Originally Posted by
MattFLL
Appreciate your perspective as a crew member - but I disagree. The flight attendant has every right to be in close proximity to their belongings. However, bulkhead passengers need to part ways with their personal item which often contains a purse or wallet. In my case, the FA made a bulkhead passenger stow her purse in the rear of the aircraft. The bulkhead passenger is at a serious disadvantage and increase risk of theft when compared to a flight attendant's luggage a few rows away.
Southwest is famous for sensible policies. I can't imagine they haven't thought of this exact situation. I would think that the handbook explicitly outlines that the crew should use row 3/4. Either way, it’s reasonable and considerate crew members like you make a big difference in this world. You save a lot of stress for your bulkhead customers - especially those who paid a lot more for Business Select and didn't know/forgot/could not stow a valuable personal item nearby immediately upon boarding!
Seems like there's a lot of people jumping all over the "maybe" scenarios, without any proof that's what it was.
Matt - you seem like you're not going to accept any reasoning, so I'm not sure why you posted a question here in the first place. Why would you think the handbook 'explicitly outlines that the crew should use row 3/4'? This this fact, or just your opinion?
As for your reasoning for purchasing Business Select, that in no way implies that the passenger will use rows 1 or 2. What if they wanted rows 3 or 4? And in no way guarantees the bin will be available above whatever seat they wanted.
As for the woman who had to go all the way to the back of the plane to stow her purse, I imagine we're not talking about a small purse. When she first boarded the plane, those bins would've clearly been marked with the sign. She could've put her purse in the overhead bin across the aisle, back a few rows, or under the seat. If she chose Row 1, she wouldn't have had had the under the seat option available to her. And when we're talking a purse so large that there wasn't any overhead space except for the rear of the plane after the plane will full, we're talking a fairly large bag that she seems to be claiming is a personal item. Most normal-sized purses would've had no problem squeezing in a small space in most 'filled' bins.
And finally, there's no guarantee any passenger has any access to any cabin bin. The flight crew could require that all belongings be checked.
Since we don't know the true reason why those bins were closed, no reason to speculate. Heck, they could've been broken for all we know, rather than some sinister flight-crew-wants-their-bags-up-front reason.