Baggage Fees

Check-in baggage fees are ruining air travel in the U.S.

I travel for business 2-4 times a year, always by plane.

This is despite promising not to fly after September 11, 2001 (not because of terrorism, but because of tyranny). The tyranny isn’t so bad with the right spices and a bit of butter.

I’ve only been patted down once and puffed once in the 10-12 trips I’ve taken in the past 2.5 years. The TSA folks are excessively cranky and don’t know what they’re talking about*, but that’s generally not so bad.

I’ve had the dubious advantage of flying Southwest more often than not, so I didn’t realize the dynamic that baggage fees were causing.

I don’t mind paying the fees. Really, I don’t. In fact, as many complaints as I have with Delta after the last two weeks (eight flights total), I appreciate their relatively low price of $20 for the first piece of luggage.

Even though they don't charge much, it has still turned flying into the most miserable thing still allowable under the Geneva Convention.

Many people are trying to fit all of their travel needs into very large carry-ons.

It’s taking literally 30-45 minutes longer to load a six-seat wide plane. I saw several people on each flight that had carry-ons that were larger than my check-in and loaded to twice-capacity.

Even with a normal-sized check-in, I’m now frequently obligated to gate-check my carry-on because there isn’t enough room on the plane for the luggage that should have been checked.

Though Southwest makes me miserable, I’m probably going to be flying them for the foreseeable future. Flying is a substantial hassle even without the luggage fees.

---

*Two weeks ago, a group of people at RDU were told that all electronics had to be removed from their carry-ons for x-ray magic. I’ve never heard that before, and none of the three trips I took since then made the same requirement.

Some TSA demand I take off my OCD-coping ticket pouch, and others don’t. Someone is wrong. Which ones, who can say.

Also, if any TSA folks can explain to me which of the following makes my check-in a target for your special harassment, I’d appreciate it: St. John’s Wort, two network cables, a multi-tool (like a leatherman, but not), wireless mouse and receiver, disposable pens, or my bright green (and currently missing) TSA-friendly lock.

And, while I have you, how can security possibly be helped in even the smallest way by demanding to see my ID when I leave the airport?

---

Update 3/14/2010: I’ll be giving JetBlue and other airlines that don’t charge for luggage my business for the foreseeable future. I’ve debated whether or not to make this edit for about a month now and have finally decided that, yes, I will comment on it. SouthWest personnel insinuated that director Kevin Smith was too fat to fly and on his next flight humiliate a young lady in order to make it look like they hadn’t singled Kevin out for special treatment.

I’m not a Kevin Smith fanboy (though I do adore his work with Green Arrow). My disinterest in supporting SouthWest isn’t about being a fan. It’s about the general mistreatment of overweight folks in the U.S. It’s about the assumption that overweight folks are overweight because of laziness … even if those overweight people exercise hard two and a half hours a day and eat a diet that rabbits would starve on for months without seeing any change in their weight.

This attitude in U.S. culture prevents many overweight people from getting adequate health care and makes an already difficult life that much more difficult.

If you’re unaware of the problems overweight folks face in the U.S., please read First, Do No Harm and listen to the two podcasts I linked. They’re not comprehensive, but they’re a great place to start.

(Read more!)

Tactical Highlighter #15

After next week’s episode, Tactical Highlighter will get back to its normal, minty-fresh self. Or should. We’ll see how work cooperates.

• Clarkesworld Issue 40, The Things by Peter Watts. A view of humanity and a common SF movie trope from a completely different perspective. This is a really great story.
• Dunesteef’s To Be Alone Again by Tom Crosshill. Cyberpunk story about the consequences of war with quite a few hints at a bunch of social issues, cast in a very interesting light. Though most of the stuff I link to is not appropriate for youngins, this one is more subtly unsuitable. Listen all the way through first before making a decision about showing it to any kids in your life.
• Drabblecast’s The Golden Age of Fire Escapes part 1 and 2 by John Aegard. This one is a brilliant example of old time radio production. In a sense, this is what The Spirit (the recent movie) should have been. Not quite my cup of Earl Grey Hot, but really good. And it includes the end of Norm Sherman’s Mongolian Death Worm saga.

(Read more!)

Bedtime Stories for the ADD: Earth: The Experience

Waking up from Earth was a bit of a shock. It turned out to be a pretty pathetic vacation from life in Dimension 2409, but if you chose to spend your 75 year vacation working your butt off, could you really blame the travel company?

#18

(Read more!)

Tactical Highlighter #14

In lieu of an actual introduction this week, I have some sad news.

The podcast fiction community had a real blow this week. Natalie Morris died unexpectedly. Natalie was the wife of Tee Morris, the first podcast novelist, and all around awesome person. Philippa Ballantine, another awesome podcaster, organized a ChipIn movement that has raised nearly $14,000 USD to help Tee with funeral costs and help provide a future for Tee and Natalie’s daughter. Please chip in whatever you can.

• StarShipSofa Aural Delights recording of The Reflection of Memory by C.L. Holland. The story starts at about 27 minutes and 30 seconds in. This is an incredible fantasy story. There are no overt dwarves, elves, and rangers in it. There are lots of really interesting concepts and well-thought-out consequences for the various powers that some people have. And it’s a great story.
• Escape Pod’s recording of His Master’s Voice by Hannu Rajaniemi. This story about a cat and a dog’s dedication to their master is nothing at all like a sappy family movie. It’s science fiction with a furry edge, and it’s very poignant. It left me with a few questions, which is the way I like it. The questions weren’t consistency-related, so it was a good thing.
• Metamor City Podcast special Whispers in the Wood 1 2 3 4. Metamor City is a Science Fantasy series written by Chris Lester. It’s really phenomenal. Whispers In The Wood is a four part story that helps to introduce the book that will comprise the bulk of season two. You don’t need to be dreadfully familiar with Metamor City to enjoy this story. However, you should be an adult and not easily offended. There are fairly serious adult situations, some violence, and Chris’s fantasy elements are not remotely Tolkeinesque. If gritty fantasy bothers you, you may want to skip this.

(Read more!)

Bedtime Stories for the ADD: Glitches

Everyone loved the game. They'd line the rows up, and set the little machines down, control the timing of the water and the mixture of the nutrients, and try compensating for different weather patterns. It was truly satisfying to out-score your friends.

It was fun even for people who didn't like games. There was a sense of real accomplishment when you did well. You were ending hunger!

There were problems. There always would be. But if you were the one who caused a world-wide shortage of tomatoes? Everyone knew about it and you heard about it endlessly. Even the technical glitches were embarrassing. Who wants to water an office complex with 500,000 gallons of water?

Of course, everyone thought it was great when the organic fertilizer was spread at the court house staff-and-lawyers parking lot. Maybe glitches weren't so bad after all.

#17

(Read more!)

Amazing Amazon: Surprise Me

Amazon is hilarious. In a bad way in this case.

I found this puzzle book that looked like it might make a good present for a geeky friend, but I wanted to make sure it wasn’t filled with “Train Alpha leaves Station Zed heading East at 35 miles an hour, Train Beta leaves Station Yankee heading 16 million miles a year. At what time do things become silly?” style puzzles.

I did the “preview this book” thing to make sure. It starts you out at the cover page and (so far as I know) you only get to see so many pages before they won’t show you any more.

I hit the “Surprise Me” button and thought, “Wouldn’t it be surprising if it sent me to the index in the back?”

And that’s exactly what it did. I thought, “Well, there’s 704 pages in this book. Statistically speaking the next one surely won’t be an index page.” I hit “Surprise Me” again.

Index page.

Now, at this point I thought, “It would be nearly the most surprising thing ever if they took me to an index page a third time!”

And lo, I was surprised. But not stupid. Nosiree.

No. this time, I hit the “First Page” button. I was only slightly surprised when it took me to the first page of content instead of the first page of the index.

The preceding was based on a true story. There were no innocents to protect.

(Read more!)

Bedtime Stories for the ADD: Ninjapocalypse

Our Lady of Ninjas, hear us in our hour of fighting though our prayers are silent and stealthy since we are ninjas

In 2218 early on the morning of June 3rd, in accordance with the prophecy, every man, woman, and child was instantly transformed into a ninja. Several house pets were likewise transformed.

Every ninja fought the nearest ninja to the death until there was just one ninja remaining. The victorious ninja slept and dreamed that all the people were back. When he awoke, it was true.

Computer scientists call this the ‘ninja sort,’ and insist that it was the fastest way of sorting 12 billion sentient things. Thus, the question of whether the universe was a cruel place was once and for all settled. It was cruel, but it was also totally awesome.

#17

(Read more!)