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Ranting and Raving: A Love-Hate Relationship with Curbside Check-in

Like most convenience-loving Americans, I welcomed the introduction of curbside check-in at airports around the world. There's nothing better than checking your bags and getting your boarding passes immediately upon stepping out of the taxi, and even though there's a fee for the service, it's worth it for that easy-breezy feeling of dumping your luggage and proceeding directly to the gate. But lately the curbside check-in guys have become more churlish. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like they used to be a lot more helpful than they are today, actually carrying your bags from the curb to the scale and cheerfully booking you on an earlier flight if one was available. But the past three times we've flown, we were lucky to get so much as a grunt from the curbside dudes, who watched lazily as we struggled with bags, stroller, and wiggly baby. A little help? Forget it.

They unfailingly tell us about the curbside check-in fee, though, making sure we know that the tip is not included in that fee. The last time I heard that, I was left thinking "a tip for what?" If you don't do anything more than the regular check-in people do inside the terminal - if I wrangled all my own bags while you stood idly, joking with your co-workers - why should I tip you?

Of course I keep my mouth shut and fork over a couple of bucks, lest my bags end up in Timbuktu. It doesn't seem like I've got much of an alternative. What do you think about curbside check-in? Jam it or slam it? Sound off in the comments.

[Photo: Associated Press]

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