Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Wifey has the Answer………..

While we were traveling to Las Vegas a few weeks ago we were stunned to see how long it took to board and leave the aircraft. Yes it was a 757 and held a couple hundred passengers. The hold up was all the rude and inconsiderate people who carry on their luggage instead of checking it at the counter.

I’ve heard the arguments before. I travelled by air extensively when I worked for Bank of America. I probably flew more than most. I am still not impressed with their rationale.

If you need to get out of the airport 15 minutes faster and checking your luggage would slow down your travel, take an earlier flight. No matter what you are told, the airlines rarely loose checked baggage anymore. Sure, years ago when it was all hand sorted, a lot of bags were lost. Most were recovered and delivered to you by the airlines at their expense. Today your claim ticket is computer bar coded and the loss rate is far below 1 percent.

Your huge carry on broke my expensive pair of prescription sunglasses that were in my over coat pocket that you squished when you, rather rudely, shoved your oversize suitcase into the overhead bin. You don’t care. You are a selfish asshole.

I wonder how quickly the aircraft would load and unload passengers if everyone found their seat, sat down, buckled up and they then closed the door?

Wifey’s idea, and I love it, is to charge these rude bastards $10.00 for each carry on bag that doesn’t fit under the seat in front of you. Why charge all the people who follow the rules and check their bags ten to thirty dollars apiece? The airlines are paying the baggage handlers already. That money is just gravy to the airlines. Why not make a little more and try to alleviate the other problems at the same time? These rude, inconsiderate, self serving, “professional business travelers” will cough up the money any way. Hell, just enforce the carry on size limits. I would choose the airline with that policy every time.

Looks like a win-win situation to me. Speed up departures, increase airline revenue, and don’t damage my expensive personal property by being an asshole.

Great idea Wifey! Just another reason why I love you. You are one smart cookie.