# Flying to Italy for priority baggage handling **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 11, 2009, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847 "2009-12-11T10:13:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who\_Wasn\_t\_There](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who\_Wasn\_t\_There](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who_Wasn_t_There)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/1 "2009-12-11T10:13:01Z")
[Rome for 24hrs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11875674#post11875674). The degree of myopia required to fly half-way around the world for the improvement of one’s luggage priority is, quite simply, breathtaking. To do so during the single event in the international calendar addressing the issue of climate change, is to be utterly impenetrable to irony. The pertinence of the Copenhagen summit, amongst a sea of hyperactive news items, has failed to evoke the most basic moment of self-examination. The round trip will produce something in the region of a Latvian’s annual CO[sub]2[/sub] emission. On arrival, rather than attempt to gain some distillation of the place and culture, the most likely outcome seems to be several hours of web browsing in an airport cafe, before boarding the return flight. All this for increasing the likelihood of sticker-accelerated luggage recovery (potentially some seconds, or even _minutes_), and the offer of a slightly less barren place to sit in tedium, whilst staring across a runway, waiting for some future boarding call. A cynic might suggest the battle is lost before even the most inconsequential of international agreements has been reached, and the most trivial fraction realise some element of individual responsibility. Or is that a realist? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/2 "2009-12-11T11:12:18Z")
Somene else here (in the BBQ Pit) was planning to fly to Australia for 3 days for the same reason. The upgrade, at least on my carrier, does give you more than priority baggage handling - it also gave me 6 free business class upgrades which I use on transatlantic flights. Anyway, the jet is going to go there, with or without them, unless maybe they took the last available seat. Not sure what his personal weight would do to impact the environment vs the weight of the remainder of the aircraft and other occupants, luggage, etc. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/3 "2009-12-11T12:38:10Z")
I would sooner have nails driven into both eyes, and not for my passionate love of the Environment. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who\_Wasn\_t\_There](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who\_Wasn\_t\_There](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who_Wasn_t_There)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/4 "2009-12-11T12:47:50Z")
You’re right about flights leaving regardless of the number of passengers. American Airlines manged to fly just 5 people in a Boeing 777 transatlantic flight last year. I suppose what struck me about the round trip to Italy was that it seemed like a slightly absurd means of marginally alleviating air travel misery… by completing a substantial amount of air travel. And no holiday to speak of for the fuel burnt. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/5 "2009-12-11T12:54:37Z")
Hey, remember the time Popeye destroyed his entire house with a shotgun while trying to kill a fly? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/6 "2009-12-11T14:56:17Z")
Astonishing. I’m fairly certain if he called Delta and said, “here’s what I’m going to do”, they’d just have comped him the extra points, or let him purchase a cheaper ticket or something. ---
**Author:** ![akwally1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akwally1/32/3220_2.png) [@akwally1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akwally1)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/7 "2009-12-11T15:29:58Z")
If this guy is a very frequent flier, then this trip will be worth it. Being Platinum with Delta means you move higher on the upgrade list, which gives you a better chance to use all your accumulated miles to get bumped up to first when flying. It also gives you better standby chances, and let’s you use your upgrade certificates (or whatever they’re called now, I haven’t worked for them for quite a few years now) on a lower fare class of ticket. It also let’s you get into the partner airlines’ airport clubs, which can be really nice in some international airports. “Mileage runs” as they are called are very common and usually done around this time of year to ensure they keep their status for the next year. It’s definitely worth it if you fly a lot. **Really Not All That Bright** , it is very unlikely that Delta would comp him up to Platinum level or offer him a cheaper fare. They’re hurting for money just like all the other airlines and want to wring every dime they can out of these folks. I personally might have bumped him up on his mileage run flight, but never just given him enough miles to make platinum. Mark ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/8 "2009-12-11T15:39:27Z")
I feel sorry for someone who has such a short time in such a wonderful place. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/9 "2009-12-11T15:43:41Z")
This really begs the question for me - how many flights that people make are actually necessary? Flying for holidays - well, if you can’t drive there, I can see an occasional Hawaii vacation, but all the business trips? Do we not have technology in place for teleconferencing? A world summit meeting on climate change - let’s fly in a thousand people from around the world! Holy irony, Batman! This strikes me as part of the Green Hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/10 "2009-12-11T15:45:16Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Hey, remember the time Popeye destroyed his entire house with a shotgun while trying to kill a fly? For the briefest instant there I thought you said, “..when the Pope destroyed his entire house…” :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/11 "2009-12-11T15:46:38Z")
Delta is one of the hardest hit airlines. Several airlines did very well over Thanksgiving and several did very poorly. Delta was at the bottom of the list. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/12 "2009-12-11T15:57:40Z")
> [@The\_Man\_Who\_Wasn\_t\_There](#): > > [URL=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11875674#post11875674](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11875674#post11875674)”] > A cynic might suggest the battle is lost before even the most inconsequential of international agreements has been reached, and the most trivial fraction realise some element of individual responsibility. Or is that a realist? I wonder what energy and electricity has been wasted by writing this post, then uploading it to the internet, and then having many others read the post all on computers that in 30 years will be so outdated that they’ll need to be replaced. Should we discuss how selfish you’re being by using a computer and logging on to the internet instead of chaining yourself to an Amazonian tree? Yes, there are ways to mitigate our use of the Earth’s resources. Before bitching about others, are you doing everything in your power to lessen yours? ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/13 "2009-12-11T16:03:11Z")
I made top tier with Air Canada again this year. If I was close, I’d take a trip to make up the difference. For those of us who fly often it makes a world of difference. I’m sure many of us have stood in those 100 yard lines in economy to check in. I don’t have to stand in them when I fly on a Star Alliance flight. I just go to the business or first class check in. Coming home last month I had to take 5 separate flights. I don’t mind the travel so much as I hate standing in line. Anytime I can beat the queue I’ll take it and my SE card allows me to do so. The other benefit is that they’ll open up remaining seats for me when I am booking flights on points. I’m not just limited to availability of the couple of points seats on each flight. Additionally, I call a special number to book points. I don’t have to go through the regular line of the mid and low tiers. I don’t know if I’d fly all the way to Rome to bump up my points, though. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/14 "2009-12-11T16:04:40Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Delta was at the bottom of the list. This is because they’ve cut costs to the point of becoming one of the worst airlines around. I used to do all of my travel on them and even had a Delta FF credit card. I still have 100,000 FF miles sitting around. Time after time they were rude, even abusive, and finally I just vowed to not fly on them again. Their management are stupid, stupid people who have let accounting ruin their business. They’ve gotten what they deserve. ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/15 "2009-12-11T16:37:13Z")
Yeah, I’m pretty sure platinum gets you a lot more than better luggage priority. For a frequent traveler, it really makes a huge difference. I would probably do something similar. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/16 "2009-12-11T16:45:32Z")
www.flyertalk.com The Mileage Run Deals forum is where people discuss how to get the most miles for the money on their flights. It’s also a great place to find all sorts of deals on flights, whether you care about the miles or not. Every once in a while someone finds a misloaded fare or something and a few lucky souls get to fly to some distant, exotic location for a fraction of the cost. I seem to remember one where tickets to Fiji were like $50. I highly doubt the subject of this lame pitting will even have a checked bag, so “priority baggage handling” doesn’t mean squat. ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/17 "2009-12-11T17:28:22Z")
> [@The\_Man\_Who\_Wasn\_t\_There](#): > > [Rome for 24hrs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11875674#post11875674). > > The degree of myopia required to fly half-way around the world for the improvement of one’s luggage priority is, quite simply, breathtaking. The myopia is yours. The airplane is going to Rome, whether the guy in the other thread is on the plane or not. > [@](#): > > The round trip will produce something in the region of a Latvian’s annual CO[sub]2[/sub] emission. Um, even if that’s true, the flight is going anyway. What was your point again? > [@](#): > > On arrival, rather than attempt to gain some distillation of the place and culture, the most likely outcome seems to be several hours of web browsing in an airport cafe, before boarding the return flight. All this for increasing the likelihood of sticker-accelerated luggage recovery (potentially some seconds, or even _minutes_), and the offer of a slightly less barren place to sit in tedium, whilst staring across a runway, waiting for some future boarding call. It doesn’t matter. The plane is going to Rome with him or without him. What he does while he’s there is irrelevant. And if you’re so outraged about the environmental cost, wouldn’t you want him to not leave the airport so he doesn’t have to use some sort of vehicle that produces pollution? Oh and get a clue about the kinds of things frequent flyer programs offer. Especially for people who travel a lot by plane. > [@](#): > > A cynic might suggest the battle is lost before even the most inconsequential of international agreements has been reached, and the most trivial fraction realise some element of individual responsibility. Or is that a realist? Rational people might suggest you pull your head out of your ass. ---
**Author:** ![cherry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/18 "2009-12-11T17:31:02Z")
Not everyone does a job that teleconferencing is even an option to do your job. When your flying weekly for 20 plus years the miles add up. I have premier exec status with United and my husband is considering doing a run if he has time to get 1K status this year with United. I looked into it a few years ago but I found there wasn’t enough time. Every other year we haven’t bothered but who knows. He will soon reach 1 million miles I think in a couple of years and then you get status for life or something like that. I just checked and he is at 760,000 miles, so maybe in 3 years it won’t be an issue. We have friends who make runs every year to make up the difference but they stay a while as well. I don’t know if I really actually do a run to make up the difference if I wasn’t flying anyways to my destination. For example I’m going on a trip next week but its a free ticket so there aren’t any miles accumulated. But airline status makes a huge difference if you fly a lot. The red carpet club makes flying pleasant and that is worth the money although I do appreciate some of perks with premier sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who\_Wasn\_t\_There](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who\_Wasn\_t\_There](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who_Wasn_t_There)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/19 "2009-12-11T19:53:56Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > I wonder what energy and electricity has been wasted by writing this post, then uploading it to the internet, and then having many others read the post all on computers that in 30 years will be so outdated that they’ll need to be replaced. Should we discuss how selfish you’re being by using a computer and logging on to the internet instead of chaining yourself to an Amazonian tree? > > Yes, there are ways to mitigate our use of the Earth’s resources. Before bitching about others, are you doing everything in your power to lessen yours? To be fair, I do run a program to halt instructions to my CPU whilst not in use to save energy, and use hardware that requires relatively little electricity compared to most modern PCs. The energy cost involved in communicating this is not really comparable to that required for a transatlantic return flight, and clearly from this case, some people don’t register these concerns, which I’m attempted to discuss. My annual household, appliance and travel CO[sub]2[/sub] footprint is slightly less than double that emitted in the one return flight in question, and the fact that everyone has some environmental impact shouldn’t prevent it from being talked about. > [@tacoloco](#): > > The myopia is yours. The airplane is going to Rome, whether the guy in the other thread is on the plane or not. Which is what I made clear in my second comment. However a plane light of one passenger and luggage has a fuel and CO[sub]2[/sub] saving. This would obviously be improved if such redundant seats were pooled into one less flight, but the saving exists in either case. Obviously less flights hinders short term profits, and I realise which is given greater precedence in this err… climate. > [@tacoloco](#): > > And if you’re so outraged about the environmental cost, wouldn’t you want him to not leave the airport so he doesn’t have to use some sort of vehicle that produces pollution? Yes clearly a passenger should, having flown such a distance involving tonnes of CO[sub]2[/sub] emission, spend their time enjoying the delights of the airport instant coffee and musak, rather than attempting something enjoyable, or cultural. Meanwhile I’ll eagerly anticipate the arrival of buses and pavements in Italy. > [@tacoloco](#): > > Oh and get a clue about the kinds of things frequent flyer programs offer. Especially for people who travel a lot by plane. Why is it seemingly impossible to organise paying for the additional benefits of these programs with money to the airline, rather than flights (= money to the airline + CO[sub]2[/sub]), if the trip is purposeless. > [@tacoloco](#): > > Rational people might suggest you pull your head out of your ass. Thanks for the _ad homenims_, I’ve always felt they help progress dialogue, or give me a measure of someone’s character; one or the other. No doubt if people could hate each other just that little bit _more_, we could all reach some meaningful solutions to help alleviate global warming. ---
**Author:** ![History\_Mystery\_and\_the\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/53a042/32.png) [@History\_Mystery\_and\_the\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/History_Mystery_and_the_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847/20 "2009-12-12T08:32:44Z")
The OP is a prime example of the asinine douchebaggery that the environmental movement continually hobbles itself with. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-to-italy-for-priority-baggage-handling/520847.md?page=2)