Carry-ons on small planes

[tomm4004]

We're flying London (Ontario)/Detroit/Orlando on Northwest early morning. We'll have our boarding passes printed out via website and only carry-on luggage. Their website says that for our small plane: "(we) require that the one piece of carry-on luggage is checked and will be returned planeside."

I'm not sure what this means. On small planes they usually have a cart near the door that people just drop their luggage onto to be stowed and retrieved at the destination. Checking luggage would mean going through their check-in desk, which we hoped to avoid by having our boarding passes already. Any thoughts on this? If not, I will call the airline and hope I get a human! Thanks.

 

[H20Babie]

It's the same procedure as when you take on a stroller. You can take your carry on right up to the plane, but they "check" it at the door so to speak for the actual flight. When you land and disembark, it is returned to you right as you exit the plane.

 

[tigsmom]

We're flying London (Ontario)/Detroit/Orlando on Northwest early morning. We'll have our boarding passes printed out via website and only carry-on luggage. Their website says that for our small plane: "(we) require that the one piece of carry-on luggage is checked and will be returned planeside."

I'm not sure what this means. On small planes they usually have a cart near the door that people just drop their luggage onto to be stowed and retrieved at the destination. Checking luggage would mean going through their check-in desk, which we hoped to avoid by having our boarding passes already. Any thoughts on this? If not, I will call the airline and hope I get a human! Thanks.

I've never flown on Northwest, but even with pre printed boarding passes you have to check in for security reasons and the bags have to be searched.

 

[mkt]

curiosity, isn't it only about a 2 hour drive from London to Detroit? Why fly?

 

[Monty]

It's exactly as you've laid it out. You put your carry-on onto a cart at the plane and they return it as you disembark the plane. The reason for this is simply that the cabin is a lot smaller and there's very little stowage space.

 

[tomm4004]

curiosity, isn't it only about a 2 hour drive from London to Detroit? Why fly?

It's about three hours to the airport, that's assuming the border isn't backed up. Really, for a morning flight you have to stay overnight at an airport hotel. Or you take the airbus for $100 each. The London/Detroit leg of the flight added very little to the cost of the ticket. We can be at the London airport in 20 minutes and connect in Detroit with about a 1 hour layover and be in Orlando by noon. We've done it the other way and it's a major drag.

-I've never flown on Northwest, but even with pre printed boarding passes you have to check in for security reasons and the bags have to be searched.

Of course you have to go through security, but we want to avoid having to visit the Northwest check in desk.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Rob562]

Just to let you know, the airline industry term for this practice is called "gate checking" your luggage, in case someone at the airport mentions it.

-Rob

 

[H20Babie]

I've never flown on Northwest, but even with pre printed boarding passes you have to check in for security reasons and the bags have to be searched.

I've flown NWA many times (Winnipeg-Minneapolis-Orlando), and while sparse on in-flight customer service, I have never had any problems with the airline. In fact, I've always arrived earlier than the stated arrival time. Can't beat that in my book!

:wave:

 

[Rob562]

I flew Northwest once when going to Orlando, and while the flights and crew were pleasant enough, I don't think I'll fly them to Florida again, unless they are MUCH cheaper than the alternatives (as they were in this one instance).

When flying from Manchester, I had to fly Manchester-Detroit-Orlando. That made for a VERY long travel time, especially when I'm used to non-stop flights on Southwest... Nothing again NWA, just that I'd be willing to pay a bit more for a more-direct route.

-Rob