Suitcase packing tip for those who fly

[ellie'smom]

My guess is the only reason someone would use an overhead bin that's not theirs is if theirs is already full. Why else would someone want their belongings father away from them? Also, just curious why you don't keep your purse with your personal items under the seat in front of you instead of in the overhead? That way no one is near it.

I always fly in the 1st row. More leg room.

 

[lajspeech]

We had a long chat with a flight attendant once about why they don't just label all the overheads with corresponding seat numbers so you know exactly how much designated space you have and if you have to much stuff yours gets sent below the plane, rather than forcing the last 20 people to board to all check their bags at the gate bc all the overhead space is gone. Basically her answer was that there isn't actually enough space for everyone to carry on an overhead bag, but more and more ppl are with the new checked bag fees.

I try not to ever check luggage but only travel with a small roll aboard and an underseat bag/purse combo. The picture I posted before of us going to Croatia with 1 checked bag and 1 carry on didn't even require us to use overhead space as it fit under the seat and the stroller was gate checked.

 

[ThreeBeans]

Family trip to WDW - four suitcases, four people. Everyone has 25% space in all four cases so if one case goes missing we all still have clothes. ;-)

*facepalm*

This is much smarter than I am.

 

[skater]

.....And I never understand how some posters have to be so rude. The responses often are so surprising that it's unbelievable! Thank you for your tip- my family will be using it in June!

That was my first thought! Sheesh. Its getting scary to start a new thread .

 

[Lintasare]

Proud overpacker. If I have to do laundry it is not a vacation. Plus there is no way I can put all my liquid/gel toiletries in a quart sized bag. Not with my hair. I check a bag and I do not mind paying the bag fee. I budget that into the cost of the trip.

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

. Basically her answer was that there isn't actually enough space for everyone to carry on an overhead bag, but more and more ppl are with the new checked bag fees.
.

I don't understand why airlines didn't charge for and extra carry-on?
Each person get 1 checked bag free.. 50lbs. And one SMALL personal item for the plane.. ( laptop bag, diaper bag,pruse)

The loading and unloading process would be faster.. Less bags to scan through security..
Solves problem of not having enough space on the plane for everyone carry -on

 

[poohs_hunny]

I always fly in the 1st row. More leg room.

OK - then the trade off for more leg room is having others near your belongings. I guess I don't see why it matters if those people are the ones who "belong" to that overhead bin or not.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I am so sorry this happened to you! I feel your pain!

Two years ago we flew down to Orlando before our Disney Dream cruise and my bag didn't arrive with us. First I was told it probably got held up by TSA so we waited for the next flight to arrive. Nothing. Finally we got a call at 10 pm (after I purchased all new toiletries and some shirts) that my bag was found on a luggage carousel in Guatemala! Luckily I had done some last minute laundry and put a pair of jeans and some underwear in DD's bag so I had some of my clothes for the next day. It was so stressful when we had no clue where my bag was and the thought of replacing everything before the cruise ruined the first day of our trip. I was so lucky the bag arrived before we got on the ship! I learned my lesson... I will never, ever, ever fly again without cross-packing our bags!

When my bag finally did arrive it still had the original "MCO" tag that was put on in Boston. Still have no clue how we checked 3 huge bright colored LLBean duffles and one ended up in Guatemala. To add insult to injury, American absolutely refused to refund the checked baggage fee!

 

[MoonFaerie]

We always cross-pack for that reason. I'm a little worried about my upcoming trip. It's just me - meeting a friend down there - and I'll need running clothes for both the 5K and Princess Half Marathon, clothes for Victoria & Albert's, plus regular park clothes for the 6 days. The running clothes will fill my carry-on, and I'll only be checking 1 bag.

 

[EmilyJ517]

OK I need to seriously read up on some lighter packing tips - some of you guys are putting me to SHAME!! Wow. I'm a moderate over packer I guess! haha - for a 10 day trip to WDW we usually pack 1 suitcase each for DH and I, and one combined suitcase for the two kids (ages 4 and 2). And then we each have a backpack (or a diaper bag in my case) for the plane with toys/snacks and a change of clothes.

I should consider putting DH's and my clothes in 50% of each suitcase - good idea.

My *tip*, which isn't much but I've learned the lesson is this: If you have a large suitcase that is going to be close to 50 lbs, put the heavy stuff on the bottom near the back wheels. I forgot this one time and had my suitcase toploaded and I couldn't get it to stand up on its own! It was so annoying. LOL

 

[EmilyJ517]

By the way - I'm in the process of packing for a ski trip to Vail! Speaking of over-packing...holy cow.

Winter clothes, ski clothes, a ski boot bag, a ski bag with 3 pairs of skis, 2 car seats for the rental car, and my MOM! haha - we had to rent a Suburban just to get it all from the airport to the condo.

 

[pktbMouse]

OMG OP I feel your pain...soo sorry for you hun, I had a suitcase get lost on the way to a funeral once and had to borrow my Moms clothes ( not pleasant thing to do ) then had a stroller come out the hold in pieces ( also not a pleasant thing to happen at 5am with a grumpy, heavy 18 month old) thats my worst nightmare that it will happen again. We usually drive to Florida but will be flying down this year. I will be sure to cross pack now. Thank you so much for the heads up. And yes...whats with all these ugly people coming out of the woodwork lately, Im the same. Im almost scared to post anything for fear of getting shot down in flames. This was one of the reasons I backed away from using this site last year. It got to where it didnt matter what I posted, I got flamed. I know you are entitiled to your opinion...but come on folks....its Disney!!! be nice.

 

[rharper1496]

Normally we have my stuff/my husband's stuff in a large suitcase and the kids in a smaller one. I never would have thought of splitting them up, so thanks for the tip.

After traveling to a wedding this summer I can safely say I'm never packing light again. We had 2 convertible car seats, a garment bag with tuxes and a flower girl dress in it and a diaper bag already so we decided to pack everything else in 1 small suitcase. Anything that could go wrong did and by the end of the weekend we spent more money than I want to think about buying things we ended up needing after all plus a bag to get it all back. It's especially annoying when you're stuck buying something that you already have at home and just didn't pack.

 

[auntfrannie]

You should look up packinglightdotcom!!


I checked this site out....thanks for the tip! I'm going to give this packing method a try starting tomorrow!

I watched that video, too. Please come back on this thread and let us know if it worked.

I don't understand why airlines didn't charge for and extra carry-on?
Each person get 1 checked bag free.. 50lbs. And one SMALL personal item for the plane.. ( laptop bag, diaper bag,pruse)

The loading and unloading process would be faster.. Less bags to scan through security..
Solves problem of not having enough space on the plane for everyone carry -on

I agree! It takes so darn long for everyone to board and then people get upset when they can't fit their 30" "carryon" in the overhead bin!

 

[MaleficentRN]

ITA OP. On our week long cruise/resort trip, I did pack a change of each person's clothes in another's suitcase. So even if 3/4 suitcases didn't make it to the ship, we wouldn't be stuck in the middle of the ocean with only the clothes on our backs.
I think a valuble lesson could be learned about garment bags, too. Never check them. They are not stong enough to handle the rigors of baggage handling.

 

[clareita]

All of these stories about lost bags have made very happy that we only take carry ons. Yes, we need to do laundry, but it makes getting around so much easier. My family of 5 spent two weeks in Italy last summer, and navigating airports and multiple train stations with big suitcases would have been really difficult.

The last time we went to WDW, I shipped a box to our resort ahead of us. I put in snacks, extra toiletries, bulky clothes items, etc. I knew it was waiting for us even before we got on the plane. It cost less than a bag fee, and it made getting in and out of the airport much quicker than if we had to check and wait for checked luggage.

 

[Lizard Valley]

Spoiler and totally off subject- Remember when you decide to " carry on" all your luggage for your trip, use your own overhead bin. I can't tell you how many times I have opened the overhead bin over my seat to find all the space taken up by someone else's stuff. Quite annoying. I really don't want you 49.5 lb "carry on" , laptop, pocketbook, backpack, briefcase , next to my pocketbook. I don't want you coming by standing over me looking for stuff that you need right a now. I do not want to turn around and find your" FRONT END "IN MY FACE. I carry medication ( not the good stuff) , identification, cash, credit cards my phone ... all that stuff in my pocketbook so I certainly do not want anyone near it. This is the way I feel. I will not apologize for it. So flame on.

I hate to tell you this, but there is no such thing as your "own overhead bin". You have your own seat and the space under the seat in front of you. Thats it. The overhead bin space is everybody's to use, and is not specific to the seats beneath it. Take a look around. There are not as many bins as there are seats. There could be as many as 6 seats beneath just one bin. Then there are bins that are full of required emergency equipment, plus the crew bag bins. That doesn't even factor in the dreaded first row that doesn't have any designated carry-on space.

I don't understand why airlines didn't charge for and extra carry-on?
Each person get 1 checked bag free.. 50lbs. And one SMALL personal item for the plane.. ( laptop bag, diaper bag,pruse)

The loading and unloading process would be faster.. Less bags to scan through security..
Solves problem of not having enough space on the plane for everyone carry -on

The checked bag fee is designed to encourage people to pack less and carry all their bags onboard. Less bags means less weight. Less weight means less fuel needed. Less fuel means lower costs.

Also, airlines are rated by the number of "passengers arriving without bags" (i.e. lost bags). They can't lose bags that weren't checked. Fewer checked bags means less lost bags.

Signed,
A flight attendant

 

[DisneyRegulars]

That being said, I have both my 4 year old and 2 year old packed for the first week of March in a carry on size rolling suitcase. There is no way I could pack my 11 year old stepdaughter in the same size suitcase for a week.

I love this post because I read it as if you were packing the children into suitcases and it gave me a laugh. I think there would probably be times when I would want to put all three of my children into suitcases, that's why I'm sticking with one for now.

 

[LSUfan4444]

OMG OP I feel your pain...soo sorry for you hun, I had a suitcase get lost on the way to a funeral once and had to borrow my Moms clothes ( not pleasant thing to do ) then had a stroller come out the hold in pieces ( also not a pleasant thing to happen at 5am with a grumpy, heavy 18 month old) thats my worst nightmare that it will happen again. We usually drive to Florida but will be flying down this year. I will be sure to cross pack now. Thank you so much for the heads up. And yes...whats with all these ugly people coming out of the woodwork lately, Im the same. Im almost scared to post anything for fear of getting shot down in flames. This was one of the reasons I backed away from using this site last year. It got to where it didnt matter what I posted, I got flamed. I know you are entitiled to your opinion...but come on folks....its Disney!!! be nice.

The "ugly" people don't bother me. I could certainly pack lighter if I wanted to, but I fly Southwest for two main reasons:

1 -Direct flights from New Orleans
2 -No extra baggage fees

I could have simply packed and went with less baggage if that's what I wanted to do, but I had no desire to do so. It cost me absolutely nothing to fly with extra baggage, but saved me time and money upon arrival by having everything we needed, and wanted.

Packing lighter can be useful in alot of situations, for us, flying southwest to MCO for a Disney Vacation....nothing smarter about it at all. Unless you enjoy doing laundry and like spending money on food you could have brought (Disney breakfasts are the biggest waste of money and rip off on the entire property).

As an update, my claim is still with Central Baggage. Since my claim was over $600, it could not be handled by MCO and had to go to their central office in Atlanta. They received my items on 1/23 (for a flight on 1/9 mind you) and they say they have 30 days to process my claim.

I have requested that once they agree with the dollar amount requested, which I have been told doesn't appear to be a problem, I would like them to call me to discuss additional details. This is when I plan to discuss the non "monetary value" of irreplaceable items.

 

[goofy4tink]

I don't understand why airlines didn't charge for and extra carry-on?
Each person get 1 checked bag free.. 50lbs. And one SMALL personal item for the plane.. ( laptop bag, diaper bag,pruse)

The loading and unloading process would be faster.. Less bags to scan through security..
Solves problem of not having enough space on the plane for everyone carry -on

If this were the case, you would see a lot of people checking a bag. But, a lot of airlines still charge for checked bags. Jetblue gives you one bag free, and SW gives you two.
Yes, things to move more rapidly that way. I wish they would charge for carryon bags that go in the bins.

I hate to tell you this, but there is no such thing as your "own overhead bin". You have your own seat and the space under the seat in front of you. Thats it. The overhead bin space is everybody's to use, and is not specific to the seats beneath it. Take a look around. There are not as many bins as there are seats. There could be as many as 6 seats beneath just one bin. Then there are bins that are full of required emergency equipment, plus the crew bag bins. That doesn't even factor in the dreaded first row that doesn't have any designated carry-on space.




The checked bag fee is designed to encourage people to pack less and carry all their bags onboard. Less bags means less weight. Less weight means less fuel needed. Less fuel means lower costs.

Also, airlines are rated by the number of "passengers arriving without bags" (i.e. lost bags). They can't lose bags that weren't checked. Fewer checked bags means less lost bags.

Signed,
A flight attendant

I really don't agree. Checked bag fees weren't put out there to discourage people from checking bags....they were put out there simply because airlines know that Americans want to bring as much stuff as humanly possible. The vast majority of the flying public can't make do with just carryon bags.
And as far as you don't 'own' a specific overhead spot? No, you don't. And yes, you kind of are free to put your stuff wherever you want. But I have to tell you....have you ever seen the mayhem that ensues when those boarding early put their stuff in those front bins?? Or midway? Then they go and sit down in the back of the plane. So now, those boarding after them, sitting in the front half of the plane, have no place to stow their bags, so they have to go to the back of the plane to use overhead bins!!! It's a very nice state of affairs when disembarking comes to a screeching halt as people try to go backwards and get their bags, with those in the back of the plane screaming that people won't let them off the plane!!!
And yes, I have seen that happen 2 or 3 times to date!! I have also watched the bags that FAs allow on as carryon. I would say that at least 50% of the bags brought to the gate are over the size that is supposed to be allowed. Or, over the number that is allowed. How is it that one person can bring a larger than allowed bag, to go in the overhead, a huge shopping bag (full of stuff), and a huge handbag? Just saw that last week in Ft Lauderdale!!
Perhaps if the airlines started enforcing their carryon bag policy, you would see fewer people trying to get away with too many bags or too large bags.

Me??? If I'm traveling for under a week, I can usually get by with a carryon bag. My dh can't. He is a huge 'what if I need it' traveler. I figure that if I find I 'need' something, I can probably get it wherever I am. I don't tend to travel to third world nations on vacation.
And if we do check bags..it's usually 2 for three of us...and we do split our things up between the bags. And we all know to pack a change of clothes in our carryon bags.