As others have said, I don't want to risk losing my luggage, I have valuables/medications/etc. packed in my suitcase, and I don't want to risk a long wait at baggage claim. I intentionally pack light so that my stuff will fit in a carry-on bag. If the airlines want people to check their luggage, they should stop charging for people to check luggage, at least the first bag. And they should improve baggage handling so that people get their bags quickly at the end of the flight. (The only airline I check luggage on is Alaska, for that reason.)

Also, the airlines do a bad job of enforcing the rules in place. If they really limited people to one item in the overhead bin, and made people put anything else under the seat in front of them, it would be better. I've see overhead bins full of people's coats and the airline staff didn't do anything.

Anonymous wrote:The wait for baggage claim at DCA is sometimes as long as a flight. Seriously.

+1. In my experience you are generally looking at adding 30 minutes minimum, with the risk of 45 minutes to an hour or more. And every frequent business traveler I know has had a horror story of late evening arrival + inexplicable baggage claim delay which made the next day hellish. Take a civilized scheduled arrival into DCA at say 9:30 pm, add a 90 minute flight delay and an hour wait at baggage claim and you are ending up home well after midnight. At that point 30 mins or an hour of extra sleep makes a huge difference.

Also, if you fly 20 times per year, even a 30 minute wait on each end really adds up. If you don't fly a lot, you don't really get it.

The wait for baggage claim at DCA is sometimes as long as a flight. Seriously.

Anonymous wrote:Sure, but I’m talking about one-leg trips where your bag is very unlikely to get lost and about people carrying multiple, large bags. I’ve travelled a lot in the past few years and never had a bag go missing, plus I carry on a small bag with the essentials, just in case. I guess I’ve waited a while at baggage claim sometimes, but nothing outrageous.

You’ve been fortunate. After the airline lost my bag to and from Europe I don’t check unless we are traveling as a family. Even then, I’ve waited in baggge claim up to 45 minutes which is a long time with kids after a long flight.