How many people travel with no luggage?

[trey kule]

I just read that West Jet and Air Canada now charge $25 for the first piece of checked luggage.
How many people actually travel without luggage?

It looks to me that they have just raised the price of virtually every ticket by $25.00.

You have to love honesty. Somehow they have made this ticket price bump look like an value added option....

Am I the only one that thinks eventually the bubble will burst. High speed trains are the future.

[Spokes]

4 or 5 times a year to Afghanistan and back through Dubai. Normally don't take any luggage. Don't need any and it takes to long waiting at the carousel after the flight.

[arctic_slim]

I try to not bring luggage whenever I can but I admit most of the time I have check in bags. I also see this as just a ticket price increase as there are not too many people that travel without bags. I have been a rampie long enough to know that the planes are usually filled with bags. With Westjet we would load 150-200 bags a flight on every flight.

But with that said, people want lower and lower prices, airlines can't just keep dropping prices, it was inevitable in my opinion. I also don't think this will change anything, people will be angry but they will still travel, it's not gonna make anyone stay home because of this fee.

[trey kule]

it's not gonna make anyone stay home because of this fee.

I think they are counting on that.

[Heliian]

I'm sure this fee will just increase the amount of giant carry ons clogging up the overheads. I don't think I have ever taken a flight without at least one checked bag, so ya, it's more airline gouging.

[leftoftrack]

I load up the biggest bag I can plus I load up my two kids carry on's and I get on before everyone else due to pre boarding with the kids. I never have a problem getting everything I need on vacation into the overhead bins. I like to tell baggage fees to go @#$! themselves

LOT

[PilotDAR]

I leave clothes in my locker in Germany for the few times a year I'm there. I've been challenged a few times by customs returning into Toronto as to how I was just away ten days in Europe with only a backpack.

That said, in the big scheme of things, $25 to ship 50 pounds of stuff across a continent or ocean, the same day, is still about the most reasonable shipping cost anyone is going to find!

I worked baggage at YYZ for a few years, and the things which passengers thought we should carry as their baggage was astonishing. A boxed Cadillac windshield (back when Cadillacs were really big), a total of 37 boxed Noma Christmas trees on a flight of 195 pax on a 707, and, a huge suitcase, which contained 8 glass gallon jars of picked something - two of which had broken. The gallon or so of pickling juice could be smelled to whole length of the spine road under Terminal 2!

[ea306]

I prefer to not have checked baggage. The only time I do is when I come to the EU for a five month deployment once a year.

Otherwise I really prefer to not have to be waiting at a baggage carousel after a flight.

[mdscientist61]

There was this one trip that 4 of us took for business to Baltimore MD.

The arrangement was to fly there in the morning, have meetings all day, and then fly home in the evening.

I wore my nice business meeting suit and tie, with my briefcase and small carry-on bag. I did not bring my shaver or anything.

Out of the four of us, there were three who were bumped off the flight in the evening. No shaver, no change of clothes. Then the hot water heater in the hotel stopped working over night. There were some grouchy guys at breakfast next morning.

I must have looked quite scary that day with my whiskers and bad breath and thick nerdy glasses because they pulled me out of the line and made me remove my nice shoes for inspection while they examined my carry-on at the boarding gate. At least they didn't ask me to remove my tie. Eventually we all returned home safely, with a small voucher towards the next airline ticket.

Ah well... first world problems after all... the lesson learned was to travel light but not too light.

[Taiser]

I was more in favor of paying tickets by your weight... might encourage the 350 lb slobs that I always seem to stuck sitting next too to lose some weight... that was shot down pretty fast by the fatty's though, screaming "human rights" and such... and I agree the carry-on's are just going to get more and more insane now.

[MrWings]

Carry on was getting bad already. Now it will be ridiculous.

[cgzro]

Did Hong Kong with a backpack once... Raised eyebrows

[tferguson]

Just did 2 weeks in Eastern Europe & Turkey with a small backpack. Had it for 13 years, used it in high school. American domestic flights are noticeably terrible for full overhead bins, now we'll have the joy of watching people try and place their far too large roller bags overhead.
I do understand the fee though. Wonder, if you purposely bring a carry on that won't fit to skirt around the fee, and unsurprisingly is relocated below, would the bag be subject to the fee. Seems a cheesy way to avoid paying the fee.

[Chuck Finley]

Last I flew on AC i noticed the overhead bin in the A320 had a placard that said Max weight 86Lbs. if i recall corectly. It was bad enough, I will now pay close attention to big ass carry ons that FA have a hard time lifting off the ground to put up there and will raise my conserns. Don't want the whole bin to fall down on me after a rejected takeoff or hard landing...

Pretty sure that limitation was never respected before i doubt they will now.

Probably the same on westjet but it's been YEARS since i heard a good joke so i can't tell.

[photofly]

if you purposely bring a carry on that won't fit to skirt around the fee, and unsurprisingly is relocated below, would the bag be subject to the fee. Seems a cheesy way to avoid paying the fee.

Check-in/bag-drop staff are supposed to screen carry-ons for size. EasyJet have been confiscating, checking, and charging for oversize carry-ons for years.

[kevenv]

if you purposely bring a carry on that won't fit to skirt around the fee, and unsurprisingly is relocated below, would the bag be subject to the fee. Seems a cheesy way to avoid paying the fee.

Check-in/bag-drop staff are supposed to screen carry-ons for size. EasyJet have been confiscating, checking, and charging for oversize carry-ons for years.

Unfortunately the same thing isn't done here. The number of big ass bags that make it onto the a/c is crazy.

Speaking of carry on bags, I traveled recently with a carry on for the first time. I was seated in row 12 ish. When I got on the plane after all the people at the back of the plane boarded, I found all the bins around my seat full, but no pax in the seats. Turns out people in the back and middle like to put their bags near the front/middle so they don't have to worry about finding room near their own seat.

[Shiny Side Up]

I travel with carry on only frequently. I can travel fairly light, something I learned from when I used to back pack more. Not to mention the usual mission of my travel is the flying of little airplanes, its not like I'm going to bring big suitcase back. Plus there's been plenty of walking from little airports to town, so you'd better not have more than you can carry. That said I also travel by motorcycle sometimes and the same restrictions apply.

[I_Drive_Planes]

I did a month in Asia with a 40L pack that never weighed more than 17 lbs at any time. I checked it, but could have easily carried it on. I hate carrying anything other than the bare necessities for the flight in the cabin, but if they're going to start charging me extra to check that bag I'll carry it on. It'll be fun when everyone starts doing the same and the overhead bins start filling up before half of the passengers have their stuff in them.

High speed trains are the future.

They sure are. Other than flying myself, going by train is by far my favorite way to travel. I really liked riding the mag-lev from Pudong Airport to downtown Shanghai at over 400 km/h. Unfortunately, due to distance and population density you'll never likely see them in any meaningful way in Canada.

[timel]

Del

[timel]

High speed trains are the future.

Trains are getting more and more comfortable and more space, airplanes tendency is the opposite, more restrictions, more fees.

[Genetk44]

if you purposely bring a carry on that won't fit to skirt around the fee, and unsurprisingly is relocated below, would the bag be subject to the fee. Seems a cheesy way to avoid paying the fee.

Check-in/bag-drop staff are supposed to screen carry-ons for size. EasyJet have been confiscating, checking, and charging for oversize carry-ons for years.

Unfortunately the same thing isn't done here. The number of big ass bags that make it onto the a/c is crazy.

Speaking of carry on bags, I traveled recently with a carry on for the first time. I was seated in row 12 ish. When I got on the plane after all the people at the back of the plane boarded, I found all the bins around my seat full, but no pax in the seats. Turns out people in the back and middle like to put their bags near the front/middle so they don't have to worry about finding room near their own seat.

I was in AC J some years ago....guy in the aisle 2 or3 people ahead of me put his Rolly in the bin above my seat row and proceeded down into economy class...by the time I got to my seat , no space....his bag went on the floor in the aisle, mine went into the bin.....his back got shoved into some cranny by the FA.....I'm sure he had fun looking for his bag at the other end.

[Bent wrench]

well Porter charges for the first piece of checked luggage also. Found this out on my rotation home a few months back and have been flying with Air Canada and West Jet since. Now that there doing this also I guess I will be going home in a couple weeks on Porter again. So stupid.

[iflyforpie]

The last time I went on an airplane to go anywhere... I had two bags, a tool box, and a mountain bike. As our kids get older and we move into our traveling years... I'm not looking forward to flying commercially again.

I'd take a train in a heart beat. My fondest memory traveling was VIA Rail from Valemount to Vancouver when I was ten. Had my own roomette, spectacular views in the observation car, and the finest food I've ever had on a moving vehicle. The engine stalled on the way back... so while we were waiting for a CN loco to drag us the rest of the way... we just relaxed and had dinner.

For domestic travel, a high speed overnight train with sleeping compartments will beat any airliner hands down. Basically you are in a hotel that moves.... rather than trying to sleep through check-in, security, and coach seats (or even 'luxury' lie flat seats) on a redeye; or wasting half the day on a daylight flight.

[GyvAir]

It's a "pay me this way or pay me that way" situation to some degree at least; either way, you have to pay. Last couple times I've been ticket shopping on Expedia or Travelocity, it appeared that otherwise comparable tickets on airlines competing on the same route would differ in the base ticket price by approximately the price of the checked bag, if one had a bag fee and the other didn't. In the end, most customers can do basic arithmetic and figure out the bottom line pretty quickly, with no bags, one bag or two and make their ticket purchasing decision accordingly. The airlines know this too and will set their prices to compete accordingly as well. This works out to a win for the few people that aren’t checking bags.

That said, there is zero doubt in my mind that a checked baggage fee is absolutely going to put added strain on already over-stuffed overhead bins. I admit that I'm a bit of a master of packing my legally dimensioned carry-on bag to maximum density to avoid waiting at the carousel, but I have been thwarted once or twice by a sharp-eyed check-in agent (presumably noticing my arm stretching a little) politely insisting on me placing it on the scales.

I was in AC J some years ago....guy in the aisle 2 or3 people ahead of me put his Rolly in the bin above my seat row and proceeded down into economy class...by the time I got to my seat , no space....his bag went on the floor in the aisle, mine went into the bin.....his back got shoved into some cranny by the FA.....I'm sure he had fun looking for his bag at the other end.

I have no sympathy for people that weasel their way onto a flight with more than their share of bulk and take up multiple seats worth of bin space.

[Jack In The Box]

Whenever people are shopping for airfare they are in "defense mode." Defend every cent in their wallet! When the lowest fare is $247, they want to pay $247 and not a dollar more! So to see other fees, including baggage fees, added in drives them nuts. If people would change their mindset from "Cost of travel=air fare" to "cost of travel=airfare+airline fees+transportation+accomodations" and budget on that, it wouldn't be such a nauseating experience for most people.

I always get a gate check tag and have my bag gate checked. There is no fee for that. A lot of people have started to gate check bags to get around the fee. If airlines were savvy, they would notice this. They would also stop letting people put their MASSIVE carry ons in the overhead bin (these are the same people who will sue the airline for hundreds of thousands for "negligence" when the overhead bin finally comes apart and dumps all the bags on their stupid heads one day).

I avoid the whole mess by always traveling in uniform as a jumpseater or non rev and gate checking my bags. If I DO purchase a full fare ticket I either plan to travel well within the limits of the overhead bin size or I factor in baggage fees into my cost.