Looking at the positive side of the airline baggage restrictions, in a way its good that some international airlines have reduced the weight that each bag can carry to about 24 kg from 32 kg.
We try to stuff too many things into a single bag and try to reach the maximum that we can carry in a bag. However this poses problems while handling the bag and though we dont realize it all the heavy bag handling presents a risk to the back. This is especially true for elders.
A lighter bag will become easier to handle and plus teaches us to avoid taking unnecessary things from here to there. :-). Everything is now available in all parts of the world.
Just spewing out some random thoughts. :-). As i told someone “There is a sticker on back of my neck which says – Warning: I have been designed to view the glass as half-full” 😉
Prashant, where you see back problem with heavy handling I see an opportunity for working out and staying fit. This is my “glass half full” outlook :).
Of course, there are two sides to this issue.
Less baggage allowed means less probablity of misuse of space and perhaps faster and cheaper travel due to reduced payload, all the other things being equal/constant. There is a downside to the new restriction for people who are traveling with babies, or going for a long vacation, weddings, etc where they do need more stuff than usual.
I believe that things can be less stressful for people if there is more restriction on carry-on luggage since, this is what one lugs around for long travels. This is based on my observation while flying domestic in US vs in Europe/Japan. Carry-on baggage allowed in Europe and some asian countries is smaller than that in US and is strictly enforced. As a result, it takes less time to board and get off the plane. It is also easier to carry it around in case of long lay overs.