Carry on luggage only? Pros & Cons

[Vickyj]

The wait I don't like is waiting to disembark the plane because everyone ahead of us has crammed two carry ons into the overhead compartment. I have my one bag under the seat in front of me. I wish they would let those of us with just that one bag under the seat in front of us disembark the plane first.

[jamaican_junkie]

The wait I don't like is waiting to disembark the plane because everyone ahead of us has crammed two carry ons into the overhead compartment. I have my one bag under the seat in front of me. I wish they would let those of us with just that one bag under the seat in front of us disembark the plane first.

...and force those who board later to check their single overhead carry-on because the overhead bins are all already full.

And the other thing I see is people throwing their carry-ons in the overhead at the front of the plane even though their seats are in back, just so they don't have to lug them all the way to their seats.

I don't quite get the carry-on concept but to each their own. For those that have reasons for carry-on only, please show respect and don't be one of the "push, shove, gotta be first in line, it's all about me" crowd.

[smroot]

Vickyj I feel the same. It is not going to be long until the airlines begin to charge for those bags also. The carry on has gotten out of hand and the airlines has let it get that way. They will soon reel them in with an additional charge for those as well.

[rhallva]

We used to go with carry-on only for years, but have had to modify since our liquids (sunscreen, etc.. has to be checked). Now we have the perfect solution for us. Here is how it breaks down....

If you fly non-stop this is far less of an issue. If you connect in the US on your way home this may help you like it does us.

When you leave home to go to MBJ, even with a connection along the way, once you check your luggage you don't need to see or touch your luggage again until you claim it at MBJ. This part is easy.

However, on the way home, if you have a connecting flight, when you first land in the US you must 1) Go through immigration 2) Claim your luggage 3) Go through Customs 4) Re-Check your luggage (remembering to add to it anything you bought at Sangster that cannot be carried on to your next flight
5) GO trhough TSA Security Line and hustle to your gate. We have been vacationing in Jamaica since the late 80's and have missed our connection too many times as we waited for luggage, rechecked luggage... etc... In every case if we had not been claiming and recehecking luggage we would not have missed our flight! Your time that seems ample between flights can get pretty slim when your flight is late leaving MBJ... as it often is.

So here is our solution... We check a small bag on the way down that has all our suncreen and other liquids in it. It checks on through at our connection and we don't have to even see it again until we claim it at Sangster and enjoy our vacation.

On the way home that small bag becomes a carry-on bag. When we go home we donate the left over sunscreen (and anything else that cannot go into carry-on) to staff or anyone else who may need it and fly home with just carry-on luggage. Then when we hit Charlotte we go directly though immigration, breeze through customs while others wait for their luggage, and head to our gate with enough time for a Bloody Mary once we get there.
Works well for us!

[Vickyj]

We've only missed one connecting flight and that was coming home and had nothing to do with waiting for luggage. It was because our flight was delayed getting out of MBJ by an hour and half. We still got a flight home, it was just a later flight.

[spanky]

Although we pack very efficiently, the NEED for sunscreen and lots of it makes it worth checking 1 bag between the 2 of us. Many times we have a connecting flight and since we have checked most everything it is much easier getting arond the airport with a small backpack.