Checked Baggage or Carry-On?

I am one of those people who does not mind waiting in baggage claim for my luggage. Unless it’s a one-day trip, where I know my carry-on will fit in the overhead compartment, I’ll opt for the checked bag and a reasonably unencumbered walk onto the aircraft. Your mileage may vary, but here are some additional reasons for checking vs. carrying:

·         Guaranteed legroom. The pitch (space between one seat and the seat behind it) on commercial aircraft is not improving, and it’s getting worse on regional jets (RJs). Given the sheer number of people who will cram the overhead bins, the odds are good that you’ll have to shove your carry-on bag or personal item under the seat in front of you. Why deprive your legs of what little space they are likely to get?

·         Difficulty fitting carry-ons into the overhead bin. Given my aforementioned disdain for RJs, it probably won’t surprise you that I’m not any happier with the “space” they offer in their overhead compartments. Now it’s possible that my bag will fit, but if it’s a guess, I will have two options: trying to fight with cramming the bag into the compartment or, more likely, waiting with all those other poor souls on the jetway whose bags were “tagged” and put in the regular luggage compartment because they made a similar bad bet. Better to just check a bag close to the size limit and be done with it. Plus, as a bonus, you don’t have to wait in what is likely to be a cold and drafty jetway.

·         Ease and speed of movement between flights. If you’re not fortunate enough to live in a “hub” city like Chicago or Atlanta, odds are that you will be making at least one connection to get to your destination, even within the continental U.S. And because airline logic is not the same as traveler logic, the odds are really good that your first flight will be let off at Gate B1 while your connection will be at Gate E35, on the other end of the airport (this is a particular favorite game in Charlotte and Memphis). In addition to the distance, you are likely to be facing a busy airport and a very short layover between flights—usually <45 minutes—which means you have to hustle to get from B1 to E35. Now ask yourself which activity sounds more convenient: going through all that with a bag or two slung over your shoulders or just a book in your hand? (If you’re traveling with a spouse, partner, or children, multiply that excitement by the number of people you have to keep in tow.)

“But, but, but!” I can hear someone object, “The airline will damage or lose your luggage!” I’ve been flying commercially for 41 years, averaging 3 flights per year. My luggage has been “lost” exactly once, and it was eventually sent to me at my destination. I’ve never had luggage damaged by cargo handlers, though I do recall one bag getting left out in the rain during an extended downpour. Even so, my clothes came out fine. On those rare occasions where I’ve had something fra-GEE-lay to carry onboard, I’ve toted it onboard as a carry-on. There was one time I brought a bottle of wine with me, and TSA has this ridiculous liquid limit, so I wrapped the thing up in a bunch of clothing and hoped for the best. Despite traveling with a Rick Steves cloth bag, the bottle came back—from Europe, no less—undamaged.

I’m not saying I never use a carry-on. But for my regular luggage, it’s just easier to check it and fugheddaboudit! The odds of enjoying the so-called conveniences of “carry-on” luggage are against you. Unless you’ve got some sort of hot appointment that you simply MUST make on the other end of the flight, take the extra 5-10 minutes in baggage claim and save yourself the aggravation. Happy and safe travels!

Travel Day Awesomeness

Father Dan doesn't want to travel with me because inevitably I have some sort of airline hassle. Consider today's adventures.

Spent two and a half hours on the taxiway due to thunderstorms in Chicago area. Finally the pilot's dispatcher sent him (and the passengers) back to the gate. We're hustled off the plane with our carry-on luggage, but nothing was done about our "valet" (tagged) luggage.

Flight cancelled. So I go to the rebooking station to start that process. I'm given a seat on tomorrow's morning flight and connected to Hotels.com to book a room. Airlines do not have to reimburse you for weather-related expenses or delays, apparently. The Hotels.com agent tells me I need to cancel by 4 p.m. to avoid a penalty. Great. I go back to the gate because I needed to retrieve my garment bag. There, the agent tells me I shouldn't wait until tomorrow but should instead book standby on the 6 p.m. nonstop to Huntsville. Fine. I call Hotels.com and am told I would have to pay for the night's stay. At which point I very firmly state that this was not what I was told by their agent, and argue the point. Finally they back down and cancel without penalty.

The gate is changed for the 6 p.m. flight twice in the course of four hours, but at least I got something to eat. Finally, around 5:30, I'm told the 6 p.m. flight is cancelled as well. Back to the rebooking station, and back to Hotels.com for yet another hotel reservation. I'm now booked on tomorrow's 10:40 a.m. flight to HSV...more time wasted.


Given that both primary flights that would get me (or my luggage) to HSV had been cancelled, I took the chance that my luggage might be retrievable. The garment bag was checked through to HSV, so by this point I'm down to a plastic bag full of miscellaneous junk I'd bought at ISDC and my journal. No joy at Baggage Services, which was understandably chaotic because everything flying toward the East had be cancelled, or nearly so.
 
Hotels.com booked me at the Sheraton Gateway in Rosemont. It was not listed on the airport's standard list of hotels to call. I ask for an actual pay phone because by this point my iPhone was (and is) dead. A TSA agent directed me to some pay phones, whereupon I discover that most of them have been removed and are no longer in service (doesn't EVERYONE have a cell phone?).
 
I finally get hold of Sheraton, and after a 30+ minute wait, I get the shuttle to the hotel. Jeez. I'm a little frazzled. And yeah, Father might have a point: traveling with me IS a little more dramatic than it needs to be. Perhaps I'm a magnet for Bad Airline Juju? The Shadow knows...

Potpourri CVII

Ares I-X is currently scheduled to roll out to Launch Complex 39B Tuesday, October 20, at 12:01 a.m. I will be driving down to work on October 22 and will stay as long as needed. Huzzah! The rollout was delayed by 24 hours due to challenges with a hydraulic accumulator. However, from what I've heard on my end, that work is going well, so we'll just have to see what effect, if any, this has on the October 27 launch date. Looking forward to it! I plan to at least take pictures during the event. Not sure beyond that. Going to have a lot of writing to do, I suspect.

Looking to buy myself a small wine refrigerator. I've heard good things about Sears' Kenmore model. Other suggestions welcome...keep in mind, again, the limited space in my apartment and desire not to go crazy on spending here.

Here are a couple more editorials about the Limbaugh/St. Louis Rams fracas, one by Limbaugh himself, one by someone on the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

Here's an editorial on the Augustine Panel by a group of very smart people.

From Doc, an article on finding and selling old wines in Paris.

From Lin: the Social Security Administration is withholding a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the first time since 1975. I guess I fibbed to my mom back in 2004. I told her then that I didn't think Social Security would cut off in her lifetime, but most likely wouldn't exist in mine. At the rate our government is spending money, it might get cut off in a decade!

NASA is hosting a lunar excavation robotics competition as part of its Centennial Challenges program. This is a very cool thing because it engages young people in practical work and helps NASA get people outside the agency to help them develop hardware that will be needed for future exploration.

Apparently technical writers have among the least stressful jobs in the country. Who knew?

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) has a new map showing our solar system's location in the Milky Way.

An article from The Space Review on the "why" of space exploration. I've been writing a long rant on the dismal state of space advocacy, but I don't think I'll publish it. Why add to the despair?

Back from Boston

This is a short post because I'm wiped out. Ten hours to get back home. Why? Well, normally I'm willing to accept blame when I do things that cause plans to go awry. However, today's misadventures I have to lay at the collective feet of USAirways. Let's start with my first flight of the morning, which was going to be Boston-Charlotte. Ehhhhhh! Wrong! UScare changed my flight to Boston-Washington because my BOS-CLT segment was delayed. Would've been nice if the skycap had told me that.

Then I get to DCA (Washington-National, which some of us call Reagan National to irritate the locals), where I've got a two-hour layover. No problem. I check the monitors for my gate, go get lunch at Friday's, then grab a seat at the gate listed on the monitors (Gate 25). It gets to be around 3:57, and there's no plane at the gate. WTF, over? So I go check the monitors again: the DCA-HSV flight moved to Gate 36. Anyone care to guess where that gate was? If you guessed the concourse I was just in, you'd be correct. And unlike some airports that allow you to go through security only ONCE, DCA makes you do it for every concourse. So I missed my plane.

The gate agent was helping another Huntsville passenger with the same problem. The agent didn't realize her error, as she said, "I made an announcement here before the plane left." Right. You made an announcement at the NEW gate. Where was the fa-king announcement at the previous gate announcing the departure change? Any compensation forthcoming? Of course not. However, the agent at least booked me on the next flight, which left at 7 p.m. Another three hours in DC. Yippee skippee. It is then that I am informed that UScare has a shuttle bus to take passengers from concourse to concourse to avoid having to go through security twice. Wouldn't THAT have been a useful piece of information to know at 3:57 p.m.?! In a word, GAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

***

That said, I actually had a pretty good time in Boston. Managed to get in some sightseeing, got some business discussed for the Mars Foundation; had an enjoyable dinner/chat with my sister's buddy Lynn; bought a couple souvenirs; took NO pictures (because I'm lazy and didn't feel like lugging around the camera or having it stolen); and picked up some useful information about Ares at the JANNAF conference I was actually there to attend. I always get suckered in by those Northern cities in the spring and summer. Occasionally I need to visit in winter to remind myself of why I live in the South.

I had 178 emails awaiting me when I got home, and no doubt I have more awaiting me when I get to the office tomorrow. However, since the company is so adamant about sticking to my 40 hours, tomorrow will be a short day. Huzzah!

More ranting later, I'm sure.