Depending on how much you trust airlines, checking a bag may be the best or worst part of flying.
Passengers wary of an airline’s ability to keep track of their luggage have even gone as far as adding AirTags and other trackers to their bags so they are able to locate them when lost. On the flip side of the issue, many airline workers have shared videos of AirTags that have fallen off bags.
Then there are customers who would rather forgo a checked bag altogether, sticking with only their carry-on bags. However, sometimes the overhead bins get full, much to the frustration of passenger @halleykate.
In a video shared to TikTok, content creator @halleykate puts airlines on blast for not having enough room for carry-ons and choosing to offer complimentary checked bags instead.
“I’m sorry, why is it that airlines are always trying to gaslight the f*ck out of you?” she says in the video. “I only brought a carry-on bag because I don’t want my luggage to get lost, and I don’t want to wait for it to come out in baggage claim.”
The “free” checked luggage offer is what frustrates her, she says, as she wants to get out of the airport and does not want to wait for her luggage.
“They don’t have enough room in the overhead bins,” she says. “But then they start making announcements acting like they’re so nice. Like, ‘For ‘Passengers in gate number 77, we would be happy to provide you with a complimentary bag check free of charge.’ No f*cking shit it would be free of charge, it’s not ‘complimentary,’ you just don’t have enough space in the overhead bins, and you’re going to make us check the bags. They really do have a way with rephrasing sh*t to make you feel like you’re getting something out of that.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @halleykate via email regarding the video.
@halleykate ♬ original sound – halley
Several viewers related to the poster’s frustration, writing in the comments section that they also preferred to only have carry-on bags.
“I feel like I’m the only one who prefers to check my bag,” one commenter wrote. “I don’t want to deal with it.”
“I am the SAME way I HATE having to check my bag!” another user echoed.
“Literally. In what world would I want to check my carry on I would cry,” one viewer said.
Others shared that they had fallen for the free bag check, only to have their luggage delayed, lost, or otherwise created a problem for them.
“I let the airline check my bag like this and then they didn’t put it on the plane and I had to wait 3 days for it,” one commenter wrote.
“Last time I had to do this I left my passport in the bag by accident and then baggage claim was on the other side of border control so I was stuck,” another user wrote.
“Happened to me, forced me to check my carry on,” a commenter wrote. “They lost it, and all I had for 2 weeks in a German winter was my sneakers, leggings, and a sweater.”