Why do travelers carry-on bags?
Because airlines do a lousy job handling checked luggage. In January, for example, the Transportation Department recorded 6.04 reports of “mishandled baggage” per 1,000 passengers. On a wide-body flight of about 300 passengers, that means almost two flyers have their checked bags lost or temporarily misdirected. On a narrow-body flight with about 150 passengers, about one flyer will have a baggage problem. Now while those odds sound good, no business traveler wants to be the person attending an important customer meeting in jeans and sneakers because he or she was the unlucky sap whose luggage was “mishandled.” And who wants to show up at a sales pitch without the pitch and whimper to the client that “the airlines ate my homework.” Then there’s the matter of time required to check and retrieve luggage. Let’s assume the bare minimum: That you bump your check-in time back 30 minutes so the airlines can process your bag and that you wait at your arrival airport for 30 minutes for your bag
