Traveling Armenians

I was reading an article by Dave Demerjian on Wired online that describes how it is often more economical to ship your bags rather than check them in while flying. It references a web page that gives you the skinny on which airlines charge for luggage and the number of bags you can take on before the fees start piling up.

I love this table, because it shows why the airline industry is so fucked up. Let's pretend all airlines are charging people for bags because of the extra fuel necessary to carry the clothes travelers will need once the airlines graciously take them to their destination. So why would it matter when someone pays for the extra fuel? (See Airtran)

Then scrolling down the alphabetical list of airlines, you quickly come to the details on Delta airlines; "D" being one of the first 4 letters of the alphabet. There is an editorial comment, suggesting that nobody travels with 8 (or more) bags. Obviously, there is a disproportionate number of Armenians flying Delta and those whipper-snappers at Delta have done their math. Here's the breakdown for a week-long holiday for your average 4-person Armenian family:
Bag 1: clothers for child #1
Bag 2: clothes for child #2
Bag 3: clothes for mom
Bag 4: clothes for mom (cont)
Bag 5: clothes for dad + leftover clothes for mom, child1 and child2
Bag 6: chargers for phone, camera, video camera, laptops + leftover clothes for children
Bag 7: lahmejune, boreg (2 kinds), nazouk, and Syrian bread + picnic blanket (if not staying at hotel)
Bag 8: towels (if not staying at hotel), shoes and other footwear
Bag 9: car seat for child #1
Bag 10: car seat for child #2

Then for carry-on we have food for children and adults for during the flight (maybe a couple of Zankou chicken sandwiches if you're traveling eastbound from LA), books, activities/toys, diapers, wipes, change of clothes, and extra socks.

Obviously for comedic purposes I glossed over the fact that there are at least 2 adults so there will only be 5 bags per person. Of course once either child is over 2 years old, they would need their own ticket and the number plummets to 3.33 bags per person. Then again, you're paying $500 for your 2 year old who weighs less than your lahmejune luggage.