Maybe it's so the devil doesn't have to wait by the carousel until the baggage handlers have unloaded you, hev?

Quinion agrees with Max’s marvellous mouth music metaphor:

http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-goi1.htm

The Word Detective quotes Partridge:

http://www.word-detective.com/back-e2.html

(Hoping to help, Hev!)

Helen Blazes
Helen Wheels
Helen A. Handbasket

[Quiz: origin of Helen Wheels?]

until the baggage handlers have unloaded you
Oh, that was helpful, Hrubarb--handlers heave Hev? Hardly!

i didn't read quinon, but in a handbaskets, suggest something very casual to me.. a picnic or lunch in the park,

Hell in a handbasket, is a casual disregard for conscequences of ones actions.. that leads to major faults or problems...
i.e.
once in haste, my daugter bleached some jeans.. they were getting too light, so she stopped the spin cycle, removed the jeans, and rinsed then in the sink.. and left them to drip dry.

i came along to do a load of wash (smelled bleach, and saw the bleached pants dripping into the sink) I put my clothes in the washer, and -- several of my work dresses, where bleached.. the very small quantity of water left in the washer still had a lot of bleaching power...

and all my daughter said was "oops"-- i resonded that such a casual attitude might result in a denial of service.. that in the future, she could use a laundrymat..
that i wasn't going to have things go to hell et al.

[Quiz: origin of Helen Wheels?]

I always thought it was Hell on wheels.
At least that's what I thought my dad said when he taught me how to drive!

In my family we always said "Going straight to hell on a greased slide"... that came from my very devout Catholic grandmother and shocked me the first time I heard it from her mouth.

You imagine me sipping champagne from your boot
For a taste of your elegant pride
I may be going to hell in a bucket, babe
But at least I'm enjoying the ride, at least I'll enjoy the ride.

Hell in A Bucket, The Grateful Dead

For the complete lyric:
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~mleone/gdead/dead-lyrics/Hell_in_a_Bucket.txt


The Only WO'N!

Quiz: origin of Helen Wheels?
I always thought it was Hell on wheels.

Quite correct; I was being politely euphemistic.
Origin of hell on wheels?

Hallelujah! Hooray! How helpful!

However hazardous Hades is, handbaskets had Hev having hallucination headaches and in a haze! Hedonist, help! Hardly...