Posted on 03/04/2011 6:31:00 AM PST by re_tail20
I have always wondered why Airlines did not encourage passengers to show up early and check their bags. Something like check in 1:30 min before the flight and get $10 back. Check a bag 1:30 before the flight, get another $20 back
Sounds like the AP is greasing the skids for a tax on carry-on luggage.
If they start charging for carry-on luggage, frequent travelers will start using a trench coat I've seen with dozens of pockets inside and out because coats don't count as carry-on luggage.
It seems the law of unintended consequences has not been repealed!
De-fund and disband the TSA completely.
For all of you who recommend that everyone check their bags so it’ll be quicker to load and unload the airplane, haven’t you read the constant stream of stories about baggage handlers (esp. at JFK)stealing items from checked luggage? Just think how much more common that will become when they know that all of our valuables are in the checked bags. No thanks — I’d rather take an extra 10 minutes to load the plane, and know that everything I’m bringing with me will reach its destination.
One reason I don’t check bags is that I don’t want to give unionized airport luggage people extra work. Maybe they’ll lay some off...
>I’d like to see the airlines get rid of checked baggage fees (except for overweight luggage) and not permit anything bigger than a woman’s purse or maybe a small tote bag onboard. (one that can still fit under the seat in front of them) It would save a lot of time getting people on & off the plane.<
Airlines lose checked baggage all the time. If not for checked baggage, business folks, those traveling for weddings or funerals and just leisure travelers would be in a world of hurt.
How many valuables would be stolen by the TSA if carryons were eliminated?
Thanks for explaining that. I have wondered about that since the checked luggage fees began.
I just came back from a trip wherein they started seating passengers from the rear first. There were about 35 rows. I was in Row 24. By the time I got there, all of the overhead compartments were filled back to Row 14, where I put mine. What did the folks in the first few rows do?
How much does passengers wearing clothing cost them?
I travel several times a year and always check baggage. I’ve never had anything stolen, though a couple of time over the past 25 yrs, I’ve had a bag or 2 show up a day late due to connecting flight problems. I’ve never lost a bag or even had a bag show up late when booking nonstop.
I travel for work 35+ trips per year, and invariably, regardless of the airport, there are too many TSO's standing around doing next to nothing watching their co-workers. I'd say 1 in 10 TSO's knows if his or her ass is drilled or punched. The other 9 have no idea. This entire organization can be accurately characterized as extremely expensive taxpayer-funded security theater.
The only skills a TSA “agent” has is to:
1) YELL at Americans at “take off your shoes!”, ‘put the laptop in the tray...IN THE TRAY!”
2) Touch and molest Americans as they board the plane..and disembark the plane.
“and not permit anything bigger than a woman’s purse or maybe a small tote bag onboard. (one that can still fit under the seat in front of them) It would save a lot of time getting people on & off the plane.”
And when they lose your checked in baggage or accidently send it off to a city a thousand miles from where you were going, you will have what with you? Oh, that’s right, nothing that won’t fit into a woman’s purse. You and your purse will be all that you have. Good luck.
When I have $6000 of stuff in my carry-on bags I’m not gonna check them.
This Xmas, I walked away from an alternate flight (one of those Brazzilion mini-planes) and waited for the next one because I would have had to check my carri-on. Not just a gate check, but a full check that would have to be picked up, with any luck, at the destination carousel.
I have long wondered how travelers with ultra-expensive things that they can’t possibly carry on (full pro photo or video gear, atomic clock, etc.) manage to avoid thievery—especially when traveling to and from foreign places—which would be a bit more disastrous to them than losing some underwear and cologne.
You see those big fiberglass cases on carousels and you know they have expensive stuff in them. I presume every pro traveling with expensive checkable gear has full insurance, but that wouldn’t save their gig. They must spend a lot of effort creating backup plans to quickly obtain replacement gear at their destination. I have also read that some of them ship their gear (at great expense) ahead of time through a comparatively reliable firm like FedEx.
Hmmm, I can check a bag which costs me money, or I can carry it on costing a government agency I don’t respect money... wait let me think about this one.
And I'd never fly anywhere again with my photo and recording gear, even if it was the point of the trip.
Gee, I'm not sure about mine, it happened so long ago. How do you tell?
≤}B^)
How about this? FedEx/UPS or another entrepreneur focus on serving airline customers. Everybody who wants to ships their luggage separately, where it can either be picked up by the customer or delivered to an address at the destination.
Some people do this already. It is not expensive and saves some hassles. Also, sometimes luggage goes on another (passenger) plane anyway.
If airlines carried only passengers and cargo planes carried the cargo, maybe this would provide some opportunities to make air travel both less expensive and easier for people.
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