No I won't lift your heavy bag

[DevilBoy]

I would like to know why the itty bitty airplanes are still around.

And the reason for itty bitty planes is so those of us who live in itty bitty towns can have air service.

It is also because they use less fuel than the giant behemoth passenger jets. Airlines are paying out a ton for gas, too.

They are using them more often in many places in an effort to reduce fuel costs.

[Skeksin]

I don't have those space issues when I travel....

Then again I travel T.A.R.D.I.S.

[ArcticChicken]

Still doesn't match up with being able to walk around the place yourself. A whole room that is just wall-to-wall Sci-Fi/Fantasy! Bliss!

*wimper*

And me! Online's not good enough for me with this one. I have to see it in person. Next vacation, I'm going to spend an entire DAY at this place.

Just one?!

[RootedPhoenix]

I don't have those space issues when I travel....

Then again I travel T.A.R.D.I.S.

Yup. Here you go EQ, Powell's Online Shop.

Still doesn't match up with being able to walk around the place yourself. A whole room that is just wall-to-wall Sci-Fi/Fantasy! Bliss!

*follows link, melts into a puddle of bliss* I found so many music books. and they'll get the one I want to me faster than Amazon.

I may have to make a special trip for nothing but this place.

[Polenicus]

On planes, I routinely carry a Targus Backpack - which is a laptop bag. This is, of course, certified to fit in (most) overhead bins. So I can stuff it absolutely chock-full of stuff that isn't wet or sharp, and nobody minds.

Those Targus backpacks are awesome, aren't they?

Got mine a few years ago... it's outlived the laptop I originally bought it for, gone with me on multiple flights, been packed aorund, overstuffed, abused, and it's still holding together better than anything I own.

I don't understand the whole mentality of bringing your whole life as carryon. The only time my carryon bag is a little hefty is if it'sthe only bag I'm taking... and then it's the Targus. Otherwise... why would want to schlep all that stuff around? Most flights allow you one or two checked bags are part of your ticket price... so if I've got a lot of stuff, I pack the valuable and breakable stuff (Computer, electronics, stuff I can't afford to lose on the trip, etc) in my carryon, and then the bulk stuff in a sturdy suitcase. Pack right, and them tossing your bags around shouldn't be a big deal (Oh noes! My underwear got squished!).

[MouseToy]

Powell's

When I went to Seattle this past summer, I *begged* my friend to take me to Powell's. We only spent a couple of hours, but I could live there!
Well, except all the anti-bathers that were there that day...
I can't wait until my next trip out there, so I can go again!

[SapphireSky]

I always love to see other airline employees stories! I'm sorry you have to deal with customers more face to face than I do. Next time someone asks you to lift their ridiculously and obviously overweight bag ask them, "Sure thing, that'll be $500.00 for the days of work I'll miss lifting your stupid bag and injuring myself."

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yup. Here you go EQ, Powell's Online Shop.

Do they ship accross the pond? Just asking, rather than clicking in anticipation and being disappointed.

As for luggage; I take a bag with books, gum, boiled sweets (to stop my ears from going pop), dissolvable headache pills and magazines; as well as a change of clothes and clean underwear, just in case.

The last time I flew, this idiot man held up the queue at the hand luggage check cuz he wanted to take his laptop on the plane, and along with all the other crap he wanted to bring, it exceeded the limit. In the end, bearing in mind that it was stupid o'clock and I needed coffee, I told him to grow up and get the effing hell out of my way so I could check my luggage before my plane left. I could see the staff going "Oops; just sent that laptop to Timbuctoo!" after he grudgingly checked it into luggage. XD

[Eireann]

Do they ship accross the pond? Just asking, rather than clicking in anticipation and being disappointed.

Yes, they do. However, they have TWO charges - a fee for the entire order, and a fee PER BOOK. There was a brief, happy time when ALL orders over $50 shipped for free, but now, this special is only available to the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

I love Powell's. I love wandering the stacks, breathing the smell of old books, finding things I'd never even known existed, hearing the conversations, and wandering from room to room to room to room to room!

I could live there. Really.

[Sonoma]

You come to Portland, we can go to Powells.

[flygirl]

And the reason for itty bitty planes is so those of us who live in itty bitty towns can have air service. The bins are so small though that I have to put my carry on on the cart for them to stow in cargo.

Yeah, I'm a flight attendant on those little 50 seaters, and people always have a shitfit, when they see how small the plane is. It's like, well sorry, but you're not going to get many 757s going from Houston to Lake Charles. And they don't understand that their roller bags WILL NOT fit in our overhead comparments. There's always some ass that insists that it will fit, so I'll say "fine, go ahead and try it." Sure enough, 5 minutes later they walk back to me with a sheepish look on their face, saying it won't fit. Won't fit? Well, guess what? Now you can haul that bag back up to the front of the plane, so I can tag it. You should have listened to me when I told you in the first place.

[AirHostess]

Yeah, I'm a flight attendant on those little 50 seaters, and people always have a shitfit, when they see how small the plane is. It's like, well sorry, but you're not going to get many 757s going from Houston to Lake Charles. And they don't understand that their roller bags WILL NOT fit in our overhead comparments. There's always some ass that insists that it will fit, so I'll say "fine, go ahead and try it." Sure enough, 5 minutes later they walk back to me with a sheepish look on their face, saying it won't fit. Won't fit? Well, guess what? Now you can haul that bag back up to the front of the plane, so I can tag it. You should have listened to me when I told you in the first place.

Flygirl, it's so nice to see a fellow f/a on here Though I understand that being an F/A in the US is very different to in Europe.

I fly Airbus 319/320/321, B757 and 767's! I would like to work regional but my airline has sold most of it's regional routes off.

[AirHostess]

I always love to see other airline employees stories! I'm sorry you have to deal with customers more face to face than I do. Next time someone asks you to lift their ridiculously and obviously overweight bag ask them, "Sure thing, that'll be $500.00 for the days of work I'll miss lifting your stupid bag and injuring myself."

To be fair, MOST of my passengers are fine. I get a lot less hassle and rudeness than I did working at my old airline (a low cost) and a lot less than in retail. I guess as we are there mainly for safety we have a lot more authority and a bit more respect.

[Chromatix]

I've been on a small regional jet as well - between France and England. I was faced with quite a long stopover in a rather poor-quality French airport, so I was very pleased when they offered me an earlier flight for the second leg.

However, they were taking quite a lot of pieces of hand luggage off passengers at the foot of the airstair, and stowing them in the hold. I think they stored them separately and gave them back at disembarkation, though, rather than making everyone wait for baggage reclaim. I will also say that the seats in that Embraer were far more comfortable than the Airbus seats I'd had on three previous legs, and that the flight attendant's English was absolutely atrocious!

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Ooooh, everybody talkin' about Powell's! I regularly take the train into downtown, usually once a month, just so I can spend hours wandering the floors of that building in pure bliss. It's like a little slice of heaven on earth.

Powell's is also a great place to meet cute geeky guys. Yes, I know this from experience, why do you ask?