Cheap Flights From Albany, New York To Lexington, Kentucky

“Carry-on problems”

by lphorn3 on August 12, 2010

Flight from Albany to Lexington

Airline:

US Airways

RT/OW

Round Trip

Number of Stops:

1 stop in Charlotte, North Carolina

Date of Flight:

August 2010

Seat Class:

economy

I bought a rolling duffel bag in carry-on size to avoid the new fees for even one checked bag. It worked out OK in terms of the fee and what I had in the bag but on the return flight the bag wouldn't fit in the overhead because it was a smaller plane than the outbound one. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal because they would gate check it and I would get it plane-side at the connecting airport, but they said that they had to check it to my final destination. (She said "We don't have 'valet service'--is that the same as gate check? If so, why don't they have it, especially when they use small planes that can't accommodate normal carry-ons?) That almost created a problem because I forgot that my next boarding pass was in the carry-on but I was able to retrieve it in time. What I didn't remember to remove was my lunch, but I could live without that.

What really bugged me is that I had an expensive and fragile musical instrument as a personal item and on the last flight the attendant wouldn't let me stow in under the seat in front as I had on the earlier flights. It also fit in the overhead one time, but again that wouldn't work due to the smaller plane. She said it was in the aisle but it definitely wasn't because I had a window seat! In addition there was nobody next to me so if she objected to me having it in front of my feet (which was not a problem on the earlier flight)I could have sat in the aisle seat. I also asked about strapping it into an empty seat (as has been allowed on other flights) but she wouldn't allow that either. She refused to listen to rational discussion and said "I'm going ask you one more time to bring it to the front of the plane!" as if I were a naughty child. Then she had a baggage handler come in to tell me that it would be carefully handled, which I didn't believe. As it turned out that meant that the baggage handlers at the destination threw it out of the hold onto the conveyor belt with less force than usual. I noticed that she didn't say anything to people whose purses and backpacks were sticking out from under the seat much more than my instrument did so she had obviously singled me out for some undetermined reason. Fortunately I had packed padding around my horn so it may be OK but I haven't had time for a thorough inspection since arriving early this morning.

Most flight attendants are accommodating so they obviously are allowed to be (if not encouraged) but once in awhile you run into one like this. It makes me want to avoid the airline in the future but I suppose it's the luck of the draw on any airline.