Comment by DoneWithAllThat | Hacker News Reader

Comment by DoneWithAllThat | Hacker News Reader

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DoneWithAllThat

I don’t understand why people act like checking bags is a huge time sink. It’s maybe fifteen minutes at most on a bad day for the bag drop, and I can’t remember the last time I had to wait more than 20 minutes for them to show up on the carousel at my destination (and 20 minutes is super slow, it’s usually more like 10). The only times I’ve really had problems with checking bags is connecting flights when my flight is delayed or canceled and such, and even then while there was some stress over it my bags always got to my destination either when I did or sooner. On the last point the last time I flew international I had a baggage attendant at Heathrow actually call my phone personally to reassure me they had my bag and told me where to go to pick it up when I got to baggage claim.

I’m sure there’s horror stories out there of course, there always is, but 99.99% of the time checking a bag is only marginally less convenient than trying to fit everything in my carryon.

I don't know. At this point, I personally know multiple people who've "lost" luggage when flying.

Thankfully it's not as big of a deal now that airtags/trackers are readily available.

I’ve had a vastly different experience. Several trips in the last year with 30 minutes+ to drop a bag and a couple closer to an hour. That’s enough to move the needle on when I feel like I can show up to the airport.

Baggage claim is usually pretty quick but even 5-10 minutes sucks after flying.

I’ve also had 2 bags fail to make it with my plane meaning I had to wait 24 hours for a courier to deliver them. It also makes connecting or flight changes much more dicey.

I definitely think I’ve been unlucky recently but the fact that I could be unlucky is why I avoid it as much as possible

I mostly disagree.

There are times when I know I have to check a, usually, pretty small bag. But especially because of the delayed baggage issue or because of last minute changes to flights because of weather or whatever, I probably carry-on (with a light load) 9 times out of 10. Especially with dress being more casual these days I usually don't really need more than carry-on unless I'm activities requiring some amount of gear.

The thing that kind of sucks is that picking up your bags is before customs, where another line can develop, so that 15-minute delay can lead to an hour+ in line if a bunch of airplanes unloaded all at once.

I almost always wait 20 minutes or more for a checked bag, and I've had to wait well over 45 minutes a few times.

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