ja_user

I would check as many bags as possible on my MR's. With 30 minute connections and all.


"What my bag isn't hear?" I have plenty of old, empty baggage to do this with.

TWAforever

I think I was misunderstood. If you check your roll-a-board and only carry-on a backpack/laptop bag/etc., then it can go above. I was trying to say that if a passenger has more than one carry-on, then ONLY one goes in the bin.

steve32

I'm just a dirt grubbing AA FF, but like on my AAward flight to KOA next month, there is no way I will check my carryon bag, since it will be carrying stuff like my scuba diving regulators/dive computer, mask w/ prescription lenses, digital camera, heart medication, and such like, and a laptop computer in case for personal item. Especially with the recent news of 10,000 airline luggage bags lost daily, I can't trust all that to leave my sight.

Is there any recourse to prevent this issue from occuring?

Thanks,

Steve

Spiff

Happened to me recently in LAX:

Was in Group 1, seated in F. Had a friend with me, Plat, also Group 1, also in F.

We preferred to soak up the ambience of the Flagship Lounge rather than the scrum at the gate. Consequently, we arrived at about Group 4 in the boarding process.

The GA told me I needed to check my regulation-sized rollaboard. I calmly told him "No." I don't think he was prepared for that answer, so he tried to get my friend to do so. I told him neither of us were checking any bags. If he pressed the issue, I was going to tell him about the prescriptions and electronics and jewelry and other "un-checkable" items in the rollaboard that would have to be repacked into my personal item and that I would want $5k of insurance on my unwillingly-checked bag, thank you very much. (Read: you'll be taking a delay, GA, if you persist.)

Fortunately it did not come to that and there was plenty of space in the overhead bins above our seats in F.

There was really no way I was going to part with my bag since I needed the contents for a shower and change at my connection and I had no desire to go to baggage claim in the event that they would actually short-check my bag to my connecting city instead of my final destination.

steve32

Thanks for the reassurance!

Steve

jjjohnnny2003

Before I had status, approx. 3 years ago, I flew on AA and since I picked a seat in the front, I were assigned in Group 6. By the time I boarded, the overhead bins were filled. I had to check my bag and I had my sun glasses and reading glasses in the front pocket. Next thing you know when i got my bag, the glasses were gone. I emailed customer service and they emailed me back with the T&C and glasses were one of the items not covered.

At the end, they gave me a $200 voucher, but my glasses were more than that, but what can you do. O wells.

rikahlberg

It is striking how bad the whole baggage ordeal is in the US (and not just on AA).

Since carousels take forever (at least 45 min at BOS for me), I never check anything. Since I fly F, it's not a big deal; I board early to make sure I get bin space, and I use smaller-than-regulation size bags so they always fit overhead, even on an MD-80. And I've found flight attendants are much more sympathetic to F/J passengers than those in Y -- we are paying for space, right, not service, in the new low-cost AA model.

When I fly in Europe and Asia I am amazed at how few bags people carry on. Is this just a cultural thing?

Buster

Honestly, this is the kind of thing that would make me avoid AA at all costs if it became the norm. I typically travel with just a purse and a small roller bag or shoulder carry-on with medications, an extra pair of glasses (because I am legally blind w/o glasses), etc. These items wouldn't fit in my purse, and there's no way I'd check them. I've managed to get my roller bag under the seat in front of me, so I know it fits -- I would not just accept the "it has to be checked, no matter what's in it" line.

I'd love to believe that Europe and Asia are different, but after living in London and taking a good number of short hop flights, I know it's not really any different. Try flying from Paris, Milan or Madrid to London and you'll see people carrying on their carry-on and 10 shopping bags a piece.

gemac

I think airlines could do a lot to ease the minds of those who need to check bags. First, allow you to put locks on your bags after the bags have been screened by TSA. Second, actually use the bar codes on the baggage tags to track each bag, like UPS and Fedex do. It would be a lot more comforting to hear "The computer shows that your bag is on the next flight, AA 123, arriving here in 30 minutes", rather than "I dunno. Maybe it'll show up."

If more people had faith that they would actually get their checked baggage back intact at some point, we would see fewer people trying to lug all their worldly goods on as carryon.

robbob90210

Am I missing something here.
If everybody has 1 bag that goes into the above bins, lengthways, (If it can only go sideways, then this should be checked) and one carry on item that goes under the seat, then there is enough room for everybody.

The problem is some people are putting everything in the top bins including handbag's and jackets thus reducing the space for the other people and causing the problem.

Maybe having a FA down the back when boarding instead of chatting up the front, instructing people what goes up and what stays under your seat, would speed things up and make a better flight for everybody.

Having just experienced the pleasure of being on a flight with full bins and having some d__khead telling me that this bin is full. Opening it up and seeing his wife handbag and jacket sitting there taking up all the room (Besides there other 2 bag's), just pi_ses me off. I did get him to take his coat out, so I could fit one bag in, but wouldn't remove his wife's handbag. So I had to put my wife's bag under my seat taking up all my leg room. Unbelievable...

techgirl

I think if there is plenty of bin space, this is fine.

I've found it very annoying however when I have had a tight connection and boarded late only to discover that the F bins are full of briefcases and coats (and really, there is NO excuse for coats to be in the overhead bins in F!) and I see lots of men kicking back with their legs fully extended under their seats (nonbulkhead) while I struggle to get my rollaboard placed.

I've always understood it that you are guaranteed a space under the seat in front of you (hence the bag sizer at the gate) and that space in the overhead bin is "as available". In that case, I think its rude for folks to hog the overhead bins while ignoring the space under their own seats, especially when its for something as small as a laptop bag.

techgirl

I've actually thought before that an easy solution to the bin-hog situation would be for the gate agents to tag one of the two bags that folks are carrying (briefcase/rollaboard) as "under seat stowage" unless the passenger is ticketed in the bulkhead. If the individual chooses to place that second bag in the overhead, they can do so - but if the bins become full, they will be asked to take that second bag out and put it under their seats.

Of course, you will always get the jerks who will just rip that tag off and deny that the briefcase is theirs! I can recall one flight where the overhead bin was full of small laptop bags and I needed just ONE to be moved so I could get my rollaboard in. No one would claim any of the bags (even with the FA asking) so she finally said she was going to put them in the closet - suddenly four men jumped out of their seats to claim their bags! (Oh, and NONE were in the bulkhead - and ALL also had rollaboards in the overhead.)

sluggoaafa

A lot of the issues that the general public don't understand is that they use the internet to get the shortest connection time possible.

Websites such as AA.com allow for specific connection times, but often people use Travelocity, Expedia, and/or their travel agents and they see instead of sitting for 2 hours for the next flight, a flight departing 30 minutes after they arrive and book it. Often times not giving the ground people enough time to go through the luggage and giving them a chance to get it to the connecting flight.

I wonder how many of those reported lost bags were due to delayed flights (short connection times) and/or cancelled flights.

At the beginning of the month, I took my vacation down in FLL. GREAT TIME. Had a friend from the Air Force meet me a few days later and he flew USAir. He flew BWI-PHL-FLL. When he arrived, his bag was nowhere to be found. While waiting in line to do a claim, the guy next to us must have been a military individual talking about how the airline is going to pay for all of his medals and uniform pieces.

anyway, we finally got to the counter and gave her our bag tags, and she informed us that the bags were on the next flight which was on it's way.

Bag tags work, but airlines are in the business of getting people from A-B, not a package deliver like FedEx, UPS and DHL. Remember, they don't have people to get from one plane to another....and who make the tightest connections.

flymeAAway

My concern is that this will soon become the norm. If you don’t have status “no overhead bin space for you!” The announcement was made before a single person ever boarded the flight. It was clearly a proactive move to turn a full flight quickly since the arriving plane was late. Okay, nice motives. However, it was insulting to have them lie “your bag will not get out until the next flight which is not until the morning” when there were two more flights following this one.

The funniest part was they told people “go ahead and drop your bags at the end of the jet bridge.” The GA’s were not paying attention so they people did exactly that. They walked down dropped their bags and got on the plane before the boarding began. Therefore, none of these people had their boarding passes scanned before boarding the plane. The GA did not realize their mistake until after F boarded. They then had to clear everyone from Y restart the boarding process. Needless to stay we did not push back “on-time.”

CloudCoder

Will AA ever be able to track a bag's location by the bag tag? Other airlines (e.g. DL) can do this but I think AA cannot. It sure would be nice.