This leads me to think. Are there any cases where grabbing something from the bin is absolutely necessary?

Any medication? I'm just not sure. I've been trying to figure out a reason to justify having to go grab stuff.

Passport if it''s an emergency landing in a hostile country? - ehh, I'm not too sure about that one either. I'm trying here.

I hope the FAA is reading this.

And the price of your airfare just went up by $30...

Developing, certifying this for flight, installing this everywhere....would be very expensive. I don't think the FAA would go this far for something that happens so rarely.

I understand your point, but I believe your suggestion to engage in collective punishment, rather than prevention and correction of the deviant behaviour is both unfair and not realistic. There are some very good reasons why carry ons must be allowed. There are issues such as medication, sensitive equipment, jewellery etc. that necessitate an allowance for carry ons. Most people respect the rules. The issue could easily be addressed if;

1. The safety videos were more explicit and were in multiple languages.. Fly in some parts of the world and the problem is more evident. If the rules were repeated a few times in Mandarin, Punjabi, Arabic etc., some people might get the message.

2. Implement and enforce laws in respect to unsafe behaviour with zero tolerance for deviants. How many times have we heard about drunks on a plane and diversions? Sometimes the perps are charged and brought before a judge. Know what? In most of the cases, the guilty parties get off with a suspended sentence or a conditional discharge. They need to be hit hard and punished and the result publicized. The same for the jerks who screw around with the carry ons. Enforce the existing rules. Zero tolerance. It's unfair to penalize the majority of people who behave properly because of the actions of the minority. Smack the offenders first.

Note: Once again we are treated to a magnificent response from a BA crew to a difficult situation. Always impressive.

Regardless of what we think the rules should or need to be... that pic showing pax fleeing with the one dude in the background both hands full with his luggage... I don't even know what to say.

I must be confused.

"The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today issued a final rule requiring rear visibility technology in all new vehicles under 10,000 pounds by May 2018"

Ok, this is for new cars. Existing planes would have to have this technology. Every different bin, every model, every manufacturer...etc. Anyways, my last point on this because I feel it's getting OT is that I feel that it would be prohibitively expensive. Jaysona probably knows best. I've politely asked to see if he'll reply. Up to him though.

Lavatory smoke detectors were made mandatory largely due to a single, fatal incident. It's only a matter of luck that the boneheaded pax of BA2276 didn't get several people killed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada_Flight_797

I remember being similarly shocked when I saw the pictures of all the passengers leaving the crashed Asiana flight in SFO with their carry-on.

As to the locking overheads bins - I can already see the knuckleheads holding up the aisle as they battle with the bin to try and open it.

There is no button for the slides, slide activation is controlled by the door. So if the overhead bins were to be tied in with the slide activation mechanism, then as soon as the doors are closed and armed, the overhead bins would be locked for the entire flight. Huh - that may not be such a bad idea after all. :p

The above still does not address the carry on stored underneath the seats - which in all likelihood is what the people in the picture took off the plane with them.

I can maybe, *maybe* see justifying grabbing a SMALL handbag *IF* it is under the seat in front of you and you are in the window seat. Likely you have a few moments while the seatmate(s) next to you are clearing out and that is unlikely to impede flow/traffic. Circumstances depending of course, but wallet and passport would be a very difficult thing for me to leave behind if *EASILY* and *NON-OBSTRUCTIVELY* accessible. Which is why I always fly with those 2 things in arm's reach. NEVER EVER anything from an overhead bin though - those are always acceptable losses. NEVER anything that could be tripped over.

It's not like Boeing and Airbus couldn't add a relay switch for this to future models.


Dude in the background of that photo didn't have that luggage under his seat. Heck, I'm surprised those were allowed as carry-on at all.

1) Require that FAs note during their safety video/demonstration that it is a mandatory 24 hour jail term, $5k fine, and one year ban from all air travel if you evacuate any aircraft while carrying any bag, brifcase, or backpack.

2) All items carried off an emergency evacuation will be confiscated and destroyed by federal officials.

3) Ban airlines from serving alcoholic beverages, in any quantity, to travelers seated in an emergency exit row.

Huh? I'm sorry, I can not see the parallel that eigenvector is trying to draw here. Care to explain so I can provide an appropriate answer?


Don't forget about some of the people on US1549 that also decided to take their carry-on with them. There will always be a few clueless n00bs on every flight with you. :rolleyes:

On every flight I usually do the opposite of what the flight attendants do, they usually pic one or two people close to them that they will decide ask to help if necessary, I try to pick out the ones that could potentially get in everyone's way.

It's not as simple as you make it out to be - no where even close to being simple.