I read this article on the NY Times today about airlines starting to charge people for checking in a second bag. I personally don't check bags in when I'm flying if I can help it but this will make things a bit worse as people try and carry things on the plane. I read quite a few of the comments that were posted on the article and people seem to think this is a bad idea. I tend to agree if this makes all the over head bins full. As long as I'm flying Delta or United I don't have a problem with this because I have status on both airlines and can board first.
When I'm flying other airlines this becomes a problem. As a business traveler, I don't want to check in my bags because it slows me down at the airport to wait for baggage claim and also forces me to take more time at the airport to check bags on to my flight. This gets especially complicated because I always have to connect in large hub airports like Atlanta and the risk of my bags being lost increases by a lot. I also have massive distrust of baggage handlers. I've watched these people just toss crap onto the conveyor belt to go into the plane or just toss them onto the baggage cart without a care in the world.
One last thing, I have a problem paying for something with no assurances that my bag will be there when I get to my destination. I had a bad experience a few years ago when I went to NY with my wife (she was my fiance then) where the NY bag handlers totally destroyed my bag. I also don't trust them not to rummage through it and unlock my bag because they have to be checked before they go on the plane and they can unlock my TSA approved locks.
I think it would benefit a lot of people if they started to open things up to foreign carriers that are part of the same frequent flyer alliances that are currently in place. This would give people more choices on who they can fly, better services over all (at least I think this will improve things), and increase competition for customer's (maybe lower prices too?) and offer services that we used to have (like food that doesn't totally suck). Alright, thats my rant for the day. I'm out for now! I'll have a new one for tomorrow I'm sure.
When I'm flying other airlines this becomes a problem. As a business traveler, I don't want to check in my bags because it slows me down at the airport to wait for baggage claim and also forces me to take more time at the airport to check bags on to my flight. This gets especially complicated because I always have to connect in large hub airports like Atlanta and the risk of my bags being lost increases by a lot. I also have massive distrust of baggage handlers. I've watched these people just toss crap onto the conveyor belt to go into the plane or just toss them onto the baggage cart without a care in the world.
One last thing, I have a problem paying for something with no assurances that my bag will be there when I get to my destination. I had a bad experience a few years ago when I went to NY with my wife (she was my fiance then) where the NY bag handlers totally destroyed my bag. I also don't trust them not to rummage through it and unlock my bag because they have to be checked before they go on the plane and they can unlock my TSA approved locks.
I think it would benefit a lot of people if they started to open things up to foreign carriers that are part of the same frequent flyer alliances that are currently in place. This would give people more choices on who they can fly, better services over all (at least I think this will improve things), and increase competition for customer's (maybe lower prices too?) and offer services that we used to have (like food that doesn't totally suck). Alright, thats my rant for the day. I'm out for now! I'll have a new one for tomorrow I'm sure.
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