I'll apologize in advance for this mini-rant: no offence to Russ intended---his post just made me think about this.

I've been flying internationally and domestically since 1966. What I have noticed is that carry-on luggage has increased in size, volume and importance as the wait times for and probability of loss of, checked baggage has increased to a point where it's "don't check anything you can't do without." Which translates to "any thing you don't need." So all the "I can't be without this" goes into carry-on. This is especially important to folks like me that cannot be without their medications.

Over the years, I've had checked bags go astray far too often.

During my recent (last month) trip to Europe, I carried in my carry-on enough insulin (2 different types, both of which need a cool pack to keep them cool so they don't go bad during an over 20 hour trip, not counting flight delays), needles, syringes, test meter, test strips, alcohol pads, and 5 bottles of prescription meds. Everything also had to have the original prescription containers: I've been challenged on this before both by TSA and local authorities. A fair amount of volume. And it does not include anything else I may feel I need to put in a carry-on, say to account for a difference in weather, e.g. a sweater, rain jacket, and a fresh shirt. And I'm not even considering the folks that also need a laptop etc. for work when they arrive. At least for me (still not counting a laptop) this will not fit under a seat; I've tried.

I'd love to put most of my meds in checked baggage, and only carry on board what I need for the trip (a lot less)! But reasonable caution and the airlines themselves say that this stuff needs to go in carry-on.

Most frequent travelers I know now try to avoid checking bags due to these problems, and travel only with carry-on bags.

IMO, before carry-ons can be banned/reduced, the airlines really need to get serious and solve the problems with checked baggage. Back in the day, you were pretty sure of getting your bag when you got off the plane in a reasonably short period of time. Now, not really.