We both hate checking bags, so we always just do carry-on.
How come? My sister always gives me grief for checking my bag (as long as I can do so for free), haven't been able to figure out why.
Just because your bag CAN be carried on, doesn't mean you HAVE to. Checking a bag doesn't mean you're traveling any heavier. Most airports have the baggage thing down to a pretty good system, assisted by the fact there are way less bags, now that everyone carries theirs on. I'd say at least half the time, by the time I get off the plane, hit up the bathroom, and make my way through the airport to the baggage claim, the carousel is already going. Sometimes I have to wait 5 minutes. The only thing I carry with me is a book. Way better that carrying a bag through two airports, more with a layover. Makes security easier way easier, though I'm one of those people that requests the freedom grope, and they're always suspicious of me not having a bag.
Compared to having to open my bag in security to get my laptop out, which I have to put in a separate bin for some reason, then put it back in. Since I carry a duffle not a roller suitcase, I don't like having the laptop right on top, so this can be a pain. Now I get to lug it through the airport and stand crowded around the gate with the rest of the group because they're worried about getting on early before the overhead bins fill up, not caring that they're in the way of the elderly and disabled trying to board before them. Their luggage is more important. Then we get to awkwardly try to stuff our bags into a spot in the overfull bins, then awkwardly pull them back down again when we land. Now I get to carry it through another airport. Have a connecting flight? Repeat until finished.
Nah, I'll walk around with my book, wait till final boarding in the relative comfort of the now-empty waiting area, walk on and sit right down, mosey back off the plane, and wait 5 minutes for my bag, thankful for all the baggage handlers that went to all that hassle for me.
Rant over ;-)