For a long time, travel writers and influencers went all-in on encouraging people to travel only with carry-on luggage as much as possible.
And to be sure, I still do this myself. I try to avoid checking a bag whenever I can, both for convenience (who wants to wait at baggage claim after a flight?) and for price (who wants to pay a bag fee?).But now, new data suggests we rollaboard warriors may be losing ground to the heavy packers.
A search trends report released by Google last summer provided a hint of how things are changing.
“Historically, searches for 'carry on bags' surpassed 'checked bags.’ But in recent years, ‘checked bags’ have been searched more than ever,” the report said. “In fact, 'vacuum bags' and 'compression packing cubes' are top-trending searches for 'best ____ for travel.'”
Why people try to avoid checking luggage
American Airlines introduced the first fee for checked baggage among major U.S. carriers in 2008 and that led many travelers to wonder for the first time if it really made sense to bring so much luggage.
In the years since, every major airline has introduced some form of checked bag fee – most recently Southwest which was the last major holdout. In 2024, airlines collectively made $7.3 billion from bag fees, according to the Department of Transportation.
So, for many travelers, checking a bag adds $35 or more to the price of their flight.
There’s also the issue of lost luggage. Airlines generally do well with getting bags back to their customers on time and intact, with airlines mishandling slightly more than 1 bag for every 200 they carried in 2024, according to DOT.
But it takes just one bad incident to turn a traveler off.
“I never check bags because I had one incident probably a decade ago in which my bag was gone three days, and it completely screwed up a trip,” Jay Sorensen, president of IdeaWorksCompany, an airline consulting firm, told me. Since then, he said, he exclusively travels with carry-on luggage.
Many travelers feel the same as Sorensen. The idea that you have more control over the fate of your stuff with only carry-ons is appealing, and it’s a big part of the reason so many travel writers like me say it’s the best way to fly.
How the trend is changing
As Google’s search trends suggest, however, a new wave of bag checking has been building for a while.
“Within the last 10 years, the amount of checked bags has increased,” Sorensen said.
Even as airlines raised fees, it’s becoming more common for travelers to check luggage. Sorensen said there are a few reasons this might be happening.
As airline credit cards become more popular, many travelers have checked-bag fees waived. Sorensen noted that at some airlines, less than half the passengers check bags, but of the ones who do, less than half actually pay the fee.
Last week's Cruising Altitude: Southwest Airlines' golden age quietly came to an end
“What that’s telling you is there’s a significant number of people who are benefitting from the credit card features that allow them to check bags,” he said.
On top of that, with checked bag fees having been the norm for nearly two decades, more travelers just expect to pay them.
“People who are older ... we grew up in an era in which there were no fees. There’s a greater reluctance among older consumers to pay fees because it is something that is a newer learned behavior,” Sorensen said. “When you look at younger consumers, there is markedly less hesitation to pay fees for various airline services to include bags.”
As with so many things, millennials like me seem to be the fulcrum here. We still remember a time when you could fly with a checked bag on almost every airline for free, but we were still pretty young when checked bag fees came into play.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha travelers are much more likely than we are to just expect to pay the fee, and our parents are still much more likely to find those fees preposterous.
“There are now fees that consumers see everywhere. The era of a bundled product in so many different areas of a consumer’s life has ended,” Sorensen said.
Advice if you’re going to check a bag
If you’re going to check a bag, you really might want to consider getting a credit card that helps you offset the cost.
Also, everyone’s luggage still looks very similar, so I recommend putting something on your suitcase to help it stand out. I recently started collecting stickers at destinations I visit and putting them on the hard-shell suitcase that is my primary checked bag.
You should also take advantage of airline bag tracking tools or consider getting your own tracking device like an Apple AirTag, so getting your bag back doesn't have to become the central preoccupation of your life if your suitcase goes missing.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: More travelers are checking bags, and it's not just laziness
