Given that each option is equal in price, when flying shorter distances, I always wonder if it is better to Check-In my luggage or Carry-On? There are advantages and disadvantages for each …
Checking-In more luggage than you are Carrying-On, offers the biggest advantage in that, once the bag is tagged and headed on the rolling belt to the hidden luggage airport highway system, you, as a traveler, are free from schlepping a bag around with you while you navigate on your journey. You can move, with ease in an airport restaurant or gift shop. When trying to make a tightly timed connection, you can run faster in the airport and take the escalators rather than searching for elevators. And, perhaps even more importantly, you can board the airplane with little angst for where you will be able to find space for your Carry-On bag in the overhead bins.  The biggest disadvantage to Checking-In more luggage than you Carry-On is that, at your final destination, your luggage may not arrive, if at all, at the same time as you do…
Carrying-On luggage, rather than checking it in, offers a big advantage in that whatever belongings you want to take with you on your journey, you can; ensuring that both you and your belongings arrive together, as a complete package. But lately, for me, this advantage is diminishing in importance as the disadvantages of Carrying-On my luggage seem to be growing exponentially…
I used to not mind that I wheeled around the airport a Carry-On sized bag while I waited to board my plane. But since it is of the utmost importance, as blared out of the airport loudspeaker every 20 or 30 minutes, to “Stay with your luggage AT ALL TIMES”, it has become a bit of a nuisance to roll my Carry-On bag with me when I buy chewing gum or use the restroom or grab a glass of wine or check the departures board. By the time I have navigated through my connecting flight, with my Carry-On bag ever present at my side, I am annoyed and wondering if I really needed to pack anything other than what would fit in a small backpack. Finally, and perhaps what I would consider, lately, the biggest disadvantage of Carrying-On a bag, is that if I board the plane with a group that is not in the top 3, there isn’t room, in the immediate vicinity of my seat’s overhead storage bin, for my bag. If I had known there wouldn’t be room in my overhead bin space before getting to my assigned seat, I would have sneaked it in somewhere ahead of me because needing to place my bag in an overhead space that is BEHIND my seat, ultimately means that I end up being one of the last ones to depart from the plane, lest I try to weave my way through the throngs of lined-up passengers headed in the opposite direction! And if I have a tightly timed connection, with my ‘finally retrieved’ Carry-On bag in tow, I may not be able to even get MYSELF there fast enough…
Either? Or?
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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