flymeAAway

I was surprised to hear this announcement Thursday afternoon on a SJC-DFW flight. Is this something new? The arriving plane MD80 was slightly delayed so I guess they were tying to make a quick turn on a full flight. No takers. They then announced if you get on the plane and can not find space it would be placed on the next flight which was not until the next morning, which itself was a lie. 9 people suddenly came forward. It sure makes status more valuable.

McFlyPHL

Sounds like they were trying to be proactive if the bins were full. Don't know that I like the tactic, but I think they were trying to do something good here - get folks and their bags home reasonably on schedule.

troyintn

I have to agree. I hate it when the overheads are full and all they do is look for space and then take them off the plane for twenty minutes. IT seems to waste a lot of time.

MJonTravel

Both my flights yesterday wound up checking carry ons at the last minute. It's best to catch this before they ever get on the plane, but I know the agents have grown weary of being yelled at by the last people on who don't want to check their bags so they just let them on..... well, at least some of them do. The flip side of that is that the customers have grown weary of waiting for too long at the other end for their checked bags if those bags get there at all.

I should add that upon arrival at DCA last night, I had my 2 checked bags in hand 10 minutes after I arrived. I thought that was pretty darn good.

mwp2paris

Does anyone at AA HQ read the USAToday...front page story yesterday:

10,000 lost/damaged bags a day in 2005, AA one of the worst offenders, pathetically long waits at baggage return and then people scratch their heads and wonder why overheads are full.

Here is a marketing ploy...guarantee that your bag will arrive with you, be delivered to you within 15 minutes or you get 10,000 AAdvantage miles...I'd check my roll-aboard under those circumstances.

After willingly gate checking my bag on an XNA-DFW flight last year because I was running late for the earlier flight I managed to get on and all the bins in FC were full, being handed my copy of the bag tag showing DFW as the destination, then waiting forever only to be told by the uncaring baggage agent in DFW they have no idea where my bag is, then later finding out it was in SJC and would be returned to DFW the next day and delivered to my hotel but wait, I would be on my way home by then and it would need to be delivered there, and when it finally arrived 2 days later, the tag they had put on it in XNA clearly showed destination was DFW, but after they tore off my copy, someone came through and crossed out DFW and wrote in SJC...AFTER my copy had already been removed, I'll repeat.

On AA's behalf, they did authorize $50.00 a day for the inconvience, although I was reminded that this was not their usual policy but due to my EXP status they would do this for me. Thanks for the guilt trip.

My girls got nice Texas T-shirts from the gift shop at the Hyatt and I am enjoying my Tommy Bahama from Nordstroms. I took the receipts to the AA baggage office and they wrote me a check.

I really wasn't going to take them up on their offer but once I saw that it was complete incompetance that created the problem, I thought they need to pay.

I am, from this and a few other experiences, philosophically opposed to checking bags.

The announcement that if you don't do it now, you won't see them till tomorrow is just a lie and that employee should be counselled on his/her lack of customer empathy and communication skills. Travel is unpleasant enough these days, we don't need to be victimized further by over-zealous gate guards.

UncleDude

As most of my Domestic flights include MIA, MCO and LAS, I would be lifetime Platinum in weeks months rather than years

mwp2paris

What is a reasonable time to expect luggage? You come off a 2-3 hour flight which doesn't include sitting on the tarmac for 20-30 minutes at both ends then you are expected to wait another 30-45 minutes for your bags? And the airlines don't do anything to speed it up, they just thank us for our patience and understanding.

I think the airlines have so got us thinking that 30-45 minutes is completely acceptable that to say 15 minutes sounds ridiculous...but the system is broken and needs to be fixed so why not fix it and make it totally customer friendly?

I agree..where is AA's flatware..wait, I think they are using it over at NWA! They got it off EBay for dirt cheap and the bankrupcy judge approved it.

swag

Was this announcement after Groups up to 3 had boarded? Or did it come before boarding had even started?

I've been on about 60 MD80 flights in the past year, and only seen folks on board have to go back and gate check maybe 2 or 3 times. So if this announcement was early, it seems like overkill to me. Groups 2 and 3 are for folks in rows 22+, so this would assume that the Plats and Group 1's and and rear bag oveflow filled the bins over the entire front half of coach.

sluggoaafa

was the flight oversold? Did everyone in the boarding area seem to have a few bags with them? Were there delays at the airport for this agent to request bags to be checked?

kudo's to the agents for trying to be proactive in getting the flight out on time.

Yesterday, I finished a flight and landed at JFK at 2:30pm. We had the Chief pilot flying our 767 into Kennedy during the high winds, and I will say, it was extremely turbulant upon landing, but he glided the plane right onto the runway.

Because of the high wind alerts that were out, I knew that my 4pm LGA departure to ORD was going to be delayed. (guessing that the airport was going to be using only 1 runway for takeoff/landings...I was right)

Got to LGA and found out that my 4pm was delayed until 6pm, and the 3:15 was delayed until 5:15, however, the 5pm was still on time. I quickly loooked at the computer and saw that I could standby for jumpseat on the 5pm and get home early.

Finally, the plane arrives and it's deplaning....and I ask the agent if I could board with the crew. Fine. Once down on the plane, I remember how many people were in the boarding area and remembered how chaotic it was...everyone trying to get on an earlier flight to make their connection in ORD.

So, I told the F/As that I was going to help boarding at the gate, and so I 'plucked' the tickets and ran them through the EGR. I tried to watch as many bags as I could, but fortunately, there weren't too many oversized bags. After many of the pax boarded, I told the agent I was going to check on bags.

Once I turned the corner to the jetbridge, people were backed up...all standing around not moving. So I went back to the gate and told her that we might have to check a few bags, people were still lined up on the bridge.

After another five minutes, we both went down to the plane, and fortunately, EVERYONE was able to get their bags on board. Even this one guy who I thought we were going to have to check his large garment bag (those new ones that just don't fit properly in O/Hs) we were able to slam the bin closed with it in...

However, this whole flight could have been different if people didn't properly fill the O/H bins. As I was walking back tot he jumpseat and closing bins on the way, I noticed that everyone had placed their bags wheels first, most smaller bags were placed under seats, and coats/jackets were placed on top or around larger bags. Everyone did what they were suppose to do.

On the other hand, I have been on flights (commuting home) where after the first three groups, there had been no room for anymore bags because people the people who boarded only thought about themselves and no one else and refused to move their bags or small bags out of bins.

So again, Kudo's to the agents for being proactive in trying to prevent a delayed flight.

Efrem

This is a reasonable idea, if they know the overhead racks are full - but only if they make an effort to enforce boarding by group numbers. In my experience, such an effort is the exception rather than the rule. The gate agents usually don't give a hoot who boards when, with the possible exception of boarding F first.

chrisw

I got to the gate about 20 minutes before departure, and the gate area was almost completely empty (all other pax had boarded). The GA was insisting that the pax ahead of me check her rollaboard, so I assumed that the bins were full, and I checked mine too (first time I've done this.) As I walk back to my seat, there were at least three complely empty bins, including the one above my seat in the exit row. I understand the GA's desire to not have to check bags after all pax have boarded, but I think next time I'll politely decline the GA's suggestion to check my bag until I have witnessed myself that it won't fit on the plane.

As a pax that boards late sometimes, I absolutely LOVE people who don't put their bags wheels first on the DEF side. Really. Their bags reserve a spot for my bag, because I can turn their bag wheels first and then stick mine in next to it. This worked especially well on a WN flight when I was in group C due to SSSS. God bless having status.

TWAforever

I was recently on a non-AA 757 flight that was only about 40% full. I was sitting in the exit row door 2R and, while two FAs were greeting passengers boarding through 2L, one says to the other something along the lines of only half-full and we'll still end up with not enough space in the overhead bins. I couldn't help but laugh as I had boarded probably within the first 30% of pax and I had to place my bag 4 rows back (my row did not have bins). Those 4 rows all had empty middle seats and some only had one person on each side, but full bins.

After I laughed, the FA had seen me place my bag four rows back, we started a conversation about it where I said that strict rules should be in place that only 1 bag per person goes in the overhead except bulkheads. The 2nd bag must go under the seat regardless of losing a bit of comfort and a coat/jacket must be in your lap/in your seat. The FA of course liked the idea but claimed that they "cannot enforce overhead bin space"

That is a bit odd since I have seen many flights where FAs ask about a bag and tell the owner to put it under their seat.

Thoughts about the policy I proposed above??

ORDflyer

I disagree. Each passenger should be entitled to the same amount of overhead space. If I bring along a bloated roll-a-board, I sort of agree with you. I have used all my allotted space. But if I check my bag why can't I use "my" overhead space for anything I want. Especially since many pax bring a roll-a-board and another large bag and put both in the bins.

skylady

"overhead bin space is SHARED space". Being polite is a personal issue. Has anybody fit their bags in the sizer lately? It is an FAA that all bags must fit, or consider cargo if not. Careful what you ask for! Scuttlebut is, FAA has been cracking down on AA lately.

BostonFlyer77

^ I agree. I currently travel with only a back pack and I almost always put it in the overhead. I don't see this as inconsiderate, rather just using my alloted space. When I travel with both a rollerboard and backpack, the backpack goes under my seat.