Originally Posted by
kiwiandrew
hope you are ready to deal with the lawsuit if 10 kg of baggage improperly stuffed into an overhead locker falls out on someone during the heavy turbulence that is frequent on the Pacific . It has happened before ( a musician from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra was seriously injured many years ago on a UA transpacific flight because someone thought that the carry on restrictions should not apply to them - his career was over in a matter of a few seconds - but I believe the lawsuits went on for years afterwards ) these restrictions are not there to make peoples lives difficult , they are perfectly sensible restrictions for safety reasons and while I realise that many carriers bend the rules on safety in this matter I applaud those who do not screw around with pax well being
Generally I have seen Kiwi's be more aggressive, yet sensible, about risk taking. I have seen an applaud many activities in NZ that would be outlawed in the USA.
There is risk in everything and I am sure that very strange cases can be pulled to support a zero weight tolerance. My point is that in a country way people take way too much on board and where many many more flights take off each day (i.e. the USA), carry-on injuries are a strange occurance, not something that happens every day. For that specific reason airplane manufacturer's have rated the airplane so no one else needs to.
On the subject of safety, I applaud NZ sensible security or lack there of in domestic flights. Even though I know there was a problem this last year, I still think that using common sense and statistics is better than trying to prevent all risk without a balance to cost.
Even though I think that I was trying to imply through my post that service, even in coach, was better than UAL, there is a 'cost' associated with low carry on weight...and I am sure that more than one potential passenger has decided not to fly NZ because of it.