Originally Posted by
tfar
I would gladly be willing to pay 20-50$ per ticket more if it could be guaranteed that I get my luggage within 15 minutes after reaching the conveyor belt. Say the first bag must be on 15 minutes after the plane is at the gate. In addition there should be a higher insurance on lost and damaged belongings. The contents of many travelers bags are worth often upwards of $5000. A simple rule could be put in place. They lose your bag, they pay you $250 right away so you can get the most necessary things for the next 24 hours. If they don't get your bag to you within that time they pay you $5000 no matter how much your bag is worth. Flat fee.
I'm not going to insist on 15 minutes. That's more of a quality guarantee than I feel the need for.
There is also the issue of things too delicate for the checking and medicine that's not practical to replace. For a longer trip that basically uses up the carry-on allotment for me.
I do think the baggage liability limits should be substantially upgraded. I'm not sure how theft reimbursement should be handled but I would like to see some deterrence: Allow frequent travelers to obtain decoy items from some government source. The decoys are tagged with passive RFID tags. A computer keeps track of tags passing through the area, especially any that leave by inappropriate routes. (Note for non-technical types: Passive RFID tags are completely incapable of transmitting if not energized by a scanner and thus are not an issue on the airplane.)
2. Usually coats can go (and should go) on top of that. Having your coat on the dirty floor is indeed unacceptable.
The only problem I see with coats is fools who think they can take up bin space with them and not expect them to get crunched. There's always space on top of the bags but it's going to crunch them. A bin that's not full is going to suffer shifting and crunch them anyway.
I know it is touchy to touch other travelers' stuff particularly in the US where people are overly sensitive and have an even worse sense of entitlement than in Europe. But I have several times played a little overhead bin tetris just announcing briefly something like: Alright, I'm gonna re-arrange this a little bit so everybody's bags fit. I have not yet had a negative reaction to that. Besides, when we are boarding I usually ask the less seasoned or weaker/shorter passengers if I may be of assistance stowing their luggage. Usually this takes care of it.
I've never bothered to announce but only once have I ever taken anything out in making space--and that did provoke a squawk from the guy. He had a *WAY* oversize item up there but it was a painting--very flat. I was putting my and my wife's bags up there and felt his painting should be on top of them rather than under them.
It occurs to me that there is one more thing the airline could do: A piece of thin plastic under the seats that would keep any liquids from going into the underseat area. I'm picturing a thin shell that starts behind the seat cushion, goes under it and then down to the floor. I've never investigated where the life vest is stored to know what would be needed to accommodate it.