Dylane

True, always within sight was a bit of an exaggeration, but my bag is almost always stored under my seat since I like to have easy access to my stuff. And I'm a lot less worried about someone on the flight stealing something when I get up for a minute, because it would be obvious pretty quickly if something like my laptop went missing.

But the theft thing is more of an added bonus and/or justification. Really, I just want to make sure I'm comfortable carrying everything I bring with me for most of the day, say if I take a red eye somewhere and get in at 6 in the morning and have to bum around town until 3 or 4pm when I can check into a room. Sure, with a bit of effort you can usually find someplace to stash your bags, but you have to go to the trouble of both finding that place and then getting back to it. It's easier to just have something that is easy to carry. But that's a very different style of travel than people who are traveling for business, have a hotel already booked, rent a car or take a taxi straight there, etc...

My business travel tends to be short trips of 3 or 4 days max, so still easy to fit everything in a backpack...but that wouldn't be as easy for longer trips, or if I traveled more often to cold weather spots, or needed more gear, or anyone of a thousand reasons. So no judgement, except of the most gentle joshing kind, for those who need or want to travel heavier.

WilcoRoger

I don't know what airports you are using, but in my experience 2 minutes is just science-fiction. It might take two minutes at the counter, but until you get there... When I'm flying OW or *A it's really just walking up to the First/Business class counter with the checked luggage (this happens when flying with the missus ) but god forbid flying ST or any LCC with no status in the back of the bus.

Carousel is airport dependent, 20 minutes is a good average - even intra-EU, with no immigration or stuff.

WilcoRoger

My stuff rolls behind me or sits on the roller

For 1-2 (maybe even 3) nights I pack only a RedOxx Miniboss, which, even full is still within the "personal item" dimensions.

For longer trips (under 7 nights) an alu-Rimowa 2 wheeler gets the extra stuff, which often includes a DSLR body and one or two objectives. If needed, I can check/gate check it, otherwise it comes onboard. "Carrying", ie rolling behind means those few hundred meters one needs to walk from security to lounge to gate.

And no, I do not do any work near the carousel. Phone calls I can make from the taxi, too

But hey, to each his/her own. If someone wants to check luggage, who am I to say no?

darthbimmer

I find that bag drop takes at least 5 minutes even with elite status and when the line is short. At elite-heavy hubs (e.g., SFO as a UA elite) I have seen it take 15-20 minutes at busy times. Waits without status can be even worse, e.g. 45+ minutes last time I was at DUB. (I wasn't checking a bag, I was getting a BP when Aer Lingus' website refused to give me one electronically, but it was the same line.)

The waits for baggage claim vary. On domestic flights in the US, 20 minutes is not uncommon, especially on late evening arrivals when ground ops staffing is light. On international trips when passport checks are required, the wait for bags becomes virtually nil. By the time one finishes with passport control, the bags are usually on the carousel.

NYTA

Depends on the type of travel. For vacation, that's great. 80% of my travel is for work and I'm often coming from/going to the airport directly from meetings in which case it's awkward to roll into a meeting with a giant checked bag but a small rollaboard is fine. That plus the fact that I used to do a lot of trips where it was a different city every day so if the checked bag got lost it was an issue. Ultimately I realized that it was possible to fit everything I needed into a small bag (assuming no 8Kg weight restrictions like on LH). I'll often pack a foldable bag inside my roller if I'm planning to buy a lot of stuff at my destination.

ryw

Sometimes yes, sometimes no - Agreed that this is usually true when going to a country where you have to go into the non-citizen line (or non-EU line). Though for me arriving into the US with GE (and no 1st class or priority bag tags), if the GE line is short, I can find myself waiting for quite a while at the baggage claim (and then wishing that I didn't check a bag!).

ft101

Good attitude. It's the fire and brimstone, carry on only or death brigade who think they're gaining an advantage and are blinkered to other views that I tend to laugh at.

beachmouse

Of if you're a budget traveler that rather likes to max out on the Delta and Alaska 20 minute bag guarantees, which can get you more miles for being 23 minutes from open door to carousel than you got on your paid ticket in some cases.

LtKernelPanic

Every time one of these threads pop up they make me chuckle. Personally as a leisure traveler I almost always will check a bag but if it's only a couple day trip and I can get by with carry on only I will. If I had to travel for work a lot I'd probably be firmly in the "no checking unless absolutely necessary" camp too. There's no right or wrong way to pack for a trip (unless you're one of those pax that tries to bring 9 carry on items on the plane!) so pick whatever works best for your trip be it checking a bag or not.

pinniped

I have no status on DL so I'd never be checking a bag there to begin with.

I don't know if AA Gold gets me an AS bag or not, although I do take 'em up on their F upgrades semi-often. How easy is it to claim the miles? How many miles do you get if the bags show up 3 minutes late? I assume I'd need an AS FF#, right? (e.g., They wouldn't "pay" me in AA miles....)

artemis

Clearly in your case traveling carryon only wasn't an option. But what sort of help did you expect FlyerTalk posters to be able to offer you? If checked bags are delayed or lost, there's nothing anyone (including airline personnel) can actually do about it.

The reality is that if an item MUST arrive at the destination at the same time you do, carrying it on to the plane is the only way to 100% guarantee that will happen. Even premium package delivery services such as FedEx can lose shipments (though that is a rare event).

artemis

*claps* Hear, hear!

beachmouse

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My most recent successful DL bag claim was the domestic termination of an international award ticket (ie. free bags included), and they've got the system so automated you just go to the correct page, enter passenger and ticket info, and it checked their database and the miles credited to my FF account within five minutes or so.

Not sure about the AS process.

bj27

A note about DL's process (I'm sure it's covered in great detail somewhere else) but you must request the credit within 3 days of the flight you are requesting it for.

My parents waited 40 minutes for their bags on a Monday at JFK and I attempted to submit the claim for them on a Friday and could not. So you must submit a claim with haste if you believe you are due miles.

wrp96

Well something along the lines of "This is how you track your bag status" or "This is how you file the claim" or in my specific case, I found out after the fact that, per that airline's policy at the time, I should've been given a visa debit card with a small amount preloaded in order to buy necessities, which did not happen. Even just getting no responses at all would've been better than having people get on their high horses about how they never check bags.