My last flight, two weeks ago, I checked my one clothing bag, which does fit in the overhead compartment, but I only carry it on if I know the flight is lightly booked, and carried on my laptop. I boarded at the appropriate time, stowed my small bag and my coat over my head, only to have some oaf with a duffel bag try to cram it into the remaining few inches of space.
He was sitting about 5 rows behind me, but than say “you’re late, your bin is full, we’ll check it for you”, the flight attendant loudly asked who’s laptop it was up there, and then asked me if I’d put it under my seat! I am 6’4" tall, and my knees touch the seat in front of me when it’s upright (United sucks), and the only chance for comfort I have is to strech out my legs under the seat in front.
I actually made a formal complaint to the management about this. It took me 5 minutes at my destination, and my bag was at the carousel when I got there. Plus I got a voucher in the mail on Monday for future travel. Take action!
It depends on the airports you’re routing through, and the connection time you have at each. Certain airports (Schiphol for example) will lose your baggage 50% of the time if you have less than 2 hours between flights. Of course even if you give them more time than that they’ll still lose your bags 25% anywa
Even so, there are no excuses. Travelling on business - then travel in a loose dark suit. Comfortable enough, and you have something to wear for the meeting tomorrow if they lose your bags - just have a clean shirt and tie in your handluggage. Travelling for pleasure - then get decent insurance, and if they do lose/delay your bags you start your holiday with an airline sponsored shopping trip.
And JR, I’ll be honest. A laptop bag and a pilots case is pushing it mate. If I get so much as a hint of a full bag of duty free as well there’ll be trouble.
You sure that was kilos? I’m amazed you could put that much into a single bag, unless you were loading it up with gold boullion or something.
Last trip to the US, I was alone with the kids on the way over. We had not had a pleasant flight, to say the least, and the last bit of it we were flying in thunderstorm-induced turbulance. It was also very late, about 9:30 local time I think, which means of course the middle of the night European time. I was exhausted, so were the kids (then 8 and 2), and all we wanted to do was to get our luggage and clear customs so we could meet up with my parents who had kindly agreed to meet us at the airport. Landing at the same time was a military transport from Germany, and the soldiers grabbed all the luggage carts. I was muttering about how heavy one stinkin’ duffel bag could be until I saw the luggage these guys were toting away. People have furnished apartments with less :eek:
So we’re waiting for our luggage. Each of us took a backpack as carry-on, and we’re waiting for a fairly large suitcase on wheels and a large gym bag which were checked. Thank gawd I had an umbrella stroller for the baby. I start striking up a conversation with another woman who was waiting and waiting and waiting for her luggage just like us. When I wondered how we were going to get all this out without a cart, the woman pointed to a fellow passenger, a woman travelling alone with a little girl, maybe four years old. “She’s got two eighty-pounders,” she said. A hunnert and sixty pounds of luggage for two people? How do you do that?
We made it - my older son pushed the stroller while I pulled the suitcase and carried the gym bag by a long strap over my shoulder - but the experience did not make me eager to fly with Icelandair or into BWI again soon.
To get back to the OP, even with major stores of diapers and snacks, I managed to do well with a carry-on that fit under the seat in front of me.
With the standard of my playing, I think I’d be in line for a very long time. Providing my fellow travellers didn’t insert the guitar into a part of me that is favoured by smugglers.
The best part is that these asshats are usually the last ones on the plane because they were taking an oh-so-important cell phone call until 20 seconds before the door is closed. They then have to wander all over the cabin with their refrigerator box strapped to a dolly to find room for it. Then, 10 minutes into the flight they have to climb over everyone to retrieve their laptop, because damn it, the world will end if they don’t get cracking on their pulitzer-winning half page memo.
Don’t get me started on the people that can’t handle a 1 hour flight without a meal either.
I swear I would be on death row if I worked in the airline industry for more than a couple hours.
Eh, the last time this happened to me, I arrived at 10:00 that night, and my luggage didn’t show up for almost two days. Fortunately, this happened to be on a flight home, so it didn’t matter, but…
Sure, you don’t need to bring all your luggage into the cabin with you (you do, of course, want it on the plane with you… ;)), but enough to go on for a day or so, at least, doesn’t seem like an unreasonably large amount to carry with you. A change of clothes shouldn’t require that much space, after all. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you should stow your sea-chest in the overhead bin or anything.
I rarely check luggage. I travel in one small suitcase (designed to be carry-on size) no matter how long my trip is expected to be. Perhaps if people practiced packing economically there might not be such a problem. Anyone who needs a huge suitcase for a week long trip must not know how to fold his or her clothes properly.
Eonwe, I envy you. I take two suits, shirts, some casual clothes and some gym wear on any trip lasting more than two days. Damned if I could pack that in cabin baggage. Hell, damned if I’d want to. Check it, walk unhindered through airport, get out at destination, pick up bag from carousel. Works for me.
This is, unfortunately, true. Thankfully, the luggage transport system is being upgraded now - it’s the reason stuff goes missing. Schiphol expanded quicker than its luggage system, and it shows. Until they fix this one embarrasment to an otherwise great airport, there’s no way to avoid luggage problems at Schiphol. Well, there is one way: go live in Holland, so these shitheads don’t have to transfer your luggage.
Don’t get me wrong. Schiphol airport’s a great airport for amenities and just as well considering how many weeks of my life I’ve actually spent there. It has bars and a casino. This strikes me as a very fine thing, which all airports should aspire to.
My new wife and I checked our luggage in on our honeymoon last year.
Three days later, we still had no bags; €70 compensation didn’t go a long way in the Caribbean to buy us new clothing, but it did create one very pissed off bride.
However, we did use this as leverage to get upgraded to first-class on the way back though, so every cloud etc.
You know, some of us go to conventions and have to bring our costumes, and you can’t wear the same one all weekend - you have to have one for the day Friday, and Friday night, and Saturday afternoon, and then of course the Masquerade, plus regular clothes, and… [sub]why are you all staring at me?[/sub]
On a flight through Paris recently, I got to witness a battle of the wills between the Air France agent and a woman who insisted that her bag fit in the metal frame. The bag wasn’t huge, but it was clearly just a bit too big, as the agent demonstrated. The woman said, “No, you idiot, of course it fits. See?” as she pounded on the top of the bag to force it down into the frame. Of course, then she had trouble getting the bag OUT of the frame. The woman raised such a fuss that in the end they let her on board with it, even though it took another brawny agent a lot of tugging and straining to get the bag out. Of course, the woman threatened to sue if they damaged her bag by manhandling it. :rolleyes:
[slight hijack]
To my recent business traveling companion: I like to take as little on board with me as possible, especially on long flights, because my right knee will lock up in agony if I can’t stretch it out under the seat. That means I know how to pack whatever carry-on I do bring (usually a small daypack). I told you before we checked in that your “carry-on” (an internal frame backpack :rolleyes: ) looked too big, was probably too heavy (weight limit of 8 kg, anyone?) and you should probably check it. But noooooooo… you had to insist it would be okay. Of course you were stopped by the Air France agent, who in this case said you had to lighten the bag or check it. Would I mind putting a few things in my bag for you? Well, okay, except for the fact that, for some inexplicable reason, your carry-on is filled mostly with your dirty laundry. (Since we had been doing field work, I should point out that said dirty laundry was in fact dirty, dusty, sweat-stained, etc.) I thank you for not actually asking me to take some of your dirty laundry, but those items I did take had been mashed in the backpack along with everything else, and had acquired a certain… aroma. Next time, put your damned dirty laundry in your checked bag and pack a reasonable carry-on, damn it. :mad:
[/slight hijack]
jjimm, you can always play so badly that people pay you to stop.
I just need the magic tag or sticker to put on my bags to indicate that I have family members working for the line, so kindly not gnaw the wheels off?
As for the drag-aboards, on most newer airplanes (more precisely, on the newer overhead bins) the roll-aboards go in WHEELS-FIRST so we can fit three bags per bin. All together now: wheels-first!
And, once we’ve landed, you can simply open the bin and the handle of your bag is right there in front of and ever-so-easy to grab, giving you a couple more seconds to stand in the aisle like some sweaty bev cart before the cabin door has been opened.
Unless I’m going for more than a week, I don’t check anything. (My mother travels constantly, including a memroable trip where her clothes followed her for a month around Asia. There are no clothes sold in China, Thiland, or Japan for six foot tall women.)
I pack light, jeans squish well in backpacks over schoolbooks. This will probably change when I get professional, but so far it has worked well.
