phil_flyer

All the more reason to keep status and get overhead space.

WestCoastFlyer

No amount of status helps if you have a backpack and a suitcase and the flight crew is watching people board and "reminding" them that the second item has to go under the seat. My backpack barely fits making me think it's time to see if I can travel with a small tablet that I can put in the front zipper part of my suitcase and any needed paperwork inside.

hbtr

Has anyone actually been forced to gate check one of their bags because their smaller bag was too large to put under the seat with the avod box (while fitting just fine under any other seat in the fleet)?

CDKing

Same problem on AS. Seems at least 1 Intl carrier has all the bells and whistles without a box under the seat.

Mellonc

I booked a Window seat for my latest trip to NYC only to find out onboard that aisle seats didn't have the equipment underneath. It was in the side of the middle seat.

gooseman13

If you think that's bad, try 14 hours in coach on an AA 777-200.

Mellonc

There is now a Wall Stree Journal article on this idiotic move by AA. I really wonder what kind of people American hires to work there. Perhaps a loser with C grade transcript from college who couldn't get a job at a real company....

http://www.wsj.com/articles/is-more-...WhatsNewsForth

dia1

AA, Please note: I don't give a flying (whatever) about IFE, but I care a lot (!) about the space under the seat in front of me.

bernardd

I used to be a big fan of AS until I met the new seats on their 737-900's - I find the padding, the underseat storage and the reduced legroom with no MCE a real disappointment compared to their older 738's to the point I don't like using them even between AUS-SEA.

It will be interesting to see what AA have done with the coach seats on the 788's? The equivalent on BA gets such bad reviews it really sounds like one to avoid though thankfully they have a real PE product. I'm pretty doubtful about AA's MCE on that aircraft.

jec6613

They tried to with me. I pointed out that my larger carry-on had a CPAP in it, which they couldn't separate me from, in addition to my DSLR battery packs, and my smaller one had enough Lithium batteries to bring the plane down (film SLR), plus two laptops, two tablets and three spare phones. They relented rather rapidly, and that's one reason I spread my high energy batteries between both of carry-on pieces, as they can't check it, even on a RJ where it flies strapped next to the FA rather than in the hold*.

*to be fair, that was only once, a six or seven years ago, after US stranded me for two days and IDB'd me seven times, with a confirmed seat each time, all due to oversell, before getting me out. And my checked bag made it to my destination on the original flight.

jordyn

Do you have an emotional support animal too?

SJC AA

From that article:
American spokesman Casey Norton says 91 airplanes have the big boxes and the airline is working with Boeing to find a better location that won't be as noticeable and will “more evenly distribute the space.” Changes will begin in May with new deliveries and will be retrofitted in the 29 737s already flying with the big boxes, he says. American’s Airbus A319 and A321 planes with the big boxes won’t get changes.

So um... they're moving the boxes on the planes that only have one box per three-seater, but not on the planes that have two boxes per three-seater?

Mark_T

If you are going to play that card be very sure that your bags comply with the size limits or they can take the other route which is to de-plane you until such time as you present yourself with compliant bags.

jordyn

More generally, this approach just doesn't scale and is really selfish. If everyone on the plane did it, you end up with an impossible situation in which the airline can't accommodate all of the bags that people have basically booby-trapped so they can't go elsewhere. So either we get an even more awful process where people try to repack on the spot, or some people don't get to fly.

I'm sympathetic to the legitimate situation where someone has, e.g., a CPAP device and a laptop and don't expect to have to separate them because there ought to be legroom for the laptop bag, but jec6613 turns from sympathetic hero to villain when it becomes clear that there's batteries scattered between the two bags for no purpose other than to keep them in the main cabin.

Mellonc

I didn't get the statement from AA either. Makes no sense. First you spend labor money to install the darn thing. then, you say, wait. Perhaps you should move it from inner side of aisle seat and middle seat legs to outer side of middle seat and window seat legs..... and spend more labor money to retrofit the original retrofit. I'd bet that it costs AA more money move these things back and forth than to have purchased a non-intrusive system in the first place.

Even with all my miles on AA, I'm gonna try more Jet Blue and VA on my next trip (LAX-JFK). when I don't get upgraded, I am stuck in the aisle seat of the economy section. Then, there is no room for my laptop bag.