Pack Light or Check Your Bag
I travel a lot and I’m sick and tired of people trying to carry on 100 pounds of luggage and trying to cram it into a 5 pound overhead storage compartment. And the funny part about it is most of the offenders are baby boomers.
I’ve tried to understand this baggage phobia and have come up with a couple of theories as to why people insist on keeping their luggage with them at all costs. So let’s look at them one at a time.
My first thought was people just don’t trust the airline to treat their luggage with the respect it desires; in fact they believe baggage handlers enjoy trashing their bag. Well I’ve sat on numerous planes and watched the luggage handlers load bags. And I’ll admit they do throw a bag around once in a while, but I seen more bags be damaged by people jamming them into an overhead compartment then I’ve seen handlers damaging them.
My second thought was that people believe that airlines enjoy sending your bag to Boston when you’re going to Los Angles. This of course reminds me of the old joke where a man walks up to the check-in desk with a ticket to go to LA and asks the check-in person if it was ok if he went to LA and if they could send his bag to Boston. The check-in person said “I’m sorry sir we can’t do that”. To which he replied “Why not you did it last week”.
Lastly I thought about how baby boomers seem to never have an extra minute to spare and I guess not having to wait for your luggage to come down the carousel is a plus. While I can see this point of view I look forward to the short wait for my bag. I provides me just a few minutes to relax before I’m on to the next important thing of the day.
Oh and on more I just thought of, baggage handlers enjoy trying on your clothes.
I guess the bottom line is if you want to carry on, pack light and small. If you can’t do that check you bag.
