Anyone who is a regular traveler of the airways would probably agree that the regulations for airplane luggage has changed greatly in recent years. Whether it’s restrictions placed on travelers by the federal government, or rules dictated by the individual airlines companies, there seem to be more rules to be aware of while flying than ever before. Because of this, it is very important that all passengers pack carefully to comply with all of the restrictions. Here are a few tips for packing for packing that may make your flying experience a more pleasant and hassle-free time.
1) Find out your airline/s rules for baggage. These could easily have changed since the last time you flew. Today, most airlines that will charge you an additional fee for every piece of luggage that you check in for any domestic flights, while still others (like Southwest) will allow you to have two pieces of check-in luggage per ticket purchased. The one carry on item (to be stored in the overhead bins) and one smaller carry on item (to be stashed under the seat in front of you) limit still applies to most airlines, without any additional fee.
2) Most airlines have the same “fifty pound” limit on any individual piece of check-in luggage, with an additional fee for any suitcase that weighs more than this limit. If possible, try to weigh your bags before arriving at the airport, as this action will allow you to redistribute the weightier objects in the comfort of your own home-instead of the stressful arena of the airport. In order to make you bags under the fifty pound limit, avoid putting all of your heavier objects in just one suitcase. Jeans and shoes can both be comparatively heavy articles of clothing; try to avoid putting these objects all in one suitcase unless you are sure that it is small enough to not be able to contain more than fifty pounds of such objects. Also, if you are choosing between wearing your lighter shoes (like flip-flops) and wearing a pair of tennis shoes, realize that wearing the tennis shoes (and packing the flip-flops) will make your suitcase lighter. Although tennis shoes may be more of a hassle to take off and on at security check-points, wearing them instead of packing them will definitely make for a lighter luggage load.
3) Relatively new federal laws only allow passengers to actually carry a small amount of liquid items on their person onto the airplane. This means that most water bottles and other beverages should be purchased after the security checkpoint. Additionally, passengers should be careful to only carry the liquids that are absolutely essential to them (like eye-drops) in travel-sized containers. Any additional liquid items can be placed into the check-in luggage.