RSSAsk Daily: The High Cost of Luggage
Nov 25
Travel Air Travel, Airplanes, Planes Comments Off
Question: What happens when you are forced to gate check your bag either because of the lack of space, will they still charge you to check the bag?
Answer: Trying to find a way around the per bag charge? It’s a good idea, the gate agent won’t charge you if you are “forced” to check your bag at the gate because they ran out of room in the overhead bins.
So the plan is you take your bag with you through security and if there’s no room on the plane, then you happily check it at the gate free of charge. The problem with the plan is that you still need to pack a bag that is small enough to go through security. Though they rarely enforce carry-on bag size, technically there are size limits that can be enforced at the security check-point. And you can only take one piece of luggage as a carry-on (it’s amazing how the “second item such as a purse or laptop case” becomes a second piece of luggage but the idea behind the second item is that it fits under your seat). And there are items forbidden from your carry-on that are not banned from your checked luggage.
So yes, while you might save yourself the fee to check luggage, there is still some planning involved that may or may not be worth your time.
Incidentally, a lot of business travelers have now started shipping their luggage in advance of their trip, or they visit the UPS store before they come home because they can go a week without the dirty laundry.
