Checking vs Carrying On

Thanks for posting, Frank. It’s all the basic arguments that people discuss here, but I was surprised at the lost bags statistics posted. One out of 200 bags mishandled or lost seems high. But that issue is what keeps me almost always doing carry on. It has happened to me or someone I’m traveling with 3 times over the years so maybe that 1 out 200 stat is accurate. Hmm…..

I did not watch it. It comes up enough on here. Maybe not as an outright A vs B topic but is expressed in other ways. It is set. There is no swaying the other side. And that is what it is, the other side. There is passion, and underneath, privilege, resentment, expectations, and superstition, and a big lot of, it’s all about me. It is part of travel in this day and age of huge masses of people moving themselves out and about. It is altitudes. It is overcrowding. It is all of us trying to break ourselves free in some way to temper the trying experience of flying. It is the wolves and the sheep.

Both made some fairly silly points though..I mean, who is going to need to go out shopping for shoes? Wouldn't you take your activities into account before you packed and not need "just in case" shoes? And the carryon gal says she is worried some of the things that are important to her might get damaged if she checks a bag...seriously, don't take stuff that is very important and apt to be damaged.

I, too, was astonished at the stats on the mishandled bags. I'm usually a Delta Flyer and yikes on the American Airlines statistic. It also doesn't take into consideration that Delta, United and American have many more flights than Hawaiian, Allegiant and Frontier.

TBH, I think most regular readers of the forum are miles ahead of these 2. Discussions here help folks make informed choices whether they are Team Check or Team Carry on.

I agree that the points have already been brought up in forum discussions. The word I don’t agree with is “debate”. I don’t care if someone else on our forum decides to check or carry on their bag, or if they flip back & forth on those options for specific types of flights. I am not winning points or trying to convert someone into the lightweight carry on backpack Cotopaxi Allpa 35L - 13.5 pounds total weight & I’m breezing through lots of trains for a month through Europe! LOL! But, if somebody likes to talk specifically how they could just do carry on, there’s lots of great advice over the years on this forum to help them.

And yes, the graphic of the number of lost bags should also have shown a second column with percentages per bags checked for each airline to be meaningful.

Well this discussion is always new to somebody.

I really think that focusing this "issue" on the flight is only part of what should be considered. Getting through the airport and the flight is only a small part of the trip. Packing light is the real point, as it frees you up for the whole trip. And it's a different consideration if you're going on a business trip, a resort vacation, and a two week tour, and whether it's a direct flight or multiple connections.

Critiquing the video: I've given up on carryon only, because of the "competition for overhead space." I picture the "pro-carryon-only person" as being the one who fills a whole bin up with her bag, giant personal item, coat, and computer bag. They didn't pursue the "lost" definition enough. I've had checked luggage delayed, but never lost. Sometimes I wish they would lose it, so I could get compensated and replace the old clothes I prefer to take. Lounges and superior credit card perks is a discussion beyond the scope of most casual travelers.

Really, why is this a debate? Why should I care, take an interest in, or become personally invested in how another chooses to pack or organize their baggage? And why should anyone care about me?

”I picture the "pro-carryon-only person" as being the one who fills a whole bin up with her bag, giant personal item, coat, and computer bag.”

Stan, fortunately the experience on my most recent flights is that the gate check is being much more thorough now and forcing travelers to have only two items total. The carry on suitcases I saw seem to be much more in line with the actual dimensions, too. We can only hope it continues. ; )

I hope so Jean. My tone is from multiple bitter experiences. A lot of things would go easier, including de-planing etiquette, if airlines enforced their existing rules.

I flew recently on Southwest which I do not fly on. I carried my bag on as I usually do. I was shocked at the at least half empty luggage compartments when we landed.

Apparently, there are lots of people who would check their bags if the airlines didn’t charge them!

I mean, who is going to need to go out shopping for shoes?

Carrie Bradshaw

Apparently, there are lots of people who would check their bags if the
airlines didn’t charge them!
Amen!

Hi, BethFL
Yes, I just flew on Southwest and checked a bag as the flight was only 1 hour and 20 minutes and didn't think it would get lost between San Jose and Santa Ana. They didn't charge to check it otherwise I would have carried it on.

As in any discussion, those that operate based on some extreme ideology only get it right half the time.

But in 3 trips a year for 20 years averaging 4 flights a trip, so 240 flights, in which on every trip i had a carry on, I always found space for it.

No carry on here. No fear of lost bag. No gate worries about overhead space.
Most of all do not have to carry around and watch bag during layovers or long airport walks.
People are on one side of this issue or the other. There is no quarter given.

No carry on here.

That's the ideology I was referring to. So for an overnight trip, you would feel a need to check a bag?

About a third of the time i check a bag, 2 thirds not. Depends on the circumstances. I don't feel empowered or guilty or superior either way.

We were on an AA flight to Mexico recently…after asking people to voluntarily check their carryons, they made it ABUNDANTLY clear that the last two boarding classes would have their bags checked, no exceptions. And they made sure people condensed everything into two sizes, the usual carryon and personal. As an aside, they were also making sure no one jumped ahead in the boarding process. Interesting to watch several reactions!

I check because I'm short and my upper body strength isn't all that great. It bothers me to see people, women especially, expecting other people to lift their bags in and out of the overhead bins for them. On my last flight, a woman was holding up the boarding process because she wanted someone to stow her very heavy bag for her. Unfortunately, the people directly behind her were older women such as myself. So much for self-reliance. If you can't lift it yourself, check it.

Estimated Prophet it seems strange to me that we have gotten to a point where someone feels as though they even have to explain themselves. Its a freeking bag for goodness sake. The airline provide choices. One should decide which choice will make the trip more pleasant for them and follow the rules of the choice. Then everyone else should go about their business and not worry about it. Not ragging on you, ragging on the others.

Here is the gospel of traveling with a bag:

If you want to carry-on, then carry-on. Just make sure you are following the carry-on rules.

If you want to check your bag, then check your bag.

There is no right or wrong, just personal choice.

I posted the video because I thought it was sort of a ridiculous debate. These are two seasoned travel journalists yet it sounded like amateurs.

Just don't be this guy:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2b/b0/94/2bb09448f09fc873df47639ce38fee0a.jpg

As usual, FrankII nailed it.

Me, I just hate check-in counters. So when it is convenient and when it doesnt otherwise detract from the enjoyment of the trip, I try and use just a carryon. I get to the airport, I walk past check-in, through security and head to the coffee shop for breakfast. 45 minutes later all those stiffs I saw in line at the check-in catch up with me..... sometimes those stiffs are me.

Earlier this year my trip fishing in Bosnia the carry on was the fishing gear and that means if I dont want to run around in the same clothes for a week, gotta check a bag. Such is life.

My trip last summer to Australia was for two weeks. Impossible without checking a bag.

Christmas I got invited to spend with my son near Kaiserslautern, Germany .... at the last minute. Lufthansa is so freeking expensive that I opted for the cheapest ticket which means no checked bag. I will rough it to save a $100 bucks on a one hour flight.

Second Christmas I got invited to visit friends and it requires an overnight train ride. Probably going to be sharing a compartment on the train with strangers so I am doing just a backpack that I can hug all night. By day 5 only the backpack will let me hug ........

These are the implications of a carry on. For starters carry on is a misnomer, because mostly they are wheeled bags.
The implications are, you are wheeling your bag taking up double the width as you go through the airport. Traveling with others means you have a wide width of passage across the terminal walkways, blocking others. In and out of bathrooms. Carry on means you are taking up space in the restaurant areas, crowding out others. Taking up extra space in the waiting areas.
The word “crowded” which applies to an airport, is due to the numbers of people. Roll around carry ons are taking up more than the space of a person. Numbers of people have not increased, but space has decreased. See above.
Plus, people with carry ins will often have a back pack of what you would think is a carry on size, so you are double bagging it onto the plane. Plus, the personal item.
Your carry on creates anxiety at the gate. You have to stand near the entrance and try to hopefully get aboard to stow your bag, creating congestion. Then aboard you have to stow all that gear. Maybe needing help to hoist it up. Holding up the boarding process. Same with deplaning. Now I am waiting for you and all to get your heavy big bag down, meanwhile, between you and the front of the plane there is nobody. A huge gap.
I will not even go into the delays at TSA due to your carry on(s).
So these are the implications of your bag as it affects others.

As Jack Nicholson said in A Few Good Men, “you can’t handle the carry on”.

Most of your space allocation argument, if or where true, considering the bags existed before the airport, is poor airport design. Nothing to do with the bags. The backpack argument is not about carry-on, it is about those that feel they are above the rules. Paying a bounty on rule breakers might be helpful. Gate anxiety is a self-inflicted condition. You have the choice to check a bag. Holding up the boarding process, again, given the fact that the carry-on existed before the airplane design is a factor of poor design or poor procedures by the airline or flight crew. Or even poor expectations by the customer as the policy of carry-on luggage existed before the customer purchased the ticket. So these are the implications of your bag as it affects others that believe that they are entitled to special treatment rather than the norm of air travel.

Yes, I fight for freedom to only have to pay for what you want to use. One fare class means flying returns to becoming a bourgeoisie convenience as opposed to a proletariat right. The checked bags of the plutocrats will inevitably weigh substantially more than the basic needs of the worker found packed in his modest carry on. Weight = fuel consumption which = environmental destruction.

Airlines could solve the competition for overhead space and the related delays in boarding if they chose to. I was impressed by an experience on the budget carrier PLAY airlines. They make you pay for overhead carry-on --- which I definitely did grumble about -- but that fee is less that for their checked baggage and it comes with priority boarding. Basically, you have reserved your overhead space and it is pretty much guaranteed to be near your seat. Attendants stationed along the aisle help people who need it and the boarding goes faster and more efficiently than on other airlines in my experience. I also remember not that long ago when most major airlines allowed free checked bags for transatlantic flights even in economy. That too mght help the overhead space crunch.

One big factor for me carrying-on.....while checked bag folks are waiting for their bag to (hopefully) show up at baggage claim, I'm already out the terminal door.

Here's the main incident that turned me off to team carryon. I used to fly for work monthly to Chicago on one of the US major airlines and I always checked a bag due to the stuff I had to bring with me. It was always a Embraer regional jet (limited overhead space). On more than one occasion, the boarding announcements half-way through said that all bins were full and any remaining passenger carryon bags would be checked through to your final destination. I asked out of curiosity and the gate agent confirmed that for passengers connecting to an international flight, the gate-checked carryon bag would go al the way to final stop. No ramp pickup. The moral for me being that even if you followed the carryon rules, there was no guarantee there would actually be space for it.

Yes it is a personal decision, but it's one that impacts other people. A big chunk of the population from the top down, believe the rules dont apply to them, or that whatever you get away with, must be OK. My strategy is to check a bag but not have anything irreplaceable or valuable in it. And checking lets me bring a smaller carryon on board that will fit under the seat.

No matter what rule or procedure the airlines institute, people will be outraged.

My personal choice is for carryon, and yes, I abide by the rules. I can lift my bag up into the bins, but am very short so often times people offer to help if I am not with my husband. I would never ask anyone though.

We have had to check bags on occasion and I don't like it because it is just more time in the airport waiting for them to arrive.

James--One horror story was from my brother this fall. He was doing the Camino de Santiago and his bag never made it. He arrived with just the clothes on his back (his mistake), and no boots, nothing. Thank goodness he was wearing trail runners and the group of friends he was with shared their clothes so he had shorts and shirts to wear vs his Levi's. He had an AirTag on it and kept telling American where exactly the bag was, yet nobody would do anything about it. It arrived back to his home 38 days later.

Sometimes I wish they would lose it, so I could get compensated and replace the old clothes I prefer to take.

Hahaha!!! Yes, I feel that way, too, stan!

I just watched the movie " Carry-On" not sure if will do carryon again ... or even fly again. https://youtu.be/KS0XacjMmOc?si=_7dCUjQUE58wzLXv