Originally Posted by
edcho
I agree with this statement. It's so inconvenient to check bags in and wait for your luggage later.
Generally my bags are already down by the time I get off the plane, even for US domestic. Maybe because so few people check bags these days. I was carrying whiskey this week so I had to check a bag and it beat me to the carousel at BOS, EWR and ORD.
My concern is actually the other way around. This week it took me 1hr30min to clear immigration at ORD. (
3 lanes open for foreigners with 2 wide bodies from Japan arriving at the same time - what the heck were they thinking?
Y pax on my flight probably had to wait for well over 2 hours.) I don't really want my bag to be doing circles for hours where anyone could walk off with it.
It makes carry-ons seem more of a luxury. They should make the first checked bag free, reduce the fee for second checked bag, and charge a few bucks for roller boards based on status (free for GS/1K, $5 for 1P, etc).
I doubt they need to charge even 2Ps. On the fullest flights I rarely see more than 10 bags gate checked, so you would need a 80%+ elite flight for it to be an issue. With the usual 20-30% elite load it would be no problem.