I have been reinforcing my decision to never again fly in an airplane.

[JettaKnight]

This won't happen because of the time consumed and the lack of infrastructure necessary to collect payment

There exist's a 'parallel' hack to avoid paying checked baggage fees. If you know or suspect your flight will be full, take it to the gate (when was the last time someone at the counter actually asked you to put your carry on in the size checker?) and when they ask for volunteers to have their carry on checked through to your destination, simply volunteer. You have to plan for it, though, because I never want anything valuable to be in a bag that is allowed out of my possession. If it actually won't fit in the overhead and they do not ask for volunteers just board late and feign a bewildered inability to find space for it

That doesn't help if you want to carry a bunch of alcohol you buy over there.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

That doesn't help if you want to carry a bunch of alcohol you buy over there.

If you buy it at duty free and leave the bags sealed you can still get it through TSA. I learned this from a very helpful AA employee when I went to check a bag for the second leg of a flight for that very reason. I don't know if there's a limit or not (or what you consider "a bunch") but we had 5 bottles and it wasn't an issue.

TSA will open the bag, put each bottle in some sort of scanner thing, put the bottles back in the bag, then seal it back up with tape that shows if it's been tampered with.

 

[ChrisK]

You guys are so spoiled on airplane seating. This is where I mostly sat when flying except when I sat in the IP seat in the C-5.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

You guys are so spoiled on airplane seating. This is where I mostly sat when flying except when I sat in the IP seat in the C-5.

I love flying on KC-135s. Spent 14 hours on one flying from Okinawa back to Indiana. Eight of those hours, I slept in my sleeping bag, on my air matress. Beats being crammed in an airliner seat on a commercial flight.

 

[chipbennett]

I do this, except I block the aisle and let everyone ahead of me make an orderly departure while preventing those from further back from jamming the aisle and preventing this. It is the airplane equivalent of blocking the unusable lane approaching a zipper merge to make those rushing ahead in it unable to slow the process down even more

Well, yes: that's part of the reason for putting my carry-on in the aisle. Amazingly, post-pandemic, there are, IMX, far fewer people trying to push their way to the front. But, some still try.

 

[chipbennett]

This won't happen because of the time consumed and the lack of infrastructure necessary to collect payment

There exist's a 'parallel' hack to avoid paying checked baggage fees. If you know or suspect your flight will be full, take it to the gate (when was the last time someone at the counter actually asked you to put your carry on in the size checker?) and when they ask for volunteers to have their carry on checked through to your destination, simply volunteer. You have to plan for it, though, because I never want anything valuable to be in a bag that is allowed out of my possession. If it actually won't fit in the overhead and they do not ask for volunteers just board late and feign a bewildered inability to find space for it

I think it would be pretty easy to implement. The handheld scanners can accept card payments directly, and I believe they can even charge cards associated with the Skymiles account. And, it would only be needed for anyone willing to pay to carry on. Everyone else just gets gate-checked, which is an already quick process: scan boarding pass, scan pink tag, put pink tag on bag.

 

[chipbennett]

If you buy it at duty free and leave the bags sealed you can still get it through TSA. I learned this from a very helpful AA employee when I went to check a bag for the second leg of a flight for that very reason. I don't know if there's a limit or not (or what you consider "a bunch") but we had 5 bottles and it wasn't an issue.

TSA will open the bag, put each bottle in some sort of scanner thing, put the bottles back in the bag, then seal it back up with tape that shows if it's been tampered with.

No experience with this (I never buy anything duty-free), but I would assume/guess that the limit is the Customs declaration limit for alcohol? (1L, IIRC?)

(TSA has separate limits for checked baggage, which wouldn't apply here.)

 

[BugI02]

That doesn't help if you want to carry a bunch of alcohol you buy over there.

Uhhh, I think I covered that under the 'a bag you don't want out of your sight because it contains valuables' exception

 

[BugI02]

I think it would be pretty easy to implement. The handheld scanners can accept card payments directly, and I believe they can even charge cards associated with the Skymiles account. And, it would only be needed for anyone willing to pay to carry on. Everyone else just gets gate-checked, which is an already quick process: scan boarding pass, scan pink tag, put pink tag on bag.

Or, they could just return to including some checked baggage as part of the ticket cost - you know, like a rental car is expected to include tires and such or a dinner reservation is expected to include a table and seating of some kind

 

[JettaKnight]

Uhhh, I think I covered that under the 'a bag you don't want out of your sight because it contains valuables' exception

I'm not talking about duty free, this is more about buying things, maybe knives, in a shop while on vacation.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Or, they could just return to including some checked baggage as part of the ticket cost - you know, like a rental car is expected to include tires and such or a dinner reservation is expected to include a table and seating of some kind

Don't most airlines include that as an option at ticket purchase? I'd rather have it be an add-on than a baked in, personally.

I'm not talking about duty free, this is more about buying things, maybe knives, in a shop while on vacation.

It's pretty cheap to check a single bag one way if this becomes an issue and you don't have a way for a free bag due to class of ticket, status, credit card benefit, etc.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Not sure if folks are seeing the news about Americans getting arrested in Turks and Caicos (island that's a British territory a bit northeast of Cuba) such as:

American woman charged after ammunition found in baggage in Turks and Caicos on Mother's Day trip: Police

Police in Turks and Caicos said they've arrested another American after they allegedly found illegal ammunition in her luggage at the airport.

abcnews.go.com

The arrestees are admitting to carrying ammunition (in very small quantities) but having forgotten it in their baggage. This is a solid reminder to *never* use travel bags as gun bags or vice versa. Whenever I fly with a gun everything, ammunition and magazines included, are all in the same lockbox with the gun. Nothing is ever in the suitcase aside from the closed and locked lockbox. I never put guns or ammo in backpacks or messenger bags I use for travel, both to prevent accidentally carrying contraband *and* to avoid contaminating the bags with gunshot residue in case of chemical sniffer tests.

So those brave cattle willing to soar in the flying death tubes, listen to Johnny Cash and don't take your guns to town. Or bags you used to carry guns. Or ammunition. Johnny was getting to that bit, but his protagonist died before it became relevant.