, this puts your bones in the correct relationship to each other that releases unnecessary tension in muscles and compression in your spine. As long as you were able to maintain a happy dog pelvis, your bones can provide you with relaxed, upright support, instead of straining muscles having to struggle to hold you up.

#2 - Lean Back While Stretching Out Your Back: With your backrest set upright and your pelvis parked in the happy dog position (see #1 above), place your feet flat on the floor. Begin to slowly lift your lower back up the backrest. Your shoulders will immediately begin to roll forward and rise up toward your ears. Don't worry about this for now. Instead, notice that as you slowly lift your back up, firming sensations can be felt in the deepest "core" postural muscles of support. Notice that this is much deeper and more expansive than simply sucking in your belly (something you want to avoid doing). Once your back is as high up the backrest as possible, anchor it there, as if glued,  onto the backrest. Let your shoulders roll back onto the backrest and your head come up, while maintaining maximum length in the back of the neck. Now RELAX! You will probably need to repeat this multiple times during the flight, but it will help to lengthen out your spine and widen your back, releasing compression and bringing relief to chronically shortened, tight muscles.

#3 - Don't Just Fly—WALK Your Way to Your Destination (without ever leaving your seat!):  Even at 35,000 feet you can engage your connection to the Earth and reap many benefits doing so. With your feet placed flat, with your knees directly over your ankles, begin to push one of your feet into the floor. Do this slowly at first, beginning to push harder, and taking the time to feel the growing response up through your leg, into your hip and pelvis and wherever else in your body you experience a flow of energy and movement rising through you. Repeat this with your other foot, taking notice of how the push of your foot extends the sit bone on the same side further behind you. Can you feel how your legs, hips and back are all enlivened by this "grounding" into the "earth"? You can speed up your "walk" now, and as you do so, you will stimulate the flow of blood and oxygen throughout your body. You can even share this exercise with whoever is lucky enough to be sitting next to you. They'll be thanking you when the plane lands, as they, like you, will arrive at the destination feeling both relaxed and revitalized! 

About the Author:
Kathleen Porter is the director of the Center for Natural Alignment in Portland, Oregon. She offers programs for people with posture-related pain and for children and teachers in classrooms. She has taught principles of natural alignment at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Everyone knows traveling can be very stressful. I'm happy to report on a wonderful program at Los Angeles Airport, aptly called PUPs for short that stand for "Pets Unstressing Passengers". 

Trained dogs and their volunteer handlers provide  stress relief and comfort to passengers at the departures levels in the gate areas of each terminal.

Since the PUP program launched on April 15th 2013, both passengers and employees have enjoyed petting, hugging and getting kisses from the PUPs dogs.  Heidi Huebner, Director of Volunteers/PUPs explains, "The dogs bring the stress level down, and people start smiling and talking to each other. Sometimes people are traveling for sad reasons, and the dogs really cheer them up and provide comfort.  The volunteers also play a big part in having conversations with people.  Sometimes people have had long lay overs, so having a nice person to talk to along with petting a dog is all it takes make them feel better."

The dogs and their handlers are easily identifiable in red vests with the PUP logo and they are at LAX 7 days a week, as early as 7 am and as late as 11 pm.   LAX  partnered with Therapy Dogs, Inc. (TD, Inc.), a national organization that registers, insures and supports members who are involved in volunteer animal-assisted activities. These activities include visits to hospitals, special needs centers, schools, nursing homes, and for the first time for TD, Inc. – airports. 

In addition to training with TD, Inc., each volunteer is required to go through six hours of LAX classroom and in-terminal training to learn about the airport, passenger assistance and customer service.  In addition, handlers are fingerprinted and badged.

Roles of PUP Handlers
Relieve passenger stress and anxiety.
Inform and assist passengers with questions and wayfinding (helping other find their way)
Promote the PUP/VIP programs by handing out trading cards and information. 

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I'm going to make it a point to seek out a PUPS doggie. This is one of the best services in an airport that is bound to improve the "customer experience!"