So many posts about baggage--just pack light!
 

There are so many posts about baggage and people worrying so much about having to pay extra fees. All airlines have their baggage limitations on their websites so it would be safest to stay within those limitations or go ahead and pre-pay for the extra baggage so you don't get hit with a fine.

I LOVE discount airline. If you want to bring a big bag you can go with a different airline.

Or pay the baggage and/or carry on fee. This can still be cheaper than paying for flying a legacy airline.

BTW, in US, most carriers don't allow free checked bag on domestic routes.

EmailKid

ur, I've flown, say Easyjet, with one checked or multiple checked, and it can easily be half the price of legacy. I always check and go the cheapest, in the past on a route from LGW>RIX BA was much cheaper than RyanAir.

Packing light is quite hard, or ultimately more expensive when you end up buying extra clothes or using hotel laundry service, for long trips or multistop with multiple climates.

too many variables to make sweeping statements.

I've travelled all over the world with my family and haven't checked a bag in for 15 years.
We lay out everything we plan to take with us and then take away two-thirds of it and that's usually about enough for four cabin bags.
My kids did three weeks backpacking in Asia with us carrying everything in their school rucksack.
Even the missus ( and we all know what women are like for taking stuff they never wear ) joins in the pre-flight fun these days. :D

For as little as a 2-week vacation, I carry everything in a school bookbag/rucksack. I also carry a little ziplock bag dry laundry soap and a sink plug to do laundry in the room or go to a coin laundry (rarely). My husband's bag is a little bigger (he's bigger!). We each have our clothes divided into to ditty bags (fine laundry bags)--underwear and misc. in one, and shorts/skirts/tops in the other. One pair of nice sandals and a good pair of walking shoes. That's it! Super easy for packing. We traveled for 6-months and I basically wore the same 2 pairs of shorts/2 pairs of pants, 1 skirt and 4 tops the whole trip. It was plenty.

We usually to travel in warm climates so we don't need a lot of big/heavy clothing. And we travel on a budget so we sure don't need an evening gown or tux!

What Japan lacks in rubbish bins and benches, it makes up for in lockers and laundromats. That is a legitimate reason for me to stopover/layover at NRT/HND when traveling between the US and East Asia.

I don't mind checking a bag now that I have *G status, but flying back to the states is a pain in every sense. Average wait times of >30 minutes at JFK and EWR baggage carousels-brilliant.

Just back less, in my opinion you always bring more than you actually need on a trip

Most luggage sold in the USA is on the large size encouraging people to pack large - I doubt if residents of Europe or Asia have as big a problem.

Uh, have u flown Spirit? The most they'll allow without charging is 12 x 14 x 16 inches, or about the size of a rucksack. While I've been able to go to Costa Rica and Cancun for 4 days on that, it wasn't easy and may be even more difficult for some people. It's roughly half the capacity of the typical rolling bag that'll fit lengthwise in an overhead bin.

In addition to the Spirit trips, I've flown as an air courier to Asia 3 times, and that meant being limited to only the rolling bag for a trip of 2 weeks (they took your entire check-in allowance). Even the crew can and do carry more than that. So I'm a bit more experienced than most.

The problem is that there's very little consideration given for what might be reasonable or what the experience might be for the passenger in making these policies. It's all about added revenue and "what the market will bear" (even with resentment), so you get policies that can impact even those used to traveling light. The only thing to currently discipline the policies is passenger pushback, which is constrained by lack of competition in many places and driving not being a vaible alternative in most cases, either.

So it becomes a game of constantly pushing further...the REAL "slippery slope." Some kind of government regulation or mandated minimum could be inevitable because airlines just aren't gonna be reasonable on their own. Self-regulation won't work.

Doubt govs will create an international treaty for that. Not sure I'd want them to get involved in stuff like that. Airlines offer a service and you have a choice who to fly with and what you are willing to pay.

Yes! I always pack light and seldom get baggage, so much more convenient without having to wait so long for the baggage to come out from the belt.

It all depends on where you are going and what you are doing.

Many leisure travelers are going places where they'll be hiking, skiing, cycling, camping, diving/snorkeling, in cold temperatures. Many leisure travelers still want electronics - a small camera, an e-reader, a mapbook/guidebook. A pair of sunglasses in a case. 3-1-1 things that can't be easily bought at the destination (I couldn't get contact lens cleaner in Namibia - at all. An optometrist in Windhoek said he could get it on 'special order'). Depending where you are, it's good advice to take a small emergency kit - moleskin, head torch. You may want hiking boots and tevas on the same trip.

It's a bit hard to pack for two weeks hiking in Patagonia if you're trying to fit it all in a book bag.

I've packed in a book bag for a week in a big European city. I've also checked bags because things like trekking poles and hiking boots and down jackets or cycling shorts and a helmet either couldn't be easily bought at my destination or were too expensive to buy just to avoid checking a bag. I checked a single small bag last year. Two weeks cycling in the Netherlands and Belgium and I couldn't fit my helmet in my bookbag-sized carry-on.

There's no one-size-fits-all, 'my approach is the only smart way and everyone else is silly' solution.

^ exactly this. I've even transported 'luggage' that required its own seat in the cabin... or flights carrying just a single newspaper.