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

[Tom Henderson]

I check a bag internationally, where I stay >6 days. I wash at the 
laundromat when necessary.

Otherwise, I travel very light and have a single carry on. When I go to 
CES for five days... two of those are travel days. What clothes horse 
needs a suitcase for three days, I ask?

I have >1M miles on United, also on the abomination calling themselves 
American Airlines (including all their many predecessors like AirWest, 
Hughes, US Airways, etc, back to 1972 on Allegheny), and the somewhat 
redeemed Delta.

Gay and I agree on most things, but this:

The Indianapolis Int'l Airport is horrific, and I've written several 
OpEds to the Indpls Bus Journal with long screeds denoting why. It has 
this going for it: from gate to baggage is short. All other qualities 
are bereft of beauty-- it is only efficient and their retail and 
restaurants are among the worst in a first world airport. These screeds 
drive the Indpls Airport Authority plainly berserk, judging by their 
sulfurous letters to the IBJ editor, but they have not once argued the 
facts stated.

I now travel Spirit and Allegiant, sometimes Frontier, because adding it 
up, I'm on an airborne bus. Total costs are important. Once in a while 
Southwest is ok; and as Gay describes, United is The Devil's (own) Airline.

I wish the could all be Southwest at Frontier's prices.

My total cost for going to Las Vegas, M-F, is $491 excluding rental car 
fuel and meals. AirBnB (full studio apartment). RT air. Car rental. All 
from Indy airport, on non-stops.

Tom



On 10/30/19 4:50 PM, Gabe Goldberg via Ipg-smz wrote:
>
> 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
>
>
-- 
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc

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