I’ve been blogging for the last 6 years. I’ve done a lot of things. For the first time ever, on an airplane traveling during the Christmas rush, I checked my bag. I’m not talking about being dropped off by your relatives and walking up to your airline’s counter and checking a bag. I’m talking about checking a bag when the airline attendant, at the boarding gate, mentions that there will not be enough overhead storage on this three (3) hour flight to Detroit, Michigan. I checked my bag and it was amazingly weird. Mostly because I was instructed to do something that every airport in the world, tells you not to do. The airports will tell you that this is the fastest way to being arrested.
Here is what you do when you check a bag at the gate
How many times have you heard “Please do not leave your bag unattended. If you see an unattended bag, please report it to T.S.A. security”? I’m going to say that I heard it 1,400 times this last trip alone. Here is how this happened. We landed in Phoenix Arizona for a layover between flights. We run from Gate A30 to A10. That doesn’t sound very far. I’ll give you that. Unfortunately, both gates are in two separate wings. So yes, we ran. When we got to the gate, we found a seat. A few minutes go by and we hear “Dear guest flying to Detroit on flight 1295. Our flight is completely full and we are asking for any volunteers to check their bags in order to make room in the overhead bins. Please come up to the desk if you would like to help us out. Thank you for flying American Airlines”.
After hearing that, I decided that I would check my bag. I’ve never done it before. I’ve seen other people do this. I’ve heard the stories. I decided that it was time for me to join a new club. I mean, I’ve been needing a new “Members Only Jacket” anyways. The jackets are red with a picture of me after I checked my bag, in case you were wondering. I asked the airline attendants, behind the desk, what my next move was. I had no idea. Do I leave my bag with them? Is there a special slide that the bag will travel down to get to the people on the ground? Did I just win an extra life, multiball, and a free game? That was a pinball joke, by the way.
I checked my bag and left it unattended
I hand the airline attendant my boarding pass. She scans it and prints a tag that wraps around the handle of my checked bag. They hand you your bag and they tell you that you are to leave the bag at the bottom of the skyway, as you board the plane. Yes, I was instructed to leave a bag unattended. I was instructed to do the one thing that I was told not to do, 1,400 times earlier. Dude, I freaked. I had more questions. How will I know that my bag will get on the plane? Where do I pick the bag up at? Is there a demon that could eat my bag? I was curious. I will forever be curious. I have questions that come from other questions. It’s pretty bad to say the least.
I checked my bag and I was 50% of the way done. Now all I need to do is leave the bag unattended at the bottom of the skyway that connects to the plane. Does anyone else see a problem here? I would say that the bottom of the skyway that connects people to the plane would be in the top 5 places to never leave a checked bag unattended. It probably could be in the top three if I argued it the right way in a court of law. We start boarding the plane and my moment was right in front of me. I checked my bag and I leave it unattended. Here’s the thing. You’re instructed to leave the bag in front of the door that leads from the skyway to the ground. So now, not only was instructed to leave my bag unattended, to leave it in front of a doorway. Where someone could trip and fall out, if the door was open and the plane was on the rim of the Grand Canyon. I know, I have a wild Imagination. Regardless, I left the bag and walked off.
I sat on the plane wondering. Was that the right place to put my bag? Was the F.B.I. called? Am I now a felon in the eyes of the city of Phoenix? I’m over analyzing this. I have to calm down. I know, I’ll get out my laptop and share my story. Good idea right? Share a story about how I checked my bag for the first time.
My new years resolution for 2016
No. It’s not to check my bag more and more. I probably won’t check my bag ever again. My new years resolution for 2016 is to try new things. Maybe it should be to do things that I would never do in a million years? I’ll work on it. I’ll admit that I’m always first to denounce something. Whether it’s a new trend online, or a new restaurant opening up. Myself and Scott Roeben of VitalVegas.com will not be seen at the front of the line to do something. We are, however, going to try it eventually. So my new years resolution for 2016 is to try new things when they come out. That’s it. See, I told you I’d figure it out. So cross this off my list. Even though it’s not 2016 yet. I checked my bag for the first time in my life and nothing happened. To be fair, I’m still on the plane. I’m 30,000 feet in the air. So there is still time for things to go wrong. Regardless, this was a story about how I checked my bag for the first time. I left it unattended and I left it at the bottom of the skyway that connects people to the plane.
