On a flight from Beijing to Shanghai, I helped a petite fellow
passenger to lift her carry-on bag onto the overhead compartment.
It was the heaviest thing I have lifted since I pumped iron in my
first and only bodybuilding session many years ago at a
neighborhood gym.
She obviously was not alone in overstuffing her carry-on
luggage. I could see stout-looking men, their faces red with
exertion, trying to squeeze enormous suitcases into the space that
was originally designed for coats, hats and duffel bags.
But, of course, traveling light is a matter of personal choice,
seemingly favored only by snobbish reporters whose basic essentials
are a few pieces of clothing, a laptop computer for work and a
paperback book for killing time in the airport lounge. The rest of
the traveling public tends to haul their entire earthly belongings
in wheeled luggage on to the plane on every trip.
Indeed, I've never been on a domestic flight whose overhead
compartments were not overflowing with suitcases and bags of many
different sizes and shapes. They are a menace on wheels to fellow
passengers as they are being hauled through the narrow aisles and
heaved up and down the overhead bins.
Ask any frequent flyer if he has ever had his foot run over by a
suitcase on wheels, or face whacked by an overstuffed backpack when
the backpacker in the next row makes an abrupt turn in the tight
confines of the cabin, and the most likely answer will be yes. I
have suffered such mishaps more than once, and I don't even fly
that frequently.
It would be presumptuous to ask the lady I helped if she really
needed all the items she packed into the case for a two-day
business trip. But I was wondering why she, and the many other
passengers on that flight, didn't do themselves and others a favor
by checking in their heavy luggage.
Yes, I know. Waiting to collect check-in luggage at the airport
can be a chore. But it is really not such a hassle considering that
the process usually takes less than half an hour for most domestic
flights. This is nothing compared to the long wait for taxis at
Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai.
Nobody says traveling on the mainland is easy. Domestic airlines
are struggling hard to keep up with the explosive growth in
passenger numbers. The short supply of pilots, and myriad other
factors, are not making their job any easier.
As passengers, we can help minimize the pain of flying by being
more considerate of each other. Lightening your carry-on luggage is
a good start. Unless your destination is some hermit village deep
in the northwest, you can buy almost anything you may need locally.
There is really no need to carry a bagful of toiletries and
underwear with you on the flight.
For carry-on luggage, a shoulder bag should do just fine. It
doesn't make any sense to bring anything that is too heavy to carry
to the plane.
The enforcement of the rules limiting the number and bulk of
carry-on luggage for each passenger may be too lax at many domestic
airports. It is quite common to see a passenger boarding a plane
with three or more items of luggage.
A Hong Kong friend confided to me once that she routinely
carried more luggage on domestic flights than on international
flights where the rules are applied more vigorously. You know what
she meant when you see backpackers bumbling through the aisle with
backpacks bigger than themselves.
If you must carry loads of luggage on your next flight, check
them in. All you'll need on board the plane for a two-hour flight
is your favorite magazine.
Email: jamesleung@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily December 29, 2007)