Choices that save you time

Choose smaller, less congested airports. Between Gatwick and Paris Charles de Gaulle, BA allows a "block time" (ie from pushback to arrival at the stand) of 90 minutes - although the flying time is just half-an-hour.

l Choose a flexible airline: BA insists on all passengers being on board 10 minutes before scheduled departure time. Other airlines, such as those using London City airport, don't require you to turn up until 10 minutes beforehand.

Choose your terminal carefully. Heathrow's terminal 2 has by far the shortest kerb (or tube) to plane journey at Britain's busiest airport, while Gatwick's north terminal is a pain for rail travellers, who then have to transfer to another shuttle.

Beware of Etops: Boeing 767s aren't just slow; they, like other twin- jets, suffer from the need to stay within three hours of a diversion airport - called the "Etops 180" rule. On some North Atlantic flights these planes have to zig-zag to stay within the 180-minute range.

Is your pilot prepared to put his/her foot down? Planes can safely fly faster than the optimum cruising speed - Airbuses have a maximum cruising speed 25mph faster than the "optimum", which could save half-an-hour on the Los Angeles-London run.