Carry-on poll
 

Early on, when I started to travel for business regularly, I discovered that I could go anywhere in the world for 1-2 weeks with just my carry-on (hotel laundry service is a good thing). A few of the obvious advantages are:

1. They can't lose or break what they don't have.
2. You avoid the entire check-in process (no need to go to the kiosk just print your BP at home)
3. You save 30-45 minutes on the other end waiting for them.
4. Delays, cancellations, whatever, you are whole and not missing anything, thus able to go to plan "B" quickly.
5. Etc, Etc,Etc.

I have always thought that checking baggage is a rookie mistake and I always advise friends to not do it. Am I wrong? While I believe that I am right on this I see an awful lot of "Elite" tags on the luggage that is checked. Just curious...it’s Sunday afternoon and I am obviously very bored. How many of you very FF's check luggage?

I check my bag when it's too large to be taken on as carryon. I've got a nice big garment bag for big trips, and then my carryon that fits in wheels first in all overhead compartments. Just all depends on how large of a bag.

Another option - UPS or Fed-ex your luggage to your hotel in advance
 

Many business travelers have switched to UPS or Fed-ex shipping of luggage and personal items directly to the hotel where they are staying.

It allows you to travel with minimal carryons, avoid worrying about abvailable overhead bin space ands/or waiting for checked baggage to be delivered.

Why don't you give it a try?

RC

My trips work very well with a carry-on, but there are times when it can make sense to check a bag and I don't consider it to be a "rookie mistake", necessarily. I also think it is more difficult for women -- not ALL women, but many. Most of my travel is leisure; three nights is typical and five nights is about max. There are also times when I will check a piece of luggage on the return, if there has been some shopping involved.

I rarely check-in my luggage. if my trip is over 1 week or if I need my formal
clothes, I check in. Else I avoid it like a plague.


For my frequent destinations (family, work, friends)
I leave a few sets of clothes tooth brush etc..
and I just travel with a backpack.

earlier this year, I went to china for 8 days. I had a little
more things and possibility of bringing back gifts for people. .
decided to take a bigger bag and check in.


Wait isnt so bad, by the time you clear the immigration, the bags are
usually out already. (first check-in in 2-1/2 years)

As a ohotographer, I need all the capacity I can get which means a backpack and laptop bag for carryons (they can fit under the seat or in the overheads of most aircraft, including CRJ and Saab 340). I check a rolling duffle with clothes, tripod, etc.

Biggest gripe (in addition to lethargic airport baggage manglers): Bin Hogs who routinely carry aboard oversize bags. I know what the size requirements are as I can't afford to check my gear (even planeside valet is verboten).

I'm with Dick on this - 2 SLR bodies, 5 lenses, laptop and assorted other electronics. I'm trying to figure out ways of getting more into less space, but I think I may just have to start wearing a lot of silk or something else that can be very easily compacted. :)

I just got through a trip to SFO with a female colleage. She had travelled with me a few other times and checked a bag (and I ended up waiting as welll:)). This time I asked her to try and get it done with a roll-a-board and a big hand bag. She looked at me like I was crazy but she did and was amazed at how quick we were in the office in SFO without waiting and swore she would never check again. That was actually what prompted me to ask the question. Thanks for the reply.

If I could fly anyplace direct from LAX on NW (I have no business or personal interests in Detroit, Memphis or the Twin Cities), I'd be more likely to check bags. Since everywhere I go involves at least one and often two connections, thus one or two extra opportunities for my things to go missing, I stick to the rollaboard + biggish computer bag scenario. Both my pieces are a tiny bit bigger than regulation allows, but I've never had a problem getting them onboard on NW.

Part of the reason I prefer to carry both bags when I connect is that the computer bag is always stuffed with heavy things like books (as well as the computer and its accessories), so I need the rollaboard to support the computer bag--I hurt myself if I try to carry it over my shoulder!

I often fly direct LAX-AMS on KL, but they used to lose my luggage more often than not on the nonstop flight (!) so even then I stick to carry on.

I never check my baggage. I travel with one Costco 22" roll-aboard and one laptop bag. The roll-aboard fits in most overhead compartments end-wise so it doesn't hog too much space. I feel a bit guilty when the overhead is smaller and I have to put the roll-aboard in length-wise. Costco.com now has a 20" version, so I may give that one a try.

One disadvantage of not checking the baggage at the ticket counter is the possibility of having to gate check the bag if I'm delayed in boarding a flight. This happened to me one time -- the overheads were full by the time I boarded and I was forced to gate check the roll-aboard. The tags used for gate checks are flimsy and attached with a thin elastic string. The tag tore off during handling, and the bag did not appear at my final destination. I checked every day with Northwest and they could find no trace of the bag. Since this was on the outbound portion of the itinerary, I had to go out and buy clothes each day. After 3 days, I received a call from Delta. Delta had my bag, but they didn't know why they had it since there were no destination tags. Fortunately, my business card was attached to the bag and they called my cell phone, and I was able to retrieve my bag later that day.

In the minority
 

Assuming I don't have somewhere to rush off to immediately after I land, I much prefer to check my luggage. So much more convenient and civilized than wrestling it through security, down to a gate that so far away it seems like it's in another city, then pushing my way through the crowd at the gate so I can be one of those bin hogs (everyone complains about them, but noone admits to being one!!).

If I can check my luggage, I can cruise to the gate unencumbered, board at the beginning or the tail end, at my leisure.... seems almost decadent.

Besides, I've never figured out how airport bathroom designers expected us ladies to maneuver a rollaboard and purse into a stall (with a door that swings inward, of course) with us. Or do we leave it outside the stall, unattended, while we're, um, temporarily indisposed?

Which reminds me, another plus for checking luggage, if you're at the gate and decide you want a cup of coffee or a beer at the crowded restaurant, it's a lot less of an ordeal.

Sancha

Same here....

I ruined my shoulders carrying my bags for years. At one point, I could not even lift my computer bag into overhead.

So I use a Tumi rolling garment bag and trust my underwear to the baggage handling Gods.

Most of my travels end in destinations served by smaller aircrafts, so I always check my bigger piece. I don't want to be encumbered with it in airports waiting for customs etc, especially when I have connecting flights. I consider that part of the price of my ticket is for NW to handle my bags.

NW has never lost/misplaced an item. The only minor problem I ever got was three weeks ago. The MSP-AMS flight was delayed by 4 hours, and I missed my AMS-MAD connection. I was promptly rerouted via CDG, could not find my bag on arrival in MAD but was immediately told that my bag had not travel with me and would arrive on a KL flight within the next 30 minutes. This is the longest I have ever waited.

I would probably have a different tactic if my endpoints were served by widebodies.

Ditto.

I frequently travel to locations where a laundry is not easily accessible or a location where the hotel laundry is very expensive (and I don't get reimbursed for that).

So I usually end up with a large checked bag, with a good bit of clothes and lots of the little comforts of home. I also carry a large computer bag with computer, DVDs, books, etc.

Another factor is living in a small market, and most flights are 2 or even 3 hops. I'm getting too old to drag a lot of crap around a bunch of airports. :rolleyes:

We had a similar thread on the DL forum where some of the "masters of carryon" were frankly nasty about folks who check baggage. It was kind of mystifying, as if I check a bunch of crap it does not affect anybody else except maybe in the check in line. But if somebody carries on a bunch of crap and has trouble getting it all stowed, that CAN affect other folks trying to board and/or stow their stuff.

And maybe I have just been lucky, but I have only been parted from my luggage once in the past 3 years, and that was a case of it being a few hours behind me on a homebound leg.

Of course if I flew short trips on a weekly basis, I would do it differently.....

David

Unless I'm taking the golf clubs, just a carry on backpack for me.