New flyer: What do I do with my luggage?
Yes, this seems like a very silly question, but I'm trying to prepare in advance. I'm flying at the end of December and don't exactly know what I'm doing. I've only flown previously 1 time and that was with a school group, so I just kinda followed what everyone else was doing.
So, here s my question: I plan on bringing both a carry-on and luggage, but what do I do with my luggage? When I flew previously, we took all of our stuff to our gate and when we were about to board the plane, someone took them to put under the plane and when we reached our destination, our luggage was waiting for us when we got off, but is that standard for all airlines? I get kind of confused when people talk about checked luggage and baggage claim, so I figured I d ask.
Do you only check your luggage in at check-in if you have multiple bags? Is that where baggage claim comes in?
TIA.
Added (1). I don't know if this matters or not, but when I traveled with school, I flew from BNA to LGA with Delta. This time, I'll be flying from BNA to YYZ with WestJet.
Carry-on luggage is what you are allowed to take into the cabin of the plane with you. Usually, you are allowed two pieces: one is called a carry-on and one is called a personal item. Your airline's website will explain what size those can be. The carry-on size on goes in the overhead bin above your seat. The personal item must fit under the seat ahead of you during take-off and landing.
Sometimes, if the plane runs out of overhead bin space as happens on some smaller planes, the airlines do what they call 'gate checking', which means they take luggage that is normally allowed into the cabin but for which there isn't enough room. That's when they take it from you at the gate and put it in the hold. They usually ask in the gate area for people to volunteer to have their luggage gate-checked.
If you have luggage that is large enough that it must be checked, then you have to stop at the airline's service desk in the airport and hand your luggage over to one of the staff or use an automated service for that if they have one. That's the luggage you would pick up at a baggage claim. If you don't have luggage that size, you can skip two line-ups: the one to check luggage in and the one to claim it again and you can also skip paying a baggage fee if your ticket type means you'd have to pay extra to check a bag.
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