I just told my sister that we're gonna have to drive from now on because there's no longer an airline that I even remotely like and that if we do fly its carry on only especially since you can then skip baggage claim.
As much as flying can be a stressful hassle it's impossible for us to travel without flying. To get to Orlando is 18+ hours (that's if you don't hit Atlanta traffic and we all know that is going to happen) OR a 2 hour 45 min flight. We wouldn't be able to actually do much travel at all certainly not international if we just drove to places. That said sometimes we do something to eliminate an EXTRA flight such as in under 2 weeks driving 8 hours instead of flying that because we have after that an international flight. Going to visit in-laws 3 1/2 hours away is driving because a flight costs more and takes longer overall due to having to get to the airport for the flight (the flight is like 55 mins).
And I only ever take a personal item so its not me causing overhead space to be filled but now it will be lol.
It's been a toss up for us but in the last 10 years it's been less checked luggage but most of that is because of the destination or the number of days.
WDW/USO trips checked luggage, Cancun checked luggage, Vegas no checked luggage, Puerto Rico no checked luggage, Jamaica pretty sure we did checked luggage, cruises checked luggage (both European), 2+ weeks traveling around Europe personal item and carry on, 2+ weeks in Japan personal item and carry on, upcoming UK trip 2+ weeks personal item and carry on.
For international even though they are long trips it's mostly because of 1) mobility including train stations and in Europe cobblestones 2) not wanting to wait around for checked luggage. In these cases we've done well with doing laundry at the hotels. The hardest part has been dealing with incredible size and weight restrictions but it's been doable for the long travel by train/hotel stay combo trips.
For the cruises I would like to not have checked luggage but it's the reverse of the other international destinations that the size and weight restrictions for international flights for personal and carry on items make it very difficult to pack the amount of clothes needed to accommodate the cruise environment and destinations.
I honestly don't remember really checking 2 pieces often at all however I think families with children or teens is the bulk of those who did.