Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If the flight attendants announce they will be requiring gate checking of bags, there is no “carry-on anyway”. It’s not optional.
It’s not the flight attendants who make this decision, it’s the gate agents, and they don’t relay this to the flight attendants.
A flight attendant
I’m sorry that insulted you. It doesn’t change the fact that OP doesn’t get a choice to gate check when it’s required.
She doesn’t sound insulted. She was providing information.
Sorry, FA, it was pedantic comment that didn’t change the point that if you’re told to gate check you don’t the option to refuse.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OMG people just check a bag.
No need to squeeze your sunscreen into multiple 3 oz bottles you bought from Target, or wash your underwear in the sink every night, or stress out about your boarding group.
Some airports the checked luggage gets to baggage claim before I do.
Have you ever been on a week-long Caribbean cruise where your checked bag never reaches you until you reach the airport to fly home? I have.
No. Fly nonstop and confirm the destination on your bad tag.
Not every flight can be non-stop.
Learn how to travel like a grownup and stop weeping every time things don’t go your way. Jeez.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If the flight attendants announce they will be requiring gate checking of bags, there is no “carry-on anyway”. It’s not optional.
It’s not the flight attendants who make this decision, it’s the gate agents, and they don’t relay this to the flight attendants.
A flight attendant
Our family was targeted in Amsterdam for gate checking while transferring to another intra-Europe flight. Not sure why. A gate agent approached us at the gate well before boarding (while we were sitting waiting for the flight) and asked if we were so and so, when we confirmed, they asked us to gate check. We asked if we could decline and they said no. Actually it was the three of us that shared the same last name. The fourth in the party was not on their list probably because of a different name.
That felt pretty crummy to be picked out like that. Not clear why either. Nothing happened on our previous flight that should have picked us out as people with unusual baggage or anything like that. It was selectively applied to people based on the passenger roster. Maybe based on row location. But our seats had working bins overhead.
I think it's pretty much that making one family mad is easier than making three separate flyers mad.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I typically fly American. My last 10 flights they have demanded people in groups 6 and higher to check bags at the gate. I'm usually group 4 or 5 so I'm never forced. But I can see what a PITA it is because AFTER the flight you end up with a big group of passengers blocking the passageway leaving the plane as they wait for their bags to be delivered. Plus I'm sure there are lots of people (who don't fly often and don't understand how the "check at the gate" works) who assume their bags will be at baggage claim and leave the plane, terminal and security and only figure out then that their luggage is waiting back at the gate on the other side of security.
I gate check frequently (and usually happily), and I haven't picked up my bag at the gate on quite some time. Lately, the gate checked bags on flights I've been on are always sent to baggage claim (which isn't nearly so convenient).
+1, gate checked bags go to baggage claim (which they announce). The only time I ever have them arrive plane-side is when it's a very small commuter jet where none of the roller bags will fit in the overheads so they take them all at the end of the jetway when departing and return them there at the destination.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OMG people just check a bag.
No need to squeeze your sunscreen into multiple 3 oz bottles you bought from Target, or wash your underwear in the sink every night, or stress out about your boarding group.
Some airports the checked luggage gets to baggage claim before I do.
We fly with my daughter's figure skates in a carry on. I'm not checking them, because if they don't make it, no competition. Others travel with medical equipment or special food that needs to make it to their destination. So, no, sometimes it's not just someone being a diva.
Presumably these things don't need to go in a wheeled carry-on that would be caught by gate agents.
Exactly. Competing daughter can put her skates in a backpack with a change of clothes and medicine.
Mom can put her medical equipment in a backpack with a change of clothes. etc.
Anonymous wrote:This is why you should fly private.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OMG people just check a bag.
No need to squeeze your sunscreen into multiple 3 oz bottles you bought from Target, or wash your underwear in the sink every night, or stress out about your boarding group.
Some airports the checked luggage gets to baggage claim before I do.
We fly with my daughter's figure skates in a carry on. I'm not checking them, because if they don't make it, no competition. Others travel with medical equipment or special food that needs to make it to their destination. So, no, sometimes it's not just someone being a diva.
Presumably these things don't need to go in a wheeled carry-on that would be caught by gate agents.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I typically fly American. My last 10 flights they have demanded people in groups 6 and higher to check bags at the gate. I'm usually group 4 or 5 so I'm never forced. But I can see what a PITA it is because AFTER the flight you end up with a big group of passengers blocking the passageway leaving the plane as they wait for their bags to be delivered. Plus I'm sure there are lots of people (who don't fly often and don't understand how the "check at the gate" works) who assume their bags will be at baggage claim and leave the plane, terminal and security and only figure out then that their luggage is waiting back at the gate on the other side of security.
I gate check frequently (and usually happily), and I haven't picked up my bag at the gate on quite some time. Lately, the gate checked bags on flights I've been on are always sent to baggage claim (which isn't nearly so convenient).
Anonymous wrote:OMG people just check a bag.
No need to squeeze your sunscreen into multiple 3 oz bottles you bought from Target, or wash your underwear in the sink every night, or stress out about your boarding group.
Some airports the checked luggage gets to baggage claim before I do.
We fly with my daughter's figure skates in a carry on. I'm not checking them, because if they don't make it, no competition. Others travel with medical equipment or special food that needs to make it to their destination. So, no, sometimes it's not just someone being a diva.
Anonymous wrote:I typically fly American. My last 10 flights they have demanded people in groups 6 and higher to check bags at the gate. I'm usually group 4 or 5 so I'm never forced. But I can see what a PITA it is because AFTER the flight you end up with a big group of passengers blocking the passageway leaving the plane as they wait for their bags to be delivered. Plus I'm sure there are lots of people (who don't fly often and don't understand how the "check at the gate" works) who assume their bags will be at baggage claim and leave the plane, terminal and security and only figure out then that their luggage is waiting back at the gate on the other side of security.
Anonymous wrote:If the flight attendants announce they will be requiring gate checking of bags, there is no “carry-on anyway”. It’s not optional.
Anonymous wrote:.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:OMG people just check a bag.
No need to squeeze your sunscreen into multiple 3 oz bottles you bought from Target, or wash your underwear in the sink every night, or stress out about your boarding group.
Some airports the checked luggage gets to baggage claim before I do.
You forgot the $35 per person each way part.
A lot of people don’t pay it (Southwest, credit card or FF status etc) but also it’s waived for gate checked bags so you could just assume it’ll be gate checked and then be happy if it’s not.