Originally Posted by
moondog
I used to be a religious supporter of your school of thought, but about two years ago, I started checking bags every week, and now completely sold that this is a far more civil way to travel:
-my bag hasn't been lost or damaged yet, but if this happens, I'm capable of buying clothes at all of my destinations
-I walk around airports with nothing except for my computer bag, and sometimes I even place it inside of my checked bag (along with my jacket)
-checking my bag takes less than a minute
-on occasion, I have to wait for up to 5 minutes at baggage claim, but in the context of a 3 hour flight plus a 1.5 hour delay, those 5 minutes are rather insignificant
-because overhead bin space is a non issue for me, I can wait in the lounge/concourse until the last possible minute
I'm not a hardliner either way on the carry-on vs. checked bag debate. I choose whichever is most appropriate for my trip. Here are several counterpoints to what you've written that cause me to avoid checking bags on many trips:
-- Buying clothes at my destination is difficult if it's a foreign country and I don't speak the primary language.
-- Buying clothes at my destination is a frustrating time sink if it's a business trip.
-- Buying specialized clothing (think tailored suits and certain sporting gear) is expensive and time consuming even with language fluency.
-- If I'm traveling between locations frequently after I land, a bag that's delayed by a day may never catch up to me as the airline/shipper fails to deliver it to the proper address on time.
-- While many airports are able to deliver my bag within 5 minutes or less of the time I arrive at baggage claim, certain airports at certain times of day commonly take 20 minutes or more. When traveling on a tight schedule or simply tired, that's frustrating.