> When you gate-check your bags, they are handled carefully Spend some time at the window seats at the gate looking at earlier flights and how gate-checked lug

> When you gate-check your bags, they are handled carefully Spend some time at the window seats at the gate looking at earlier flights and how gate-checked luggage is handled. It gets thrown down this chute that drops hard some 20ft to the ground. It also gets very carelessly thrown in there, so a bunch of the bags miss the chute and just drop straight down to the concrete. If you had anything other than clothes in there, ouch! You'll get back a back full of destroyed fragments.