Soiree Q&A: Flying with Luggage

We get tons of questions about flying with luggage, and for good reason. It's confusing, you hear horror stories, you can't imagine a 10-day trip without all your things. What to do?

When it comes to your questions about whether to check your bag and how to keep your belongings safe while on your flight, we've got you covered with this Soiree Q&A

Q: Should you check your bag on the flight?
​A: It depends!

​First and foremost, we are huge proponents of packing light. We swear by it. We've written blogs about this. Read our packing tips and hacks here and how to build a travel capsule here. You won’t regret packing light, and you’ll probably actually thank yourself for it somewhere along the way. But whether you limit yourself to packing in a carry-on sized bag or not, there are a few things to consider when making that decision:

1. Is it a direct flight?
If yes, honestly, checking your bag will be the most convenient option and the possibility of it getting lost is low. Not impossible, but improbable.

2. If not a direct flight, how long is your connection time?
Assuming everything goes as scheduled and there are no delays (which is a bit of a gamble in and of itself), if you’ve got 2+ hours of time between connecting flights, the odds of your bag making it onto your connection flight are decent. Less than two hours? Do not check, if at all possible.
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3. Once you reach your destination, will you be stationary or will your travels continue across land?
If you are settling into a single location or two for the duration of your trip and you’ve got a few basics to tide you over until a potentially lost bag arrives, sure--check that bad boy if you’re feeling overburdened by it. But if you’re moving from city to city or doing some regional hopping, it’ll make it more difficult, some would say almost impossible, to get a lost bag back to you while you’re on your trip. Chances are you might not even see it again until you get home.
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Taking these bits of information into account, our short answer is usually: don’t check. You’ll be able to get right into the goodness of your trip (with all your belongings) without being frustrated or stressed by the avoidable circumstance of lost luggage.

Q: How do you keep your belongings safe while on your flight?
A: We can offer a few different strategies

​1. One option here, as stated above, is to only pack in a carry-on.
However, even using this tactic, you run the risk of still being forced to gate check your bag on very full flights. We’ve even had some airlines tell us our bags weren’t approved carry-on size, even though they absolutely were according to the dimensions listed on the airline’s own website.

2. Even if checking a bag, be sure you also take a carry on. Your important or valuable items should always go in the cabin with you--including your passport. Use a weekender bag, standardish size backpack, or purse. Something of this size is small enough to bring on the plane with you as your personal item without fear of being forced to gate check. Read our tips for packing your carry on here.

3. Use a lock, but choose wisely. Your best option is to implement TSA-approved luggage locks. This way you can check your bags while maintaining a little peace of mind they won’t be easily rifled through.

4. Keep track of your bag. If you’re not as concerned about the safety of the items in your bag, but more so the location of your luggage, consider equipping it with a tracking device such as an Apple AirTag, tile, Galaxy SmartTag, or other brand with similar function.​

5. Or let the airline track your bag for you. If you’re the more laidback, trusting type, many airlines now have luggage tracking for checked baggage in their apps. Sometimes the tracking function is a bit glitchy, but a gate agent who isn't swamped can look it up for you if you have concern.

Q: Our best advice?
A: Just get out there and go! 

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If not now, when?

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