Airline Travel Tips: Carry On Vs. Checking Bags

If you ever get into a conversation with a group of traveling businesspeople (you know, the weary road warriors), you will undoubtedly run across strong opinions about the merits of carrying on your luggage versus checking your bags at the ticketing counter. Depending on your travel circumstances, each has its merits. Read on to gather some airline travel tips for determining whether you should carry on or check your bags.

Airline Travel Tips: The Pros of Carrying On

Time. You can complete your entire check in process online from anywhere, even the comfort of your own home. If you have a printer, you can even print out your boarding pass before you get to the airport.

If you check in and print your boarding pass at home, you have the luxury of bypassing the entire first layer of airline hell (boarding pass printing, checking in, paying baggage fees, dropping off bags). You can go directly to the security line, which can save you anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour.

Airline Travel Tips: The Cons of Carrying On

Baggage (pun intended). If you have a rolling laptop bag and some kind of overnight/extended stay rolling suitcase, you have to drag both of them around with you throughout the airport, again if you switch planes for a connecting flight, etc. You are stuck with these bags until you reach your final destination, which for me usually means finally getting to my rental car, where I merrily launching both bags into the trunk. The times when it annoys me to drag two bags around is when I really want a cappuccino and have zero of my two hands free to carry it.

Another issue with carrying a suitcase with you into the plane is when you're flying on large airline jets where there are 100s of people trying to shove two pieces of luggage in the overhead compartments. Once the space runs out in those, you are pretty much hosed. You have to exit the plane with your bag and complete a "planeside luggage check."

To complete a planeside bag check consists of you handing your suitcase to the folks with the ear muffs; they will put the bag with the rest of the passengers' checked luggage. When you arrive at your final destination, you will have to go all the way to the baggage claim to get your bag.

*If a planeside check is your last resort, it is still cheaper than having to pay the approximately $25.00 baggage fee at the ticketing counter.

Airline Travel Tips: The Pros of Checking Bags

Freedom. Even though there is the fear of the bag being lost, it can be really relaxing to just get rid of the darn thing before you get on the plane instead of having to lug it every which way throughout Terminals A-Z.

Airline Travel Tips: The Cons of Checking Bags

Lost Bags. I think it is fairly obvious, but I will state it anyway, that it is much more likely that your bag is going to be lost if you check it and allow someone else to place it in the cargo area of the plane. If you carry the bag on with you, it would take an impressive magic act to make the bag disappear before you reach your final destination.

Baggage Fees. While certain airlines claim to be dismissing the baggage fees, I will have to see it to believe it. Since I have been traveling weekly over the past year, I have watched as the baggage fee for checking one suitcase has gone from $20 to $25.

Depending on the length and purpose of your trip as well as your own travel preferences, there can be pros and cons to either carrying on a suitcase or checking a bag through the airline. Use these tips to decide what will create the least amount of stress during your trip.

Sources: Personal travel experience