Baggage Survival Guide

Skychecking is old news to many travelers, but not everyone is familiar with how it works. When I step off a CRJ and wait for my skychecked bag, I still sometimes see people who stop in the jet-way, look around in confusion, and ask if this is where they have to pick up their bag. So, let’s talk about skychecked luggage.

Although you’re allowed to carry-on bags with dimensions up to 22″ x 9″ x 14″, some bags are simply too big to fit in the overhead compartments of CRJs and other small planes. That’s why some airlines such as Continental let you to skycheck your carry-on luggage.

Here’s how it works: When you’re about to board the plane, the airline employee who’s scanning the boarding passes will have a look at your bag. If it’s clear that your bag won’t fit in an overhead compartment, he’ll attach a tag to your bag. You leave your bag at the end of the jet-way (or in a trolley on the tarmac), where a baggage handler will take it and load it onto the plane.

When you’re leaving the plane, you don’t have to go down to baggage claim to get your skychecked bag. You just wait by the aircraft until someone brings your bag out to you.

Skychecked baggage still needs to follow carry-on restrictions. The bag shouldn’t be too large or overweight. If an airline employee thinks your bag is too big or heavy, he might make you check it. This is a hassle you don’t want to go through, and you especially don’t want this to happen if you’re already checking in some bags. You’re allowed to check only so many bags for free; anything extra gets you slapped with excess baggage fees.

For a hassle-free skychecking experience, make sure your bag’s dimensions are no more than 51 linear inches (length + width + height). Also, make sure the bag is within the airline’s carry-on weight restrictions. Domestic airlines like Continental will often let you take as much as 40 pounds in your carry-on, but international airlines tend to be less generous.

And that’s really all there is to skycheck luggage.

It makes sense to ban people from carrying knives and other sharp, pointy objects in their carry-on luggage. But now, we’re barely allowed to carry on any liquid essentials past the security checkpoint. Why is that?

You can thank the lovely people who were planning to blow up airplanes using a cocktail of peroxide explosives and Lucozade, a British sports drink. Liquids were banned shortly after London police arrested 24 suspects on the night of August 9th, 2006.

The bottles of Lucozade were going to be filled with the original drink. However, the would-be terrorists planned to add fake bottoms filled with some explosive gel or liquid dyed red to match the rest of the drink. The explosive substance they were planning to use would be very sensitive to heat and friction, and could have been ignited with an electrical charge. Some reports said plotters were going to set the things off with iPods.

Chaos followed. People were immediately banned from taking liquids and gels on the plane, even if it was just a bottle of water bought in a secured area. TSA spent a lot of time throwing away drinks, cosmetics, toothpaste, hairspray, and all the other different essentials people take with them when they travel. The only liquid they allowed was baby formula.

Although the ban on liquids eventually relaxed, we now have to follow the infamous 3-1-1 rule when it comes to taking liquids on the plane. You are only allowed to take as many 3-oz bottles of liquids that will fit inside a 1-quart zip lock bag.

So the next time your zip lock bag comes open at the security checkpoint and spills out all your teeny bottles of soap, lotion, and shampoo, you can thank those terrorists for making airline travel just a little bit harder for the rest of us.