As travel plans for spring and summertime are being inked, here\u2019s a heads-up: You might face airline fees for putting baggage in the overhead bin. <\/p>\n
I know of one airline that has been charging for overhead space for a number of years. That particular airline\u2019s route structure isn\u2019t anywhere near Saipan, though, so this case didn\u2019t seem to be an item of local interest. <\/p>\n
Things have, however, changed. This fee is ink-blotting toward Saipan and the west Pacific. At least a couple of major U.S. airlines with routes in the west Pacific are reportedly charging for the overhead bin nowadays, at least in some cases. So this is an item in the equation that CNMI travelers should be aware of. <\/p>\n
Outside of that simple observation, well, don\u2019t look to me for any wisdom on airline fees. I\u2019m not very good about keeping up with this stuff. In fact, over the past few years I\u2019ve found myself giving up on self-booked travel as I migrate back to the realm of the traditional travel agent. <\/p>\n
Having tossed this part of life back into the agent\u2019s circle of competence, my brain is unburdened. This allows me to concentrate on things I am more suited to contemplate, such as cheeseburgers, taking naps, and fixing the cassette player in my pickup truck. <\/p>\n
As for travel, I long ago decided that it costs what it costs. I\u2019m not going to torment myself over the pricing dynamics. Being a passenger is like enforced recess for me; it\u2019s a time when I feel absolutely no obligation to get any work done or to solve anybody\u2019s problems, including, notably, my own. I\u2019m content to read a book, eat whatever I can find, ignore my phone, ignore the news, and relax. Come to think of it, that\u2019s how I approach normal life. No wonder I feel so at home on the road. <\/p>\n
And on that note I have pretty much built my humble existence around the confines of the overhead bin. Specifications for carry-on suitcases vary by airline. A common standard is a maximum measurement of 22-inches high, 14-inches wide, and 9-inches thick. <\/p>\n
Bag volumes are hard to envision in comparative terms, so I\u2019m going to scribble some numbers. The aforementioned dimensions come to 2,772 cubic inches. Of course, the suitcase design and its mechanisms will render some of this nominal volume unusable. With that in mind, I\u2019ll consider an arbitrary 85 percent of the volume as usable, which results in 2,356 cubic inches of packable space. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a soft-sided attach\u00e9 bag, taken aboard as a \u201cpersonal item\u201d that stows beneath the seat, can typically be good for another 1,100 to 1,300 cubic inches or so. Some will go higher, but I\u2019ll keep things mild here. Anyway, these bags are often made of canvas or leather and in any sane design the entire volume is essentially usable. <\/p>\n
With these numbers in mind, we can strike a comparison. We see that the personal item holds about half as much as the suitcase does, maybe even a little bit more than half. The personal item, therefore, deserves more than afterthought status. It\u2019s worthwhile to buy a good soft-sided attach\u00e9 and to pack it carefully. <\/p>\n
In fact, most of the experienced travelers I know spend more money on their attach\u00e9s than they do on their suitcases. <\/p>\n
In some ways, things now are better than they were before. I remember the days before rolling suitcases claimed the market. In fact, I used to sell the old-style suitcases when I was a teenager. Those slab-sided millstones were really ungainly. After a day\u2019s travel your arm would be hanging loose from its socket from carrying your suitcase. It almost took a forklift to maneuver one of those things into a car trunk. Even the good ones were hard to like. <\/p>\n
As for the cheap ones, yikes. They were just lumpy vinyl rectangles that smelled like volatile organic compounds being off-gassed by industrial waste. The zippers split. The latches popped. The handles fell off. If there was any glory to be had in travel, it sure eluded this end of things.<\/p>\n
So as much as we might not enjoy navigating the modern world of luggage rules, at least the luggage itself is good, and many a modern road-warrior has built a life around its dimensions. <\/p>\n
When my time comes they\u2019ll put my ashes in a 22-inch Travelpro suitcase. Thus will begin my journey to the great beyond; providing, of course, that I can pay the fee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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