While that is a good example of excessive cheapness / use of carry-on space, I can beat your story :).
Once I was boarding a flight to Europe, and as a taller guy, an older woman asked for my help, lifting her bag into the overhead.
Sure. I go to lift her bag off of the floor, and… what the actual fuck this thing weighs a ton. Not only is it bigger than it looked at first glance, this thing is HEAVY.
So I lift it up with both hands to stuff it into the overhead, barely fits. As I lift it I get a glimpse of what it is… it is a case of bottled water.
What the hell? How did she get this past security? Did she buy this in the airport? Does she know the carbon impact of this? Doesn’t she know she can buy water on the other end? This is literally insane!
Of course I just shrugged and sat down without saying anything.
I got stuck on the runway 4 hours once for a short little flight from NYC to Toronto. It took hours before they turned the ventilation on, and passed out some water.
I guess they kept thinking they’d go take off at anytime (you can’t have drink service if you don’t have X amount of time to clean up and whatever etc etc). But the no ventilation in the summer heat is really cheap.
This was quite a while ago. I believe the airlines get fined if they do this now.
None of us ever do. We put our heads down and shut up and hope we don’t get seated next to anyone annoying. My goal in air travel is to check out mentally from where I’m at as much as possible, until the whole thing is over.
I just wish the gate agents would enforce the carry-on limitations. I fly a fair amount, but I’ve only seen them do it a couple of times. If they did that, the experience would be much more enjoyable for those who don’t break the rules.
Counterpoint: there’s a lot more potentially thieving, shit-breaking hands handling my shit when I check it. If it’s valuable to me, it’s coming with me on the plane.
It’s possible I carried-on a laptop, camera, PS2, and a Wii the flight home from my senior year of college.
Also underwear and a toothbrush, cuz I’ve had checked luggage get lost wayyyyy too often to not fly with some essentials.
So many people stuff their carry-ons though it almost seems like checking bags is the stress free way to fly. Especially because switching gates/terminals is kind of a pain with tons of luggage, even if it rolls well.
Just take your laptop/cash/family jewels with you.
Traveled with a business group a few years ago, back when I was reading game of thrones. About 3 chapters in I sort of realized hey… we’ve been sitting here a long time. I look up and realize towards the front of the plane, they’re having trouble getting the door closed. In the end, we couldn’t do it. We exchanged planes, missed our connection and spent the night at a hotel in Detroit. Only one person had the pleasure of wearing the same clothes the next day and using the hotel’s complimentary toiletries, the one that checked her bag and carried only a small tote.
I usually travel with a backpack that has my laptop, a change of clothes, a few snacks and essentials in a carry on I can put under the seat. Plus either a roller for overhead or rarely a checked bag.
The morale of the story, there is no guarantee about stuff like that. When I said guarantee above, I meant the attitude of the staff. If you looked at the Economy Plus story that started this all again, that agent treated him badly, and continued to treat him badly right up until she realized he paid for that exit row… paying more doesn’t mean you’ll be treated better. It’s not about broken planes, hot weather, misplaced bags… is how the airlines have this weirdo culture of the way they initially treat customer requests and then dig in until something, if anything, convinces them maybe they should reconsider. It’s admittedly an in issue for a number of companies but when you’re in the care of an airline, it’s like a hostage situation.
Back when I was a frequent flying consultant, I always flew Midwest Express whenever possible. The whole plane was filled with nice leather first-class size seats. So in the 737 size planes, there were only 2 seats per row on each side instead of the normal 3 seats. Tons of room. And they served freshly backed chocolate chip cookies and complimentary wine during the flight. So great. And they treated you right.
Yep. Checking your bags for the typical four or five day week basically makes you the Anna Kendrick character from Up In The Air. People will ask if you packed your pillow.
I can do a month overseas with a carry-on at this point. It feels good knowing that your luggage can’t get lost!
Opinions and all but I’d disagree. I’m a fairly average sized guy and I find that a normal economy aisle seat is fine. If I was forced to put a personal item under the seat I might feel differently but it has been a long while since I have had to do that. I use a roller sized backpack (soft, no frame) and either a small bookbag or messenger bag. I put the small bag on top of the backpack in the overhead bins.
