Originally Posted by
rruaco
Well, elite pax can already check everything for free so they have no real need to board first and stash anything big in the overhead bins.
...if it wasn't for the fact that bags sometimes disappear and/or get damaged when checked. If they could fix that then I would put mine in the hold more often.
Eliminating bag fees for general pax (replacing them with carry on fees for rollerboards) would also work. Right now the economic incentive is backwards
Bolding mine...
My issue with checked bags is the long wait to get them back from baggage claim. Sure, they disappear (rarely) but I have always gotten it eventually. If domestic, usually that same night.
But waiting every time for the checked bags to appear, always seeming to be an un-acceptably long time, is the deal breaker for me.
Off topic, but I would also rather they get rid of priority bag tags if they are not going to do any good....When they pop out at the end of the line, it ticks me off.