As Louie and I prepared for our annual January trip to New York for the GT awards event, the debate over luggage came up again. Do we check it or carry it on?

The question is more of convenience rather than cost. The $15 per bag charge wasn’t going to put a major dent into my 2010 budget. Still, it is always nice to avoid extra charges if possible.

ID 114239998 © Yuliia Chyzhevska | Dreamstime.com

The absolute worst-case scenario is to plan on carrying on my bag, only to be told as I am boarding that the overhead compartments are full and I need to check my bag. In that case, not only will I have to deal with luggage claim, but I will have to fill out the tags at the last minute. Plus, I could have used a bigger bag and just checked it at check-in. This has happened to me twice and is a major annoyance.

On the surface, it is easy to blame the passenger who brings on one bag (which is already questionably oversized), plus a personal bag (which is more like a gym duffel bag), plus a laptop case (which seems to be larger than laptops I have seen), plus possibly one more small bag for under-the-seat stowage. That’s four bags, by my count.

Don’t get me wrong, that person deserves some of your ire, but let’s put the blame where it belongs. The airlines need to enforce tougher standards for carry-on bags.

My longtime friend, Sky Torvis (former radio personality in Bisbee, Ariz.), once asked me why airlines don’t charge for carry-on bags. What a radical yet perfectly logical concept.

There should still be enforced limitations, but passengers should pay more for the convenience of carrying on a bag (or four). Wouldn’t that make more sense? At least I could get some satisfaction knowing that the luggage hog was coughing up some cash!

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist