Convenience Trumps Cash

I hate carry-on luggage. I carry a laptop in a briefcase because some Neanderthal would use if for a sledge-hammer to fit suitcases into the stowage area if I checked it. I don't watch movies on it during flight. I read books usually on my Kindle until the Scotch lady comes around.

A couple of years ago I was on a nationwide job search for a new Library District director in Colorado Springs. I traveled with two other Board of Trustees members to interview candidates in Washington DC, San Francisco and Denver. They were carry-on sort of guys. I'm a checked bag and a newspaper type. They were disgruntled that they would have to wait for me to get my suitcase upon arrival. I delighted in strolling unburdened down the airport halls while they dragged carts and hang-up bags then wrestled trying to stuff them into overhead bins.

When we arrived my bag was inevitably on the carousel by the time we walked by toward the waiting taxis.

Boarding an Air West flight one afternoon out of Las Angeles a flight attendant grabbed me at the doorway. She pulled me aside while passengers continued boarding. She then told me I was the day's winner. I didn't have a thing in my hands beyond my boarding pass and the Orange County Register. That made me the winner of four mini bottles of my choice of liquor. I always liked Air West in those days.

Here's someone on the other side of the issue:

Extremes For a Cause?

I felt a couple of years ago that I was vindicated in my habits when the airlines reasoned that having people check bags would make boarding and exiting the flights more efficient, safer, painless and pleasant. Check your bags and then there's no stuffing bins, arguing over space, dumping boxes on heads or wrestling in the aisles. Encourage checked bags and you improve your bottom line.

That was then. The last two years have brought us checked bag fees and they can be substantial. The result is folks like Ms Floyd who would rather suffer the indignities of looking like a tourist in a throw-away rain jacket with wrinkles than pay for the bag. She values a buck, but gives up quite a bit for her principles.

I'm amazed at what people take on airplanes these days. They don't seem to be bothered by the pack-animal syndrome they exhibit. I'm wondering if it might be a marketing problem.

Do you travel enough to save money by not checking bags to outweigh the cost of your light-weight carry-ons, custom toiletry containers, modified non-wrinkle, shapeless clothing and as Ms Floyd practices the Bulgarian Laundromat tooling?

Does the airline really come out ahead by charging the fee and then enduring a boarding and deplaning process that may take over half-an hour at each end? Why not confess that bags like bodies require service and that the ticket cost is simply what it is to provide the service. If they balanced the cost of providing the service with the pricing, they could eliminate a lot of issues and probably have a much happier clientele and a much better on-time rate.

I'll continue to pay for a bag if they continue to charge. I think it's stupid to haul, heft and suffer to avoid a couple of bucks. The convenience to me is in the freedom. And, I'll gripe to myself about the idiot whose butt is hanging over my seat while he tries to stuff a sixty pound bag into the overhead. I might even spill my $6 scotch in his lap later.