I check at least one bag almost every time I travel. My trips usually go for a week or more, and I can't fit enough clothes into a carry-on. While I am a big opponent of carry-on bags (because they delay boarding and deplaning, and because they threaten to fall out of the overheads and injure someone), I can still see your point. Five years ago, I decided to quit using cheap Wal-Mart grade luggage and bought a good, hard-shell Samsonite suitcase. I think I'm working on the fourth generation of that purchase, all of the predecessors having been destroyed and replaced by airlines. I actually did take a bath on the most recent replacement, when Lufthansa ripped a two-month-old softside bag apart on a trip to the Middle East. At my destination, I was offered compensation of about $75 (in local currency) for the bag, as their repairperson was not available and the agency employee showed me an ad for (inferior, below Wal-Mart grade) luggage available at a local store for that price. The damaged bag was not usable, and although I could have just bought a new bag, taken the old one back with me, and made my claim in the states, the nearest LH operation to me is 250 miles away, and the time and cost to go there and make my case wasn't worth it. I bought a new Samsonite bag for about $300.

Here's my modification to the proposal: limit carry-ons, and require every crew member to check their bags (I noticed that this appears to be standard practice with Lufthansa crews), with no special "crew" tags. That way, the luggage that the baggage handlers might be that of their co-workers, and I think they might handle it more gently.

Of course, this ain't gonna happen, either.