[Ipg-smz] The Case for Checking a Bag - Gay Mag

[Gabe Goldberg]

Author writes:

Travel is a chaotic, exhausting experience exacerbated by people who 
forget the social contract the moment they step foot in an airport. I 
travel constantly. I chase miles and have status on three airlines. I 
read websites about how to best manage airline and hotel loyalty 
programs, airline credit cards, and the like. I have an app that shows 
me where every single plane currently flying is and other aviation geek 
information. I have an app that lets me listen to air traffic control 
chatter. There is a small park near the edge of LAX where I sit and 
watch incoming planes landing. I have favorite planes (Airbus 380, 
Boeing 787, Boeing 757, Boeing 737) and planes I truly despise (CRJ 700, 
Embraer 145). In short, I have made a necessary condition of my work 
something of a hobby.


As you might expect, I have a great many travel-related opinions, most 
but not all of which are wildly uncharitable. For instance, United is 
Satan’s airline and I will take almost any convoluted route to avoid 
flying them. Alaska Airlines planes smell weird. The food on American 
Airlines flights is worse than what I imagine dog food tastes like. 
Delta serves delicious Biscoff cookies and the flight attendants wear 
festive purple uniforms. The Atlanta airport is a cruel mistress. There 
is a bathroom attendant in the Charlotte Airport who likes to sing 
gospel as she does her work, serenading weary passengers and she is a 
delight. LaGuardia is unspeakable. You basically have to walk ten miles 
from the gate to customs in Montreal. The Indianapolis airport is the 
best airport in the United States; fight me. There aren’t nearly enough 
women or people of color serving as pilots. It is incredibly grating to 
get a chatty pilot who wants to narrate the entire flight when all you 
want to do is sleep or stare into the Grand Canyon. The way people treat 
flight attendants is, for the most part, absolutely disgraceful.

...

I reserve my most passionate opinions, however, for carry-on luggage. If 
you are ever wondering if you should check your luggage or carry-on, the 
answer is that you should check your luggage. I don’t care why you want 
to carry-on your luggage. You should check your bag. I say this with the 
caveat that air travel is prohibitively expensive and baggage fees are 
horrible and if you can’t afford the fees, you do what you must. For 
everyone else, check your bag.

In 2007, airlines began instituting baggage fees to offset the cost of 
jet fuel and once they realized they could charge for luggage and other 
basic amenities of air travel, there was no looking back. Once people 
realized they were going to have to pay even more than the cost of their 
plane ticket to travel, all hell broke loose with carry-ons. Suddenly 
packing for trips of most any length became an exercise in austerity.

Writers, in particular, love to discuss the ways in which they contort 
themselves toward austerity to go on book tour. Nearly every writer 
active on social media has discussed, at length, how they will travel or 
have traveled with only a carry-on suitcase for a five-day trip or 
ten-day trip or three-week trip. It is something of a competition, as if 
there is valor in self-imposed deprivation. They offer tips, like 
rolling your clothes or stuffing your socks in your shoes or traveling 
without toiletries. They talk about wearing the same, increasingly 
soiled outfit for days on end because hey, you can wash it in the hotel 
bathroom sink or not.

https://gay.medium.com/the-case-for-checking-a-bag-b0f92968a852

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