I’m a big fan of convenience while traveling by air. My preference would be to check my luggage, and walk onto the airplane with nothing but my laptop bag. I wouldn’t have to try to find a place for a carry on, nor would I have to retrieve it through a sea of people trying to do the exact same thing in a very cramped space.
That being said, it’s ridiculous to have to pay to check a bag. Almost every major airline does it. Obviously they’re doing it to raise revenue, but it’s like saying, “Thanks for using our service to get you to your fabulous week long vacation at a tropical location. There’s absolutely no reason you need to bring anything with you, so if for some strange reason you think you need to bring things with you, that will cost extra.” Hey airlines, there’s a baggage compartment in airplanes for a reason.
I already paid a substantial amount of money for my ticket, if I can help it, I’m NOT paying for my luggage, too.
On a recent trip with my family, we had two choices when it came to luggage:
- Pack all our family’s things into two large suite cases and check them for a total cost of $60 ($25 for the first bag, $35 for the second)
- Have each family member pack their things into individual carry on bags.
To save $120 ($60 in each direction), I had each family member back their own carry on sized bag.
On the first half of our trip, we put our carry on bags in the overhead compartment before our flight and retrieved them when we landed. Each of our family members is capable of pulling their own bag. Four family members, four bags, $0 to transport our luggage.
On the way home, however, something happened that made me believe there was a way to work the system to have bags checked for free. As we were waiting for the plane to board, an announcement was made stating the plane was full and the overhead luggage compartment would likely be filled quickly. It went on to encourage people to bring their bags to the counter to have them gate checked. For FREE. I instantly took two of our bags to the counter, and eventually had a third gate checked.
We had three of our carry on bags gate checked for FREE.
It made me wonder why no such statement was made for our initial flight, and why there was plenty of room for everyone’s carry on luggage even though it was also full. I did a little investigation and created the following steps that will give you a good chance of having your luggage checked for free.
Check Your Seating Configuration
The most important step is to check the configuration of your plane. When you purchase your ticket, airlines commonly have a seating map that can be viewed. The number of seats on each side of the aisle dictates the depth of the carry on storage. If the seating configuration has three seats on one side of the aisle the overhead compartment is deep enough to fit carry on bags front to back. If there is two or less, then the bags will have to go left to right and there will not be enough space for everyone to have a carry on bag!
For example, the plane on the first half of our trip had three seats on each side of the aisle. If everyone had a carry on bag, it could be stored front to back, allowing each passenger to have their bag directly above their seat. On the way home, there were only two seats on each side of the aisle, requiring bags to be placed in the storage lengthwise. The length of two bags exceeds space used by a row of seats, therefore there isn’t enough room to store a carry on for each passenger.
Check Fullness Of Flight
The seat map will also indicate the open and filled seats. This will give you an idea as to how full the plane will be.
Use Carry On Luggage
If your plane configuration has less than three seats on either or both sides of the aisle, and the plane is full, there will not be enough room to accommodate a carry on bag for each passenger.
Work The System
Knowing ahead of time that overhead storage space will be limited, listen for an announcement asking for volunteers to have luggage gate checked. Or, talk to the gate agent and offer to have your luggage gate checked to ensure you take advantage of the situation.
This plan may not work for all trips and all planes, but it is something travelers can check ahead of time and know before they leave home whether there’s a chance that they can have luggage gate checked for free!
Have you ever noticed the plane’s seat configuration has an affect on overhead storage? Have you ever had your luggage gate checked for free?
I almost always gate my bag, especially on the trip home. I don’t wait for an announcement, I just go up and ask to check my bag… Haven’t been turned down yet.
I’ll have to keep that in mind, Karen, thanks for the tip!
Good plane. I’m a frequent flyer. You can always gate check your bag for free. Just go to the gate before boarding begins and ask if they are courtesy checking bags. They’ll do it because it saves time boarding and helps the flight stay “on time”. Unless its a really empty flight, and even then you might get them checked for free. The kicker is that you still have to wrestle your bags through security.
Also, because they run fewer flights nowadays there are often overbooked flights. If you don’t mind waiting for a few hours to get home, you can often get a free ticket to give up your seat. Yeah, there are restrictions so it can be a pain to use those tickets, but it can get you some free flights.
I don’t mind getting my bags from security….unless they lose it. 🙂