Originally Posted by darthbimmer

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.