A few years ago, the low-cost airlines started charging for checking in suitcases in the hope that people would start travelling with hand luggage only.
They seem to have been too successful: When I travelled to Paris yesterday with EasyJet, they asked for volunteers to have their hand luggage checked in for free, and the terms & conditions threatened that they had the right to check in your hand luggage if the plane is too full.
However, given you’re only allowed one piece of hand luggage, it’s likely to contain valuables, such as passports, tickets and laptops, and I wouldn’t be a happy bunny at all if they chucked my computer into the hold.
Surely the whole system needs to be redesigned. As I’ve suggested before, one solution could be to abolish checked-in luggage completely, let passengers carry all their luggage out to the plane, and then let them put the big items into the hold themselves, just as people do when they’re travelling by coach.
Alternatively, redesign the planes, abolishing the hold and increasing the luggage space available in the cabin.
Surely even EasyJet and Ryanair can come up with something better than the status quo!