The TSA is testing new requirements that passengers remove books and other paper goods from their carry-on baggage when going through airline security. […] The rationale for the policy change given by Kelly and the TSA is that the imposition of growing fees for checked baggage by the airlines has prompted passengers to more densely pack their carry-ons, and that this has made it harder for screeners to identify particular items amid the jumble of images appearing on their screens.
It’s always interesting to me which parts of the airline market are out of bounds for regulation and are subject only to Baby Jesus’ invisible hand of the market. Apparently the disruptive innovation that passengers need to pay for every checked bag is one of those things. I can’t think of a single recent change that has made airline travel more miserable, save for the ever more stupid security theater changes (liquids!) that the TSA dreams up every other year. The boarding process on larger planes takes at least 1/3 longer as we wait for the last set of passengers to jam their overstuffed bags into the overheads, and then for the stragglers to run their bags back up the aisle to be gate checked.
Of course, passengers with TSA Pre and any status on an airline won’t be hurt by this new rule. Pre passengers leave their laptops in bags, and status flyers board early and put whatever they damn please in the overhead bins. Its the poor bastards who are taking their one trip a year to visit Disneyworld or the grandkids who are inconvenienced here.
(via LGM)
Betty Cracker
I would seriously rather have a root canal than board a plane. I’ve never liked to fly, but it wasn’t always so unpleasant.
Major Major Major Major
Those of us who use e-readers are gonna be fine, too. Although I don’t know if ‘hurt’ is quite the word you’re looking for, here.
quakerinabasement
Not at Southwest Airlines. Bags fly free and I choose Southwest every time I can.
Disclosure: I am NOT employed by or affiliated with Southwest in any way except as a happy customer.
Raven
I flew from Atl to LA yesterday on Southwest. I got to the airport 2 1/2 hrs early, checked a bag a took my time going through security. There were several large families and guess what, travel was going to be difficult no matter how the went, train , boat or plane. Security was fine and I got picked as for a random search. Here’s a tip, if you don’t like it don’t fly.
Davebo
There’s really no excuse for running out of overhead storage. Each passenger and their carry on’s are checked at the gate prior to boarding and it shouldn’t be that difficult to determine when you’ve reached capacity in the overhead bins.
I’ve never understood why people want to be the first to board the plane. I want to be the last to board and if the overheads are full they can check my carry on! I certainly don’t want to sit in the tube for 35 minutes while everyone gets aboard!
Raven
@Davebo: because fucking morons always push the limits
aimai
We are going to on a transatlantic flight soon. Sigh. I am not looking forward to encountering the rest of the world post trump and all the crazy new restrictions. Mr. Aimai is probably going to make us carry burner phones or not have our iPhones at all thanks to the new regs permitting the customs people to open your phones and search your laptops on return.
Gin & Tonic
@Raven: How’ you like the ball game?
Wag
@Davebo:
Whereas I have never understood those who revel in boarding at the last minute. Maybe it comes down to how well we tolerate claustrophobic situations vs crowds. I would rather hunker down in my seat and tune out the mayhem of the line of people waiting impatiently to board rather than stand in the aisle while someone struggles with their carry on bag and blocks my progress.
It’s not that one way is right and the other is wrong. It is just a reflection of how different brains are wired.
JMG
@aimai: My wife and I enrolled in the international TSA and Customs precheck program whose name I forget. $100 gets you five years of the program. It took like nine months to finally get our interview for final qualification, as demand is high, but when we flew back from visiting our daughter in France this spring, total immigration and customs time at Logan airport for us was three minutes. This is time and money very well spent.
Chris
Repeating myself from LGM:
My opinion of the TSA in general is colored by the fact that I successfully flew on an airplane no less than four times with a big-ass kitchen knife in my carry-on/backpack, and none of them ever picked up on it.
I didn’t mean to; this one time, I took a Greyhound trip back to Miami with some cheese and crackers for the road, and took along the kitchen knife so I could cut the cheese. Six months later, while cleaning out the backpack for the first time in forever, I find the kitchen knife… and after some memory-searching to figure out how it got there, I realize that I’ve flown to and from another city twice in the time since I first put the knife in.
As was pointed out to me on LGM, being white, speaking unaccented English, and not being from any minority religion probably explains a lot about why the TSA wouldn’t give me a second look. Unfortunately, that doesn’t really speak any better of the TSA, or excuse the fact that I was let on the flight with what they consider a dangerous weapon.
Bottom line: maybe the TSA could start with making sure that they’ve got a handle on all the items they already consider suspicious, before they go adding other items to that list?
Gin & Tonic
@JMG: It’s called Global Entry. That also automatically gets you TSA Pre.
schrodingers_cat
Of all the things to kvetch about in the T era, this is the smallest of small potatoes.
T regime is now using children who crossed the border as a bait to arrest and deport their parents/guardians already in the United States.
Bruce K
@Raven:
That’s not so easy when the alternative to flying is never returning home to see your family and loved ones. I can’t exactly swim across the Atlantic.
schrodingers_cat
@Bruce K: We can always take the QEII!
Also too, realest of real Americans have all their grandparents born here, so they don’t need to fly overseas to see their families.
meander
Does DHS have the ability to ban checked baggage fees? My first guess is that is outside of their jurisdiction and requires Congressional action (i.e., not gonna happen). That could make security screening a bit simpler as more bags are checked. And it would probably also result in an across the board fare increase to make up for that lost revenue.
Personally, 90% of my flights are on Southwest, with one reason being the no-fee checked bags, which I have taken advantage of several times when I could have carried on everything, just to avoid the bag-drag headache. Another reason for my loyalty is the no-fee ticket change policy (of course, if the ticket price went up since you made your original purchase you need to make up for the difference, which completely makes sense, unlike the other airlines arbitrary ~$50 change fee).
different-church-lady
@Wag: I’ve never understood anyone, ever.
Doug R
@aimai: Get an unlocked phone at Costco, you’ll want a different number in Europe (cheaper) anyway.
randy khan
@meander:
Checked baggage fees would have been under the jurisdiction of the now-defunct Civil Aviation Board. I’m going to guess that nobody has the power to stop them now unless Congress passes legislation on it, which ain’t happening.
MattF
Turns out that my employer enrolls all business travelers in TSA Pre… but, FYI, getting on the ‘polite’ line is random. TSA doesn’t give anyone an unconditional free pass– you may be enrolled, but you may not get the soft route.
Bruce K
@schrodingers_cat: I’ve got the opposite problem: I had to go to Europe to find work during the Shrub administration, and my folks and my sweetheart are all Stateside.
At least I can go back and forth without flying any US-flagged airliners, because they seem to be near the worst of the lot at the moment…
JMG
I am a golfer, so US air travel is a special nightmare when traveling for fun. After the time they sent my bag and clubs to Los Angeles (LAX) instead of Jacksonville, Fla. (JAX) I have taken to shipping them to destination via UPS. Costs maybe $20 more than airline charges, and you don’t have to schlep them through the airport to the rental car area.
randy khan
I try very hard to get at least Silver status on Delta every year just so I can board early and not have to deal with checking my bags. And I now have Global Entry, so I get Precheck as well, and between that and having status on Delta, flying isn’t so bad. (Status on Delta also gets you free checked bags, but I prefer to have my bag near me so I don’t have to wait for it to show up at baggage claim.) It’s unfortunate that you have to take these extra steps.
By the way, I’d recommend Global Entry to anybody who flies regularly. It’s cheap and you get Precheck with it. Of course, the real purpose of it is to expedite coming back into the U.S.,and if you travel internationally at all it saves you tons of time at that end and also generally allows you to avoid even talking to a CBP agent (which I consider a big plus).
Oatler.
I’ve always ridden steerage, which helps me focus my hate-stare on fellow cattle who fuss with refolding their crinolines in the overhead bins, a-farting away in the aisle
all the while.
jharp
Just another reminder of why I won’t fly any more.
I think it’s been 10 years now.
schrodingers_cat
@Bruce K: So QEII will work for you too! Now to find the time and the munnies.
KithKanan
@jharp: The last time I flew was April, 2008. I’m going out of the country on a trip with a group of friends this fall, and I am not looking forward to having to deal with TSA and customs, but the hassle/expense of pre-check isn’t worth it either when I fly this infrequently.
There is basically nothing I loathe more than security theater. I would honestly rather take my chances with the terrorists than deal with the fucking TSA.
Tuna
They are making the case to spend money on CT scanners and get rid of all those big government employees. What we have is an airport problem. Airports have not been designed/built to address our current security needs.
Doug!
It’s not just that the terrorists have won, it’s that their victory is complete and total.
different-church-lady
@Doug!: Yes, I’m sure Osama was sitting in his cave thinking, “Some day, we will make them take their books out of their backpacks! MuuuHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Major Major Major Major:
Those of us who use e-readers are gonna be fine, too
Until they ban all electronics in the cabin…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Evergreen omni-post!
rikyrah
Executed for changing lane: Hunt for white driver who killed African-American 18-year-old girl with one bullet to the head in a fit of road rage when they both merged into the same lane
By Abigail Miller For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 00:07 EDT, 30 June 2017 | UPDATED: 09:19 EDT, 30 June 2017
Bianca Roberson, 18, was shot and killed driving home from the mall Wednesday
Police said she merged into the same lane as a pickup truck, angering a driver
The driver pulled out his gun and shot her in the head before fleeing down the highway
He is described as a white male with blond hair and he was driving a red truck
Roberson’s car crashed into a tree and she was pronounced dead at the scene
…………………………
Family members told ABC6 she was on the way home from the mall, where she was shopping for college clothes with her mother and grandmother.
‘She was a good girl, honor roll student, looking forward to going to college,’ her father, Rodney Roberson, explained as he held back tears. Her brother said she was ‘headed for greatness’.
She graduated from Bayard Rustin High School three weeks ago, and was headed to Jacksonville University in the fall.
‘A young lady in the prime of her life getting ready to go off to college, and now the family has to consider burying her,’ West Goshen Police Chief Joseph Gleason said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4653192/White-driver-kills-black-girl-18-fit-road-rage.html#ixzz4lUtiOUOW
Certified Mutant Enemy
@Raven:
Here’s a tip, if you don’t like it don’t fly.
When widespread passenger rail service and ocean liners make a comeback, I’ll consider your tip.
catclub
@Raven: Yep, I have seen a large rollaboard with a smaller one that _can_ fit under the seat, but is much better also up above. I am no saint in this regard, either. I have a full size rollaboard and a not-small laptop bag.
different-church-lady
@Certified Mutant Enemy: “Those passengers with TSA Speed Pass and First Class tickets may now board the pressurized portion of the cabin…”
SiubhanDuinne
The TSA abandoned this program almost immediately (link).
That said, I haven’t been on a plane in probably seven or eight years now. Used to love flying, but between TSA/security theatre, higher prices for everything, long and often inexplicable delays/last-minute changes, cattle-car conditions on the actual planes, and everyone from passengers to gate attendants to flight crew in a perpetual angry mood, I drive to my destination or I don’t go. I much prefer my own company in my own car on my own schedule.
JCJ
@randy khan:
Exactly. My wife, daughter, and I always try to avoid the young white guys if we can. Most of them seem to get a real thrill out of the job. I used to get extra questioning because I have a very common name. I was marched a couple of times to a separate room for questioning.
I don’t fly a lot, but like you I try to maintain my Delta status (usually gold) – flying to Thailand twice a year gets a lot of miles! Unfortunately Delta no longer flies to Bangkok so you have to switch to a partner airline.
Roger Moore
@Davebo:
Because they want to cheat the system. They want to bring on an oversized carryon that takes more space than is allowed or a “personal item” that doesn’t actually fit under the seat, or they want to sit in the wrong seat or in some other way do something they aren’t supposed to. That’s much easier if they get on the plane before everyone else.
catclub
@Chris: yep, if you orient the knife so it is not in profile, but viewed edge-on by the scanner, it is likely to be seen as a metal part of your suitcase. End on viewing might also work. I also have ideas about the amount of liquids a group could get through the checking area.
Chris
@catclub:
Is that what it was?
Well, good to know.
Uh, that is to say, I would never do such a thing.
I mean, I would never do such a thing again.
On purpose.
rikyrah
Quick Takes: CBO Score Was a Devastating Blow to McConnell
A roundup of news that caught my eye today.
by Nancy LeTourneau
* In their behind-the-scenes recap on what happened to McConnell’s health care bill, the Washington Post reports this:
Why did the scoring come as such a shock? Because McConnell thought he could use some complicated math to stall reductions in Medicaid spending so that the hits would come more dramatically outside the 10 year CBO scoring window. Obviously that trick didn’t work as well as McConnell had hoped. But Sen. Ron Wyden asked CBO to score the cuts for an additional 10 years to capture what would happen. That report was released today and things get even worse. By 2036 Medicaid would be reduced by a third.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne: anti intuitive ecology facts:
1. urban dwellers use less energy than rural ones.
2. flying on a jumbo jet is more energy efficient than driving a car until you have three+ people in the car.
randy khan
@Roger Moore:
In my case, I like the opportunity to get myself organized before the flight, and I’d honestly rather be in my seat than milling around in a group of anxious people. (I make sure my bags are suitable for the spaces where they’re supposed to go, FWIW; I’m one of those people who actually checks to make sure the overhead closes when I put my bag there, so nobody else has to rearrange anything once I’m done.)
Every once in a while I don’t count the rows right and end up in the wrong seat, though. It’s kind of embarrassing, and I’d rather I didn’t do it, since of course I move to where I’m supposed to be once someone points it out. (The people who befuddle me are the ones who can’t figure out that F is the window seat and D is the aisle. A month ago or so I had some guy insisting I was in his aisle seat with a boarding pass that said seat F. He eventually listened to reason, but it took a little while.)
Gin & Tonic
@catclub: I use an old-fashioned razor with double-edge blades. I have a small “travel” model as well, that packs up in a little case with a couple of extra blades. Last trip out of Logan in February, I absent-mindedly packed it in my carry-on, and TSA found the double-edged razor blades and made me throw them away.
Roger Moore
@schrodingers_cat:
IOW, nobody in the Trump clan, none of whom have 4 American-born grandparents. Not that they’d do anything so plebeian as fly on a commercial airplane except as a publicity stunt, or anything showing normal human emotion like visiting grandparents.
ThresherK
I boarded a plane in 1989 with a 25-watt ham transciever in my carry-on.
My trust in any undertrained TSAer to know what the hell a real radio looks like is nil.
(And the “turn it on and prove it works” bit would require a 3-lb gel cell battery, 4-foot long antenna, and being at an airport close enough to some other ham transmitting at the exact time I’m at the x-ray.)
d58826
DUH you think.
I have a solution:
1. federal law bans baggage fees, that way most everything goes thru the more powerful scanners in the baggage area
2. carry on limited to diaper bags, laptops(including kindles and smart phones), briefcase, handbag and or a reasonable sized gym bag.
3. the line at TSA will move faster because there is less to scan
4. might be able to fine tune the scanners to look for those dreaded laptop bombs not that they have less ‘other stuff to scan
5. boarding (you know getting on the plane the actual reason for all of this) will go faster
6. more room in overhead bins since people aren’t trying to pack them with the kitchen sink.
7. so the airlines will be happy a one time ‘we will screw you one way or anther’ fee of $25/ticket.
gene108
The movie Airplane! could never be remade today.
A flight from Chicago to LA, where the passengers get their choice of two options for an in-flight meal free of charge…inconceivable…
Roger Moore
@rikyrah:
IOW, they care only about the effect the bill will have on their reelection chances, not on what it will do to their constituents.
Ruviana
@Roger Moore: I want to be early if I’m flying Southwest because I want a window seat and they don’t (didn’t? Haven’t flown since 2010) have assigned seating. Avoiding all of it these days.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Roger Moore:
Quit judging me! Y’all don’t know me!
If you ever really want to have fun, try bringing a $1000 dive computer, a $400 wireless pressure gauge (sends pressure and use data to the computer) and an $850 regulator in your carryon. First you have to explain it, and when the TSAssholes grumble that you should have checked them and saved some time, point out the dollar value and necessity that they be treated gently, as they’re what keep you alive underwater.
JCJ
@Roger Moore:
If I am flying to Tokyo or Seoul from Detroit I will be on the plane for a while so I like to get in and settled. I typically have very little carry on luggage. If I am on the plane an extra 40 minutes but less rushed it is a good trade off. The 40 extra minutes is not a big deal on an 800 minute flight.
hugely
@MattF: as a TSA pre guy myself sometimes those TSA Pre lines are longer than steerage class (like at Las Vegas) but I do appreciate not taking belt and shoes off. TSA does do quirky random shit all the time (i have lost a leatherman and bike tool or let me fly with a blade multiple times) but I try not to add to the negative energy at Airports
Roger Moore
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I’m a photographer, so I’m familiar with the desire to bring expensive and potentially fragile gear as a carryon. I saw somebody suggesting photographers buy and pack a gun* with their checked camera gear, since checked luggage containing a gun gets special treatment. The TSA is naturally very worried about guns being stolen out of checked luggage, so they will manually inspect the luggage in the sight of its owner, let the owner lock it with a secure, non-TSA lock, and take special care in tracking it so it doesn’t get lost.
*They actually recommended using a starting pistol, which is legally easier to deal with because they’re subject to fewer restrictions than regular firearms but still get special treatment by TSA.
MaryL
@randy khan: Eliminating checked bag fees would only lead to hire ticket prices for everyone.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Roger Moore:
That starter gun is a great tip to know, particularly regarding people who sometimes travel with sensitive and expensive industrial equipment, etc.
EBT
@Raven: fuck that we need to end this security theater bullshit. Old white people who are afraid to die need to just fucking deal. Life is short and there is less than nothing after, accept it and move on.
SiubhanDuinne
@catclub:
I did know that, and if I were on the move a great deal of the time I would at least reconsider my transport choices on environmental grounds. But I take only one or two significant road trips a year, so my additional carbon footprint is minimal. And anyhow, 90% of the reason I take road trips is so I can see “off-the-beaten-path” sights, make spontaneous decisions, create detours so I can meet up with Balloon Juicers and other friends, and experience my own little adventures.
Obviously, business travel demands a different calculus. As does emergency travel where the entire point is getting to the destination.
Bess
@KithKanan: try using the mobile pass app.
It’s worked great for me. I actually tend to get through customs and immigration more quickly than my traveling companions using global entry. And it’s free.
MaryL
The inconvenience of this proposal is small potatoes next to the privacy concerns.
EBT
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I carried a loose video card on last march and the 20 something guy acted like he had never seen computer hardware before. Asking what it was and what it did and why there were copper pipes all over it. Stupid fuck completely missed the non functional phones in my bag.
d58826
@MattF: Can work the other way also. I don’t fly often enough to make it worth while to enroll but I have been routed to pre-check on occasion.
On the other hand, if you have the time, an Amtrak roomette/fold down bed/with free meals in the dining car is only $800. from Charlotte to Philly. Obviously you have to have the time but your own little room, no TSA can be bliss.
And yes I know Amtrak has it’s warts also but TSA isn’t one of them
geg6
@Raven:
I quit flying after one security theater flight to Chicago not long after the shoe bomber. My ex’s disabled, over-80yo parents were forced to undergo what I considered a totally unnecessary and invasive search and I thought that was quite enough of that bullshit to me. I will miss never seeing the west coast ever again, but fuck that shit.
d58826
@MaryL: Not eliminating baggage fees has only lead to additional fees on everything else up to and including oxygen in the cabin.
MaryL
@d58826: I’m just saying that eliminating one type of fee won’t reduce prices overall, and is more likely to raise prices indiscriminately across all passengers. Baggage fees at least provide some passengers with the flexibility to decide whether to pay that fee or try to stuff everything in their carry-on. Undoubtedly baggage fees do reduce space in the cabin, but eliminating them is far from a panacea.
d58826
@MaryL: True, once your at the gate/plane but the more stuff that gets checked into the hold, then the faster things should move at TSA. And the few times I fly it looks like most people want to be flexibly stuff their entire life in the overhead. And yes it might just move the line from TSA to curbside check in/baggage pickup. I just don’t remember the hassles at both TSA and in the cabin back in the day when most bags where checked. Even now when I fly I just find the fee for one bag is less of a hassle than the TSA shakedown and fighting for that last square inch of bin space. But I understand why others with more bags, kids, (I suspect there are a few grumps that would love to see the kids checked into the baggage compartment :-))etc would go the other direction. Baby steps
catclub
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Heavy ass Pelican cases! is other solution. kinda
Woodrowfan
@Roger Moore: I’d rather sit with my earphones on listening to music than stand in line waiting to shuffle to my seat and hope there is room in the overhead. So there are other reasons to want to board early. .
I’ve also been bumped when I was near the back of the boarding line.
randy khan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
This reminded me of the time I had the most fun evah at TSA [/sarcasm]: My wife collects glass paperweights, and we were coming back home from a paperweight event. Paperweight makers use lead crystal, so each of the 9 (yes, 9) paperweights in my carry on looked like a little cannonball in the x-ray machine, and the TSA person had to pull every one of them out of the bag and make sure it wasn’t a bomb. Also, as is traditional in the paperweight world, they all were packed in my dirty socks (usually the socks are clean, but you use what you have) to protect them against random bumps, so she had to pull them out of the socks to look at them. I debated whether to tell her how much they cost, and decided that telling her would only increase the likelihood she would drop one. Instead, I just held my breath.
randy khan
@MaryL:
I don’t disagree, although I wonder how much the impact actually would be. My real point is that the ship has sailed on this question.
J R in WV
@aimai:
Re TransAtlantic, strongly recommend the Premium Economy which has a little more room and better service, allowed to board whenever, etc. Coming back we were offered upgrades to Business class for $300 which was a steal and worth every penny.
We didn’t have anyone look twice at our electronics, which was a tablet with road maps and scenic photos on it.
Seriously, the ICE areas are so backed up and crowded you would really have to stick out in the crowd for them to take more than a cursory look at you. Or be the 17th random person given a closer look, perhaps.
J R in WV
@Certified Mutant Enemy:
You can actually cross the Atlantic on the QE II for about the same fare as flying, around $1000. Of course, it takes a week to get there…. but you do have more elbow room and better food.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I know a former TSA employee who traveled a lot for them and they used said individual as a “tester” to see what could be gotten through security that shouldn’t get through. This person got a gun through security many, many times – and in fact was never caught sneaking said gun through according to his or her first hand account. Whee.
Chris
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Wow, that’s even worse than my story.
PJ
@Raven: As you probably know, it was, once upon a time, if not always pleasurable to fly (although it was often pleasurable), not so unpleasant. Many people have to fly, whether for work or family commitments (taking 5 days to cross the Atlantic is not something most businesses are going to put up with). Many people also do not have the leisure to arrive at the airport 2.5 hours before their departure. Compared with every other form of commercial travel these days (and I’m including the Chinatown bus), traveling by plane is more onerous, humiliating, and unpleasant. It would be one thing if the reasons behind the hassle were valid, but most of it is security theater.
NoraLenderbee
I live 3000 miles from the rest of my family. I used to fly 2x yearly to see them. It has definitely gotten worse in the last few years. Since my parents died, I am really reluctant to ever do it again.
catclub
@J R in WV:
This reminds me of the story of how to get nearly free parking and security for a month in NYC for your Rolls Royce. Use it as collateral for a loan – then while you are gone it is the banks problem. Promptly repay the loan. Ths requires that you own the Rolls in the first place, and that you can get the loan.
Life is easier if you are already rich.
different-church-lady
@MaryL: And therein lies the problem with the entire bait-and-switch, hide the real price, nickel-and-dime-you-to-death economy: enough people enable this kind of insanity because they think they can work the system to their advantage.
One bag of reasonable size is NOT an unreasonable expectation for anyone flying anywhere. Why this is now al la carte can only be explained by greed, not logic.
sunny raines
1) the law of unintended consequences is alive and well
2) steerage still exists – just the ship changed.
Bess
@Bess: Interesting. Two of us using the same name.
burnspbesq
Flying from LAX to Heathrow tomorrow, and unfortunately I have to take business clothes with me. Virgin Atlantic’s charge for a second bag is so exorbitant that I’m betting on the laundry service at my hotel. Packing four days worth of clothes for a nine day trip.
burnspbesq
If you want to see folks really abuse the overheads, take the 3:00 Lufthansa flight from LAX to Frankfurt some day. Families traveling to Central and Eastern Europe to visit relatives bring an incredible variety of American consumer goods with them.