Battle of the carry-on bags, Part 2: If you can’t lift it, check it, readers say
I loved the article (“The Fallout Over Carry-ons,” On the Spot, by Catharine Hamm, April 14) and letters (April 21) about carry-on baggage. I just flew home to LAX from Portland, Ore. I can’t tell you how many people needed help with overheads bags.
My two cents on the subject as a middle-aged woman: If you can’t lift it, don’t carry it on. I don’t offer to help people with their bags, as I don’t want to risk injury.
Airlines should under no circumstance drop the checked baggage fee for senior citizens; my fees would go up to compensate for the change for seniors.
My suggestion: Pack less, everyone.
Stephanie Arnold
Camarillo
Your older letter writer can fly 10 times a year but can’t afford $50 to check her bag? She should stay home or reduce her trips if she chooses not to carry on a bag she alone can handle. Period.
It is inconsiderate to expect other travelers to be her bag handler. Flight attendants are flight attendants. If they wanted to handle baggage, they would have applied to that department.
From another senior citizen.
Marcy Boswell
Menifee, Calif.
Real ID
Thank you for bringing up the topic of Real ID and discussing it in some detail (“Questions About Real ID? See Below,” On the Spot, by Catharine Hamm, March 17). Before reading Hamm’s articles on this, I knew nothing about the topic. However, my wife and I recently had to renew our drivers licenses, so we both jumped through the necessary hoops and got our Real ID drivers licenses.
It wasn’t too bad a process for us, because we made appointments, and we both have lots of identifying documents. I’m not sure I would have bothered getting the Real ID if Hamm had not educated me on the topic, but I am glad I did.
If I had not gotten the Real ID, I am pretty sure I would have showed up at the airport some day for a domestic flight, and forget about the need to bring my passport, and be denied entry to the plane. So thank you for writing about an important topic.
Steve Bolz
West Covina
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