Badenoch

The OP is a hater. Haters usually don't hate the unimportant. His hatred is a pleasant reminder of my success and achievement. I don't feel sorry for him in the slightest and am happy to enjoy the perks and privileges that come my way.

GetSetJetSet

I still can't tell if you're posting these responses seriously or tongue in cheek for laughs.

PaxALotl

If there is a NYC-style taxi queue, catching up to someone at the queue doesn't help much. If there is a 30 minute queue, and I show up x minutes before you, i'll probably get a taxi x minutes before you do. So, that isn't a workable argument.

But traffic lights are, say 30 seconds to 3 minutes. So, if I am understanding you, you are saying that the max time savings that would come from carrying on a bag instead of checking is about 3 minutes. Is that your argument?

rankourabu

I guess having a job that requires flying is seen as a life "achievement" for some.

To me an achievement would be NOT having to have a job at all.

GetSetJetSet

It just doesn't seem that someone could be so virulently pretentious about work travel, as if being a traveling wagecuck is some badge of honor that grants dominion over the perceived "little people." I'm hoping it's schtick for laughs.

Badenoch

With rare exceptions everyone has to earn a wage. One can earn it in a cubicle stuck under the thumb of a despotic office overlord or cruising at 40,000 feet, thousands of miles from the management martinets while amassing points and perks that you can use for your personal leisure travel. Who would you rather be? It is not hard to understand why the OP et al are jealous and resentful but I'm hardly going to feel bad for them.

ft101

Taxi is one choice from many. NYC is one city from many. Only one set of traffic lights between the airport and where your heading is unusual, so make that one of the traffic lights instead of the first.

There will probably always be situations where your method works, but for most of the people most of the time it won't, and better planning would remove the need for it anyway.

jahason

Perhaps OP and myself should touch base offline. I am a business traveller and need space for my thought shower on several blue sky projects. OP should think outside the box to see how people like him can be accommodated amongst us business travellers, who are the growth engine of our economy. Maybe we might even start singing from the same hymn sheet.

Best regards,
jahason BSc(Hons), PhD(failed), BA(Gold), HHonors(Gold)

pinniped

My experience, at most airports: I almost always arrive at the carousel well before the bags come out. I'm usually there 5-10 minutes before the first bag comes out, leading to a total retrieval time-cost of 10-15 minutes. (My bag isn't *first* out usually, even when it has the little priority tag that often gets ignored.) I'd also estimate another 15 minutes of time-cost on the drop-off end, as I have to plan to arrive at the airport earlier to check it. (Sometimes there is zero wait to check it, but I have to account for the possibility that there might be.)

When I arrive without a checked bag in most airports, I have a decent idea of when I can summon the Uber as I'm walking through the airport. When I have a checked bag, I don't summon the Uber until I have my bags. So I'm losing another couple minutes there. Yeah, I know I can gamble and summon the Uber before the bag arrives, but I don't want to either screw over a driver or have to pay a cancel fee.

I'm honestly surprised there's much debate about this. Checking bags costs me time. When I'm traveling with family or my golf buddies and we can't avoid it, so be it. But if I can avoid it by simply not traveling with a ton of crap on a 3-day business trip, I absolutely avoid it.

PaxALotl

Yes, mind-boggling.

pinniped

Honestly, whether the job requires a ton of travel or not isn't terribly high on my list of things that determine whether I like it - with the exception of the two extremes. I'm too old for 100% Mon-Fri-every-week travel and I think I'd get bored with 0% travel.

I probably travel 25% of the time now. (e.g., about 6-7 total travel days per month, counting days where I leave early morning or arrive home late evening.) That's about my ideal level...but I also happen to really like the firm, culture, and work that I do.

The points/miles end up covering a couple nice personal trips per year. I end up with a couple of low-tier airline statuses that basically serve to ensure we don't get terrible seats and can sometimes get a little irrops support if things go wrong on a personal trip. I have no illusion about airline status providing me any amazing perks - the biggest perk is probably getting semi-humane customer service (usually).

The hotel system is still a bit more "game-able" - there you can get and keep high statuses and lots of points just by paying attention. But as a result, gone are the days when status actually leads to unusually great perks. If the entire hotel is HH Diamond, they'll figure out who their best local customers are and give them the suites. That is rarely me, nor should it be.

ft101

Costs time (which can be mitigated and planned for) but gains a more pleasurable experience. I'm honestly surprised there's debate too.

PaxALotl

Actually I enjoy NOT checking my bag. It's not heavy or hard to pull around, and I always know where it is plus I have everything I might need in case of something happening.

Also, in many cases time really is money.

deniah

This has stayed incredibly polarizing so far. Arent there many others like I who enjoy the travel for work, enjoy the travel for leisure, dont mind traveling light, dont mind checking in bags, sometimes sit at the back, sometimes sit at the front, amused at the tommy bahama clad loiterers, amused at the brooks brothers clad loiterers ...

Badenoch

We mostly agree. I don't mind any of the same things but generally don't pay much attention to either leisure or business travellers in general.

But when the burning resentment of some career-stalled cubicle dweller gets the better of him and he starts ranting about how much he hates people who travel for business I'm more than happy to enjoy the moment. Cooped up in his tiny work space should he hear the sound of a distant jet engine it means someone like me is comfortably seated in J on their way to conduct business that is well out of his league.