Originally Posted by
JoseVerde
So I've seen OH bins closed by FAs and PAX before they are full but yesterday I was boarding a UA A320 from ORD-LAX and as my wife and I approached row 7, the FA closed two bins on the left side that were empty. It seemed rather random to us as:
- We were early to board [so it didn't seem to be motivated by getting things ready to go]
- The rows in the vicinity of row 7 weren't occupied yet [so it didn't seem to be motivated by having PAX put bags above their rows]
- F passengers had already boarded and were seated [so it didn't seem to be motivated by saving space for F cabin]
- He did not do the same to the bins on the right side
It didn't affect us in any way (We just opened up the bin and put our luggage in), but it just struck me as odd. As I've said before, I've seen bins closed when 85% or even 50% full, but never when 0% full and so early in the boarding process.
Any FA insight into why one might do this, or is this just a futile attempt to find reason in a chaotic flying world?
I've seen this on other A320 flights before - presumably so that late-boarding premium passengers still have space (I've observed some E- passengers like to stuff their bag in E+ lockers before heading back, even near the start of boarding). I think it's probably a good idea, however not everyone will know that there might be free spaces hiding near by. I realised this was probably the case, since I was the 3rd E+ occupant to board, people halfway through E+ are more likely to not suspect this being the case. I'm even tempted to close lockers after putting my bags in - it's not hard to then tell people who are actually sitting close by that there's fee space in those lockers.
Now one time I boarded an int'l flight on a 763, and all the lockers on one side near my seat were closed, with a few people seated. I'd assumed they were full, on landing someone opened them - they were completely empty. Must have annoyed the one late boarder who had put his bag 5 rows forward.