A big downside with gate checked baggage on Ryanair is the eyewatering charge of GBP 35 per bag.

I second this. I only have about $5000 worth but there's always some medical stuff in there also. They tell us not to check such stuff--and then they turn around and demand we check it? No way!

*SOME* of it will go under the seat but not all of it.

The airlines can solve the problem by ensuring the personal items are under the seat. Since they don't the problem of no space (except for the RJs) is their fault.

the issue for me is if it's an rj/non-mainline aircraft vs mainline as with mainline, one has to go to baggage claim but if an rj, you (hopefully) get your bag planeside* and that can make a difference (and especially if you have a connecting flight where the equipment is mainline and you want to have your bag on-board with you on your connecting flight).


*some stations (i.e. rno) are notorious for effing up gate checked luggage to planeside pickup and sending it directly to baggage claim and at rno, molasses flows faster than getting your bags at baggage claim

Anybody know if Allegiant charges for gate checked bags? What with airlines charging for checked baggage, it would seem their next profit enhancing step would be charging for gate checked baggage.

Yes they do, they follow the Ryanair model - twice the fee at the gate to when booked online.

I know Ryanair incentivize their handling agents (a friend of mine does it at STN) and some of the �35 fee is kept by the handling company as a "reward". Anything looking big, or heavy is challenged, plus with Ryanair you only get the one bag (no personal item). Anything else (including airport purchases) have to fit into this one 22lb bag

The negative depends. Usually, I will gate check a bag without issue as well. But once in a while it can become an issue. I will always gate check on small planes to avoid the fee of checking the bag when I get there..and they bring the bags into the jetway at the end of the flight. This only became a problem once when I was airsick and was waiting in the jetway, holding in my cookies when I would much rather have been putting my head into the terminal toilet and getting rid of what was troubling me.

But on bigger aircraft, you end up having to go to baggage claim to get it back. Depending on the airport, this can be a royal pain in the .... I once few a 45 minute run from LAS to PHX, gate checked, and then waited 1 hour and 20 minutes for my bags which was longer than the flight! PHX is all screwed up so far as baggage claims go. If that is your destination, don't do it.

When I go FC, I check my bags the old way because it's free and they get priority..but mostly because there is never enough bin room in FC on the aircraft I fly most (737's and A320s)

I got bumped but they offered me a seat on another flight "just down the terminal" but told me to RUN to try and make it as they were holding the plane for me. Got there and they were waving me thru no room for my luggage. In the rush I grabbed my jewelry out of the bag but forgot my $300 BMW car keys. The plane sat in line for an hour waiting for take-off making the connecting flight very very tight which is where I think it got lost.

My bag has never been seen again..... It was after midnight when I arrived back at my home airport, waiting around for an hour for the next flight hoping that it would be on that then finally had to check into a hotel as I wasn't about to call someone in the middle of the night to come pick me up.

I couldn't find my ticket they handed me in the rush to board, this was not my normal airline and they never would reimburse me for the bag.

I try NEVER to gate check a bag now if at all possible.

So you fly Allegiant and show up at the gate with your standard 20 inch rollaboard, they gate check it because their overhead bins don't accomodate it, and you have to pay a checked bag fee? Is that correct? Does this mean that for all practical purposes, Allegiant charges for any bag they gate check?

Last time I flew Allegiant they told me and my friend that the plane only held 65 bags and they offered to check our bag for free. We did but took forever to get the bags in tiny Owensboro, Ky. Going back we did not check them as no one offered but as we waited we heard them asking for volunteers to check their bags for free. We kept ours with us.

You do not get to pay the bag fee so you get less credit card points.

I do believe this is the first time in history that someone has used the words 'get to' in relation to paying baggage fees.

Well if you are on an expense account it is wasted miles

Points or miles are always worth less than not paying the fee in the first place.

I'm flying RJ's on 90% of my flights, and have never made it off the plane and on the jetway and not waited for the gate checked bags. I now, prefer to sit in my seat and wait until I see the cart with the bags head towards the jetway before leaving the plane.