Flying, luggage, carry-on, fees OH MY!

[krissyh]

Vera Bradley Large Duffel
I could pack for two weeks in that thing and it fits in the overhead actually taking less space than my small rolling carry-on. For four days - you can easily get your clothes and the kids in it, if you pack smart.
Give the little ones small rolling suitcases or a backpack.
Bring the DME tags to the gate with you. The last time I flew to MCO the plane was full and they offered to take carry-ons as checked luggage for free. There were several people upset that they'd paid and a couple that pulled out their DME tags and checked extra bags.

 

[bannilong]

The other thing to remember is to get anything you will need right away in a carry on that you will keep with you.

 

[KelnRon]

At most airports, kids 12 (or is it 10) and under don't need to remove their shoes anymore.

My 10 year old didn't have to in May, but my 14 year old did in October.

We flew this past summer and we all had to remove our shoes, including my 2 & 4 year old.

We flew Spirit which as we all know is the worst for extra fee's so we decided to do carry-on's for the 5 of us. (We are a family of 6 but the baby didn't have her own) We all had our own carry on suitcase (this was b/f they charged). It was HORRIBLE getting everyone to take off jackets, shoes, get the bags on the belt and me trying to keep track of the 4 kids & their bags! When we went to the bathroom someone had to be on "bag patrol" I had a diaper bag for the baby, we had 2 strollers etc. We were totally the family you hate at the airport! We decided at that moment we would never try to save a buck and we would check in next time!

Our last trip we checked in all our luggage and the little one's had a small backpack w/ stuff to occupy them on the plane! It was so easy and made the flight a little more enjoyable because I wasn't so stressed out beforehand! It was nice flying through security and not having to hold up a line.

 

[White_Sox_Fan]

Jen,

I am not sure where you are flying from, but out of Indianapolis, the gate agents ask to collect carry on to check on every flight we take with Airtran. You will not have to pay a fee to check at the gate. We bring the magical express luggage tags along and put them on before handing the bags over at the gate and then they end up in your room just as checked luggage.

Now this will not save the effort of taking them through security, but it will make getting on and off the plane much easier. The other thing to remember is to get anything you will need right away in a carry on that you will keep with you.

The agents in Orlando usually offer to check about 50% of the time.

I'm curious how your bags get to the magical express people since gate checked baggage is not handled the same as regular baggage. Bags checked at the gate are brought to the jetway not to baggage claim.

The airlines created a monster when they started charging the baggage fees. Everyone attempts to bring everything as a carry-on. I have no problem with people who bring a properly sized carry-on and an additional bag. However, I expect one of those bags to be underneath the seat in front of you. It absolutely corks me when I see some oversized bag filling up an overhead bin or when a person bring a carry-on and then throws a substantially sized backback or other bag in the overhead bin too because they don't want to crowd up their footspace while I have to put my bag 10 rows away from me because these yahoos have filled up all the overhead bin space.

 

[corster]

I'm curious how your bags get to the magical express people since gate checked baggage is not handled the same as regular baggage. Bags checked at the gate are brought to the jetway not to baggage claim.

On Regional Jets, yes. On larger jets, nobody retrieves the bags after landing so they go to the carousel.