If you have flown in the last decade, you may have noticed that an excessive amount of luggage is schlepped on board when it reasonably should have been checked and placed in the cargo hold of the plane.
There are many reasons passengers prefer to bring their luggage into the cabin, but arguably the carry-on chockfull has increased in volume since the late aughts when some airlines started charging extra fees to check bags.
Today, some low-cost carriers add fees for carry-on and checked luggage, while others charge nothing for carry-on or even the first or second checked bag (and in first and business class, the fee is likely baked into the higher cost of the overall plane ticket). Many airlines, especially in the US, however, tend to punish those who check their bags, which is arguably the harder option for the passenger.
We’re not optimistic that airlines would stop charging for luggage altogether, but wouldn’t it make more sense to charge for the convenience of carry-on and let the inconvenience of checked baggage ride free?
The Checked Bag Shakedown
Let’s examine the plight of the checked bag passenger. She hands off her luggage with the knowledge that she may see it in a couple hours, a couple days, a week or never.
For this uncertainty, she likely paid between $30 to $70 for the first bag.
If the passenger and suitcase arrive at the same destination, then the traveller finds the baggage carousel and awaits reunion. Here, the cost to the passenger is time.
If the luggage does not arrive, however, then the passenger has the burden and cost of replacing lost items.
But even when luggage does arrive at the right destination at the right time, it often comes down the conveyer belt looking like a daisy that was run over by a truck. Sometimes it’s been internally manhandled as someone finds it necessary to rummage through it for reasons that will not be explained. But usually it’s just beaten up by life. It started the journey riding rough through chutes, tunnels, and conveyer belts, before being tossed into the cargo hold. Then in reverse order it de-planes, rides the cart trailer, navigates the chutes and belts, only to arrive on the carousel, breathe a sigh of hope, before another bag gets dropped down upon it. Here the investment is the shortened lifespan of the suitcase; replacement is on the horizon.
Meanwhile, Carry-on Charlie is off the plane, pristine suitcase in hand, untroubled by the add-on baggage fees, the lottery of luggage arrival, or wasted time waiting at the carousel. Before the checked bag passenger can scrape the tar off her luggage, Charlie and his case are rolling out the door and on their way.
Choosing to carry on for free or check for a fee may seem like a flyer’s personal choice but the excessive amount of carry-on luggage is not without impact. It costs the airlines, the flight crew and the passengers—regardless of whether they are Carry-on Charlie or not.
We All Have Baggage
Lately, I’ve witnessed the same luggage-starring scenes play out over and over again when I fly.
The drama generally starts in pre-boarding, when a flight crew member looks out at the gateful of overstuffed flyers and, knowing that the overhead bins will not support our generous interpretation of the “one carry-on and one hand-held bag” rule, announces that bags will be checked for free for those willing to relinquish their suitcase voluntarily. With luck, a handful of passengers will come forward, but even that may not stem the inevitable end to bin space onboard. In which case, the gate crew stops asking and starts declaring that, for all passengers going forward, we are to leave our bags at the entrance to the plane and retrieve them at baggage claim upon arrival.
This requires flight crew to issue tracking tags on the fly, and then grounds crew to collect the bags and bring them down to the plane for loading. The cost here is manpower and gate delays in boarding.
Even if we get past the gate crew with our carry-on in hand, we then perform a stop-and-go shuffle through the boarding bridge and cabin, as each passenger has to jam their belongings into the overhead bins. If we cannot find space in our immediate seat area, we wander further down the plane, which means at some point, we have to come forward again with or without the bag, causing everyone waiting to be seated to twist, turn and rub body parts in the narrow aisle space.
If we cannot manage to find a place or cannot lift our bag into the hold, then a flight attendant rubs through the narrow aisle to assist. The costs here are, again, delays in boarding, along with flight attendant back issues, chiropractor visits, surgery, and early retirement.
Inevitably as the last passengers come aboard, the flight crew negotiates the remaining overhead space. If there isn’t room for all the larger suitcases, they start handing down coats and small items to place under feet or on laps.
If you had already paid to check your bag, you may feel snookered by now having to devote valuable seat and feet room to your modest hand-held bag or heavy winter coat, so that someone who didn’t check a bag can use the overhead space for their carry-on luggage and pay nothing. Here the cost might just be emotional frustration, but given how stressful people find flying, it doesn’t help matters.
So at last we’re on the plane, heading for the runway. We can now start food and beverage service, in-flight entertainment, or existential rumination; we are unlikely at this point, however, to think about the skull-crushing luggage bound just above our heads.
But eventually, like all baggage, our packing crimes return to the center of the action when we arrive at our destination.
De-planing should be a fairly simple activity, especially since we’ve had all that flying time to prepare and most people are happy to get off the plane as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, we now have to take down all our suitcases, which may or may not be in the bin over where we were sitting.
This scene is a reverse of boarding with similar inefficiencies for the airline and passengers alike. Waiting to cut through the traffic jam, passengers with connecting flights are at greater risk of missing their connections. Meanwhile, the airline eats the downtime while the plane sits on the tarmac, neither being loaded nor flown.
Whose Burden?
Those prepared to schlep their bags on board might be happy to keep calm and carry on. The perception may be that self-managing your bags saves time and money. But as the above scenario details, it’s more nuanced than that because anyone who is not first off the plane is delayed by the time spent in dealing with carry-on luggage.
Even first and business class flyers are not immune to prolonged boarding. They tend to be invited to board first, so they sit for an hour longer than necessary, breathing stale air, while the rest of the plane boards.
The airlines might argue that they charge for checked luggage to cover fuel and baggage handling. But carry-on luggage requires the same amount of fuel, regardless of where it sits on the plane, and baggage handlers are still needed to deal with carry-on luggage that doesn’t fit into the overhead bins.
What’s more, time spent waiting on the tarmac during lengthy boardings and de-planing costs the airline money in downtime.
First and business class flyers sit for an hour longer than necessary, breathing stale air, while the rest of the plane boards.
If the plane is already delayed, the additional de-planing time can cause connections to be missed, crew scheduling to snarl, and other off-schedule penalties to incur.
Cabin flight crew, at least in the US, may not be paid before the aircraft starts moving, meaning that the time parked at the gate, planing or de-planing, is uncompensated.
Price According to Convenience
Airlines should charge for the convenience and privilege to carry one’s luggage on board and allow the first checked bag to ride free.
Although the airlines do bear costs for checked luggage (for instance in baggage handlers’ compensation, equipment maintenance, and lost luggage liability), I’m not suggesting that the airline start charging for checked bags and carry-on. That would lead to other issues; passengers might wear all their belongings on board, and then even fewer passengers would fit in the narrow crate the airlines call a seat.
Charging for carry-on instead of checked luggage would discourage people from bringing bags into the cabin. This would reduce boarding time (baggage handlers can load the luggage in the cargo bay while passengers board the cabin unobstructed), and reward those with the time or patience to wait for their baggage at the carousel.
Flyers who wish to deplane quickly or use their work devices while on board can pay for the privilege of storing a bag over head, especially as they may be flying on the company dime anyway.
There could be exceptions and guidelines, because let’s face it, whichever luggage containment option is free is the one where passengers will be tempted to overstep. The airlines already have weight and size restrictions that can help distinguish between a hand-held bag, an overstuffed back pack, a set of bowling pins and ball, or an aquarium full of fish—any of the latter three would incur a fee if taken on board.
One amnesty from the carry-on charge could be for passengers with connecting flights. Arguably these poor souls need a planeful of goodwill and transfer speed to ensure that they make their connection with their luggage in tow. It’s also in the airline’s best interest that the connecting passenger is synced at every step of the way; the logistical mess of re-aligning passenger, luggage and plane can be at the cost of the airline.
Airlines can and no doubt would make other exceptions to accept loyalty points, reward credit card holders or fuel marketing stunts. But it’s unlikely they will give up charging for either checked or carry-on baggage, as it’s such a lucrative business.
So those with a ticketed connecting flight can bring one hand-held bag and one carry-on for free. For the rest of us, one truly hand-held bag could be free (since arguably it can be placed under the seat in front), and the second item brought into the cabin would be charged.
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Robin D Rusch
