NYT Editorial supports bill limiting size of carry-on bags
The Overhead Rack
Every day, thousands of Americans participate in a grueling airplane ritual that tests their problem-solving skills and upper-arm endurance. It is called “Stowing the Carry-Ons,” or, “If I Give This Footlocker a Half-Turn and Push Even Harder, Maybe in 20 Minutes Its Rigid Vertical Dimensions Will Magically Shrink, and Then I Can Sit Down and Let These Angry People Pass.”
“Kill, kill, kill,” wrote John Updike in a nicely spiteful poem about watching beer-breathy businessmen “crowding their slick and swollen bags and egos onto my airplane, my tube in space, my clean shot home.”
On a more serious note, my personal preference would be for Congress to be concentrating on matters that I'd consider even weightier than carry-ons rather than attempts at micro-managing.
Why do I suspect some late-boarding politician had trouble finding a spot for his carry-on and decided to legislate a solution?
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This is the airlines responsibility and their business, it doesn't need legislation.
If they do it, I bet the French will just design a new Airbus with much larger overhead bins, designed to accommodate 27" rollerboards, and they'll do it just to thumb their noses at us.
Excuse me but the probelm is completely of the airlines own making! Loosing luggage, charging for ALL check ins etc. Doesn't help this nonsence on bit. Go back to allowing on piece of check in as part of the ticket and then reduce what is allowed in the cabin will go a looong way to solving it.
I agree 100% with the article. The only thing it didnt mention is most of these big-baggage people bump-n-bang their way seat-to-sea down the airline aisle with a 32 oz soft drink in one hand and a cellphone held to their ear and oblivious to the world.
I'll like to see an editorial that addresses why people feel they need to take these carry-on onboard. Maybe if people feel their luggage is safe there would be no such need. All airports departure terminals should be redesigned to allow screening of checked baggage prior to entering the security checkpoint. People can then lock their luggage; at least giving a sense of comfort of security, even if a breach occurs later.
Excuse me but the probelm is completely of the airlines own making! Loosing luggage, charging for ALL check ins etc. Doesn't help this nonsence on bit. Go back to allowing on piece of check in as part of the ticket and then reduce what is allowed in the cabin will go a looong way to solving it.
I totally agree with this post. Nowadays, when I travel within the US, I try to book with airlines that still have a free first check-in bag policy.
Perhaps just to satisfy all those carry-on foamers, a US carrier can be innovative and find some Illyushin 86s, where all customers board the a/c using a drop down airstair, hand their carry-on to a valet, and then walk-up an internal airstair to the main cabin level to their seat. On arrival, customers use the internal stair to the baggage hold, valet hands them their bag and the customer walks out of the plane. This is probably laughable and inconceivable but Aeroflot used to do this with their IL-86 all the time!
I'll like to see an editorial that addresses why people feel they need to take these carry-on onboard. Maybe if people feel their luggage is safe there would be no such need. .
The rollaboard revolutionized air travel. No longer did you have to hand carry a valet bag or tote on your shoulders. You simply rolled your rollaboard onboard the aircraft. That said, you no longer had to check your items and impatiently wait in the baggage claim area. You essentially skipped a process at the airport. Once this got around, in the mid 80's, with business travelers, everyone wanted to bring their luggage into the cabin. Hence the problem. Lack of space for everyone who doesnt want to waste time waiting for their checked baggage!
The Association of flight attendants lobbied congress and got a TWO bag limit that all airlines were required to abide by. Without a federal regulation, the airlines would CONTINUE to make this issue a competitive one, instead of a safety one.
I totally agree with this post. Nowadays, when I travel within the US, I try to book with airlines that still have a free first check-in bag policy.
Perhaps just to satisfy all those carry-on foamers, a US carrier can be innovative and find some Illyushin 86s, where all customers board the a/c using a drop down airstair, hand their carry-on to a valet, and then walk-up an internal airstair to the main cabin level to their seat. On arrival, customers use the internal stair to the baggage hold, valet hands them their bag and the customer walks out of the plane. !
in other words???........welcome back to the 1970's where passengers used STAIRS to board and deplane? outside in the rain? snow? bad weather?
People with small children, the elderly and the disabled would HATE that.
I totally agree with this post. Nowadays, when I travel within the US, I try to book with airlines that still have a free first check-in bag policy.
Perhaps just to satisfy all those carry-on foamers, a US carrier can be innovative and find some Illyushin 86s, where all customers board the a/c using a drop down airstair, hand their carry-on to a valet, and then walk-up an internal airstair to the main cabin level to their seat. On arrival, customers use the internal stair to the baggage hold, valet hands them their bag and the customer walks out of the plane. This is probably laughable and inconceivable but Aeroflot used to do this with their IL-86 all the time!
I know at JFK they use the people mover to pick up passengers from a/c that have no gate rights. The mover then arrives at the terminal then it raises up to allow the passengers to disembark at a gate quickly without the added expense of having to keep an a/cs there.
I remember in Japan we had to walk down the stairs to a mover, but this type dropped us off at ground level then we take the escalator upstairs (in my scenario I had to transfer to another flight). Sorry, no valet service on any of these. Not sure if I'd be willing to be so elitist to hand over my bag so someone can pilfer through it.
