Agreed. Also, the perks are being lowered every few years, and it’s getting harder to qualify for the higher elite tiers 
We’ve used bright yellow personalized luggage straps on checked baggage for over a decade. They were a Christmas gift from my brother. We laughed when we got them but have used them and (knock on wood) have never had an issue with identifying and claiming our luggage.
I think this varies by aircraft/airport and maybe even airline. I’ve experienced both pick-up at the gate and pick-up at the baggage carousel in the last year or so. It seems that if it’s a small plane/small airport, the bags they take from you will be at the door. (Thinking about flights in and out of Santa Fe, for example.)
And yes, while it is really nice to check bags and not have to deal with them while traveling, it is AWFUL when they don’t make it to your destination with you - a possibility that increases in likelihood when they aren’t carry-ons. I suspect that the tracking feature in the airline apps is partly intended to help that situation. Especially in the age of Air Tags…
1 Like
That’s great to know!
The last time I chose to check to my final destination, my carry on bag was destroyed. It was my journey home so I wasn’t worried about lost luggage but I wasn’t thrilled buying a new bag since the one I was using was new. And I didn’t notice that they shredded the back of the bag until I got home. Should have filed a claim but didn’t.
Air travel stinks, boarding stinks and carrying my stuff like a Sherpa stinks
5 Likes
@deb922 Next time, you might want to try to file a claim. We almost always check bags. After our last trip at Thanksgiving, when we were waiting for them, I joked to H that the area smelled like rotting fish. We got our bags and started the 1:30 drive home. At some point I said “I think I still smell the fish.” Then we stopped for lunch. Got back in the car, I definitely smelled the smell! Went to the back and checked the bags. Neither were wet, but H’s definitely smelled. Mine was hard to tell. Got home, emptied them out. Everything inside seemed fine, but I left both out on the porch and did an online chat with Delta. They sent me a claim form and walked me through what to say. I figured nothing would come out of it.
45 minutes later, I got an email to pick out 2 free suitcases from their website - any size or style! Ours were 10 year old cases from Target, so we are THRILLED! And I sprayed the old ones down with Lysol and let them sit outside for a few days and they seem fine now.
5 Likes
Yes, when United broke my cheap older suitcase on a trip, they told me to go behind the counter to the room where they had an assortment of bags and choose whichever one I wanted.
Years ago I bought a bright green leather luggage tag for myself somehow not thinking about the fact that I have red luggage. It turned out to be a good thing as it makes my bag very easy to spot.
4 Likes
My parents use to travel a good bit in the 70s and 80s, when luggage came in one color, black. My mother made these huge yarn pom poms, and attached them to each piece of checked luggage. She never lost any luggage, and was able to find it at luggage pick up.
Fast forward to my first trip out of the country; mom insisted she make one for my family’s luggage. I really didn’t want it, but let her make them. Huband and I, along with the 2 kids split into two different check in lines at the airport in Milan; we each must have thought the other had one of the carry on bags. When we landed at Newark, we realized none of us had the carry on. Of course because I was carrying it on, I have all my electronics in there, my prescription sunglasses and other important items.
As we left the suitcase at checkin, we envisioned security finding it, thinking it could be explosives, and having the robot blowing it up! I it happened to be shaped like a bowling bag, so between that and the pom pom, it was easy for me to describe. I also had the same identical bag here at home that belonged to my daughter, so sent them the picture of that bag, along with the description including the pom pom.
While it took a few weeks, as it was sent to the lost bag facility, I think in Rome, we got the bag back. I was told because of the pom pom, they were able to locate it in all the missing bags.
My mother has never let me live this down!
8 Likes
My mom did the same! 
1 Like
My daughter got to the gate with two items…her computer bag and an instrument case that had $20,000 or so in instrument and case value. She was told she had to gate check both. She flatly refused, and always carried a letter from the musicians union with her about this issue. They finally agreed she could bring the instruments on the plane…she checked her computer bag (after removing her wallet, etc from it).
She was NOT happy…
2 Likes
yikes, that’s terrible. Instead of a letter from her union, perhaps she needs to start carrying the actual federal rule (which basically says even an irregularly sized instrument counts as one of two bags for carryon, as long as it will fit in the overhead bin).
https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/Musical%20instruments_FR_final%20rule.pdf
https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/DOT_Musical_Instruments_FAQ_2_0.pdf
And file a complaint with the DoT.
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/file-consumer-complaint
That is exactly what the musicians union letter had. My DD was not a member of the union, but all musicians were advised to carry that letter.
My son carried the letter also, he had an instrument case with three instruments in it…and they needed to be with him when he arrived at his destination.
1 Like
My daughter’s dress was too big for the closet. We knew this ahead of time. We had to buy it it’s own seat. And because I was going first class the dress had to also! ( it has to be next to you)
6 Likes
Funny story time. Yesterday I was at the airport and got a notification through the AA app that I got upgraded (I have status and automatically get put on the upgrade list). My boarding pass in Apple Wallet automatically updated to my new seat.
During boarding I scan my pass and the system flashes some kind of error and in huge letters across the whole screen, “DO NOT BOARD”. The gate agent looks at my boarding pass, shrugs, and tells me to go ahead.
So of course there’s someone in my seat! I go to the flight attendants, they look at my boarding pass and check their list, then one of them goes to talk to the passenger. Now at this point I’ll note that my first name is unusual but not rare, coupled with a common last name - think something like “Nigel Johnson”.
So the flight attendant comes back and double-checks the passenger manifest the other flight attendant has up. Yup, the dude in my seat has the same last name. She goes back to him and comes back again. Yes- the dude in my seat has both my first name and last name!!! Fortunately the system has my middle name so that cleared things up and the dude got sent back to coach.
Later the gate agent comes on board and he’s talking to the flight attendants for a solid 10-15 mins. I overhear one of them ask if ID was checked and the gate agent says no. What I think happened is the other guy probably also has status and was also on the upgrade waitlist, saw my (his) name on the upgrade list monitor, or got called up for the new seat assignment and just took it thinking it was his lucky day. Meanwhile I got the auto-update via the app.
It was also a weird return trip as the guy next to me turned out to be in the wrong seat, 16B. He was in 15A. But then there was someone in his seat, who as it turned out was in 17A. It was a whole musical chairs routine as they got it sorted out.
5 Likes
That is wild! I hope y’all got a good chuckle out of it at the end. What are the chances of that happening?!
2 Likes
It is an FAA regulation that each passenger can only carry on 2 things and everything is supposed to count - crossbody bags, pillows, blankets, roll ons, backpacks…They announce that before boarding on every flight. Do they always enforce? No but if you start putting things in places other than under the seat in front of you or one overhead, they will tell you to consolidate.
2 Likes
Why, just why? Let me be last and if I have to gate check my carry on for free - go for it. I try never to be in a hurry when I fly as it makes a stressful situation even more stressful. Last one on, last one off - relax.
I most often fly Southwest, so I am fighting for a seat, not just overhead space. However, I’m fine with getting on and going toward the back and taking a window seat so that I can settle in and stay there.
People who have had experiences with lost or delayed checked bags may not want to gate check them.
If you are concerned about that, you may want to have a smaller bag with the most essential items* in your carry-on, so that you can remove it and put it under the seat in front of you if you need to gate check your carry on.
*Meaning anything you need immediately on arrival.
4 Likes