My travels over the holidays took me to visit family in Edmonton Alberta and Monterey California. In doing so, I took a total of seven airline flights and I watched a lot of people wrestling with luggage.
Now that airlines charge about $35 (give or take) for a standard-sized checked suitcase, more people choose to use a smaller bag and put it in an overhead bin in the cabin. Some people try to push their luck and bring a bigger bag on board, but the gate agents make it very clear that those will not fit. I watched as an agent was quite snarky with one passenger and said words to the effect of, “You knew that was too big before you got here!”
What bugs me about this whole process is that I am too short to put a bag in an overhead bin. On a good day I am 5′ 2″ and getting shorter, and I cannot reach to put a 25 lb bag in a small space above my head. I should add that I am also 74, and weightlifting has never been among my skill set. So, I consider the fee for checked baggage to be a tax on short old people. It feels discriminatory, but I can live with it, up to a point.
The point at which I feel cheated is when I get to the gate and people are encouraged to check their bags at the point of boarding, for free! Every single time, there are more bags than bin space, and every single time people happily agree to stow their luggage in the same airplane belly as my bag. I paid $35 for my piece of that belly, but they paid nothing. Now the fee has become a tax on short old people who plan ahead.
Once, on a previous trip, I did try to bring my small-ish bag on board but could not lift it into the overhead bin. At the time, there were no big burly men around to help me, and the flight attendants were staying well clear of boarding passengers, so I asked a woman who was my seat neighbour to lend a hand. She was not pleased. Even though she seemed capable enough, she clearly resented being asked. When it was time to leave the plane, she made a point of scooting up the aisle ahead of me so that she wouldn’t be asked to help get the bag down. That was the one and only time I tried bringing a bag on board.
On one of my flights this trip I watched a woman struggle with the same dilemma, but her outcome was even worse than mine. She seemed to be about 5’0″ and of retirement age, and she was trying to lift quite a large bag into the overhead bin. At the point where she tried to tip the bottom of the bag up and over the lip of the bin she lost control of the balance and the bag fell.
At the same time a mother with two children was finding their seats. She was holding a small child while a little girl about five years old went ahead of her. Just at the moment when the girl came alongside my seat, the older woman’s bag tipped over and landed on the girl’s head before it hit the floor. There was immediate uproar.
The little girl was crying loudly and her mother was furiously yelling at the older woman. I and my seat neighbours were all in shock and unable to move anywhere to help. Meanwhile the line of people boarding was stopped and flight attendants tried to find their way through the crowds from opposite ends of the plane to attend to the problem.
Making a bad situation even worse, the embarrassed older woman smiled as she apologized to the mother and child. It may have been a nervous response or a cultural difference but that smile was not received well.
Ultimately, one flight attendant and another passenger helped the woman put her bag into the bin, and the other flight attendant brought a bag of ice for the little girl to put on her head. I don’t know what happened to her after that, but I didn’t hear any crying.
Having watched all that drama happen right next to me has made me rethink my grumpiness about paying to stow my bag. Thirty-five dollars now seems like a small price to pay for ease, comfort, and passenger harmony. I will never again try to put my carry-on into an overhead bin.
Snowbird of Paradise 
@snowbirdofparadise.com Oh my gosh, what an ordeal! I agree with you, the system is not really fair and doesn't make sense. And trying to stow bags while everyone is crowded around in the aisles is hard to do even if you have the strength and height to do it! On my last trip (visiting you) I let them know I need more time to board with my foot issues, so I could be one of the first to board, and it made a huge difference! I recommend it. 🙂
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That is a good thought, Jamie! Now I’m wondering why the woman with children had not pre-boarded.
I love your title! I used to be a solid 5’7″, but that’s getting elusive these days. I didn’t have good arm strength, as in my husband’s cast iron dutch oven was too heavy for me to lift. A few years ago I started doing push ups on the wall, thinking maybe one day I could do push ups on the floor. I am not a devoted exerciser, but even with my occasional exercises, I have increased my arm strength. And am not anywhere near doing push ups on the floor! Actually, it’s no longer a goal.😊 I don’t know if they would get you to a place of putting luggage over your head either! I’m with you; it’s not a goal. I take a back pack onboard, that I can put under the seat in front of me, and check in the rest of the luggage. But I haven’t flown since February of 2020. When I do, it’s gonna an adjustment, I’m sure!
Like you, I take a backpack on flights and it is enough to carry all the necessary travel items and essentials like medications.
Your wall pushups are a good idea. I bet you can lift that dutch oven now!
Yes, I can lift the dutch oven; you are right!
Yay!
Packing and luggage are very much on our minds right now, Anne. As you know, we’re flying to St. Lucia next week for a month in the sun. Glenn and I both have WestJet cards, so no fee for baggage. However, we have a very tight connection coming home, having to clear customs in Toronto and make our next flight in under 2 hours. (The alternative was to sit in the airport overnight for about 9 hours). So we’re planning to check one duffel bag going (mostly consumables, like lots of sunscreen, and also some gifts for people we know there) but come back with only carry-on. I struggle to put baggage in an overhead bin, but thank goodness there are 2 of us and we can help each other out.
You make an excellent point about how discriminatory the practice of charging for baggage is, and the chaos that ensues when too many people are trying to cram too much stuff in overhead bins. Fingers crossed that we have smooth sailing (or flying); but we will certainly watch our heads!
I hope your month in St Lucia is glorious! I thought only 1st class passengers got no fee baggage. You have opened my eyes!
Your plans for baggage sound excellent. I have learned to put things I couldn’t replace in my carry on backpack and everything else goes in stowed luggage. I seem to spend long hours in “hub” airports and I really don’t want to lug a suitcase around them. Happy travels!
You named it – a tax 🙂
It seems that way.