The public, despite its nostalgia for the glory days of plane travel that the masses could never afford, has made it undeniably clear that price is the only metric that they care about at the end of the day. They endlessly sift through flight listings for the cheapest flight(s) to the destinations they want to go to, and it leads to carriers like Spirit or Ryanair that charge you for everything but the oxygen in the aircraft cabin.
Planes aren’t cheap to operate and they will extract profit from you one way or the other. If they’re forced to compete by offering “fake” airfares to display that don’t include bag fees, seat choice, or connection times. That’s what you’ll get to see when you search for your flight and that’s what you’ll click on, they hit you with the fees after you’ve already initiated the first steps of booking.
People are still cheap AF, despite somehow expecting first class service between Fort Lauderdale and Charlotte for $95, and will cram everything they can into a carry-on or roll-aboard (not roller board, please. Pet peeve) to avoid having to check a bag or an additional bag.
This also unfortunately leads to all those maddening crowds at the gate blocking the concourse aisles because people want to cram all their shit in the overhead bins and not under the seat in front of them - compounded by the already tight seat spacing and the fact that people carry a ton of shit - because they don’t want to gate check a bag. They crowd the gate so they can get aboard first.
I work for the airlines and I consider bag fees to be evil because they cause so many frustrations for everyone involved except the accountants. But, unfortunately the public only cares about price, so this is the monster they helped create.
What if my carry-on has wheels but I never use them and I actually carry the bag all the way from the moment I enter the airport to the moment I put it in the overhead compartment?
I guess im saying that wheels are put on stupidly small cases and that really the volume limit is the most appropriate since volume is the thing that is at a premium for the carryon as someone can have the exact same back just without wheels.
This sort of thing always pits passenger against passenger, but the real villain has been the airlines all along. They "encourage" people to check their bags then charge you more to do so. They cram as many seats into the fucking plane as they can, amplifying every small problem into a big one.
What the airline company really care about is weight. To address that, they could charge you by the kilogram. If you’re heavy or bring lots of stuff with along, you would need to pay extra. This would encourage people to bring as little as possible or send their stuff to the destination through some shipping company.
For good reason. The size limit is the size limit, I don't see what adding two wheels would change about that. For anything that fits in the carry-on size limit, the wheels aren't about the weight, they're for convenience.
If people can't lift their luggage to the overhead bin, they're either weak or you need to find an airline with more reasonable overhead bin limits.
The wheels are definitely about the weight. They promote packing heavier and more, since the owner doesn't have to physically carry it through the airport. I bet you most of those wheeled bags are 40+ pounds.
I have a piece of luggage that I love. It is, to within an inch in each dimension, as big as any airline I fly will let on as carry-on (I've seen people carry on larger, but mine is within the stated limits). I can carry it fully packed to the point of nearly bursting, and have done so when one of the wheels was broken.
But it has wheels, so if they're functioning, why shouldn't I use them?
Maybe they would check in such a piece if a) it didn't get lost that often, and b) if the prices for that were not designed to buy the CEO another yacht per flight.
I don’t have your same concern about carry-ons. When I traveled for work a week at a time, it was nice that I could pack 5 days worth of clothes and take them with me without (usually) having to wait for 30+ minutes at the check in line and the bag carousel thereafter. The last thing you want to do when you are nearly back home after a long week of work and travel is to have to wait yet once more.
What I do take issue with is the people who queue all the way out into the hallway when boarding. Especially when they’re in the last groups and the first groups are just being called. It’s definitely worse in some airports (looking at you, CLT and ATL).
Or, all the people who immediately stand in the aisle when deboarding. Let those people who need to make their connections get up and out first.
The way people handle themselves around airline travel (particularly in the US) is one of the only places that makes me lose faith in humanity.
Tell the airlines to reduce the weight limit, problem solved.
That doesn't annoy me, nor does the various ways to load the plane. What I'd like to see is them lock the overhead until the plane is in the gate, and then unlock them one by one, front to back. Sit down until you can get your stuff. People act just like cattle, knowing full well they aren't going anywhere fast all standing up at one time.
Potential problem with unlocking the bin by row, often the bag ends up in a different row from where you are seated. Solution is each seat gets one and only one assigned spot in overhead bin directly above the corresponding seat. This would also eliminate the problem of passengers putting multiple bags in the overhead bin. (Which is why bag often ends up in a different row)
I stand up knowing full well that I'm not going anywhere because I'd rather stand in one spot waiting for my turn to get off the plane instead of being crammed in the seat any longer. It's nice to stretch the legs and back after being stuck in the seat for so long.
Uhm... Just for next time: stand up during the flight! Quick stretch or stroll to the bathroom if you feel weird just standing.
Don't punish your body for the planes hostile design!
I'm talking about those bags that technically fit the maximum possible dimensions for carry-ons that have gotten really popular in the past few years.
But they allow people to pack very heavy, and most Americans are out of shape. So the plane takes twice as long to board and empty since many people struggle to lift the bags.
That has nothing to do with the bag type, you could just as easily pack 5 bricks in a backpack. And there are weight limitations too which aren't set very high. If someone inside that limitation can't lift up their bag I guess the only solution is to get help from a flight attendant. Otherwise you're practically excluding elderly and children from having carry-on.
So it is not actually about the bag or it's size or weight, it is about the relative weight of the bag to the persons strength? Massive guy: big and heavy bag. Tiny woman: small and light bag. Correct?
You say no, but what you then say seems to agree with what I say: A massive person could have a big bag far larger than what is allowed now and vice versa with a small person.
But now it seems to revolve around the "carry" part, you think that this is specifically about carrying something, as "without touching the ground". Since carry has more meanings than this very specific one, that is where you are incorrect. Have a look here.
You aren't going to pack as much muscle on someone that's 5 feet tall as you will on someone 5'8".
Also, if you use muscle mass as the metric for "tiny", as in thin, then decidedly not, since that's the fundamental requirement for strength, muscle mass. A "big" woman is stronger than a "tiny" woman.