Although there were no major issues, this recent trip was filled with Annoying Things to Deal With. One example is the Baggage Checking Dance. It goes like this:

1. Airline decides to charge fees for checked bags.*
2. Passengers decide to bring carry-on bags.
3. Loading time skyrockets; overhead bins fill up during loading.
4. Airline checks bags for no charge, either at gate (choice) or in jetway (no choice).

On both legs of this trip, I got no-choice jetway check of my rollaboard. I’m a frequent victim of this ploy because I prefer to sit near the front of the aircraft but decline to pay a premium for this privilege. By the time passengers like me are in the jetway, the first three seated groups–We Pay More, Need Assistance, and Brought Children–as well as rows infinity to 15 or so are seated, so we are the only passengers still clutching checkable luggage.

I could pay the same price and sit in the back of the plane, or pack a bag unsuitable for checking. This last is my husband’s ploy, so he lugs a bag not designed for air travel through the terminal and the security checkpoint. I hate lugging anything anywhere, and always check my bag when I can, for example, when I fly Southwest. What joy! I don’t have to limit my drink purchases to screwtop bottles, or cram my suitcase into the bathroom stall with me, or babysit my luggage under the watchful eye of TSA.

This dance happens on every full flight, that is, on every conveniently scheduled flight traveling between popular locations, that is, on every flight I am ever likely to take. So why not just pay to check bags? Theoretically we could afford it.

The reason is to resist our corporate overlords. Given the large proportion of Americans who struggle financially, often with poor or no health insurance; the regularity with which our elected officials neither receive the majority of votes nor represent popular opinion; and the ease with which influence and elections accrue to the highest bidder, enabled by the highest court, I no longer consider myself to have First World Problems. Now I think of them as Corporate Slave problems. We corporate slaves are fairly powerless, especially since many of us seem eager to empower our oppressors, but we can make small statements. I feel every cent I spend has the potential to be a mini-rebellion. Though my bag drags me down, its weight reminds me that I’m still fighting.

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* Key point: this is a (well-documented) profit-raising decision, not a cost-cutting decision.