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AA flight - first class - help me understand why people wont slightly move their bag

AA flight - first class - help me understand why people wont slightly move their bag

Old Nov 17, 2017, 1:08 am
  #16  
 
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I would have politely said "The Overhead Bins Are Shared Space" ... while moving the bag.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 3:53 am
  #17  
 
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Maybe I am in the minority, but last Monday I got a battlefield upgrade about one minute before the door closed. As I was in a bulkhead originally, my bags were already overhead. I did not bother to try and pull them out and move them up front with me, I just went up and took my seat so we could take off on time. The only inconvenience is I had to wait a few minutes to be able to get my bags after we landed, but that is a small price to pay in my opinion.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 5:32 am
  #18  
 
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I had someone give me a dirty look and sigh heavily before acquiescing to me moving his bag (that should have been under the seat in front of him anyway) from the opposite side over my seat to the obviously clear space above his seat once. Different than moving it a few inches, but still I don't get some people as it was an ERJ where suitcases only fit on one side.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 6:26 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by DataPlumber
Call me crazy but why start a thread about it after the fact? If it were such a personal affront to you in the moment, then why didn't you stand up and help the last minute upgrade guy and/or the FA?
That's sort of the purpose of FT. To talk about flying--before, during and after the fact. I find it to be an interesting topic so far.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 6:41 am
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by usafltg

(. . .) I asked if I could move someone's bag, and they got all snooty and said "no you may not'.... I looked around real quick at the other bins, and I said.... "well.... tough explicitive.... you don't have an option.... take it up with the crew..."
Call me crazy but if you're truly asking someone and not just informing them of your intended actions, you should allow them the right to say no and accept it, if they do. Otherwise, why ask? Being polite is not meant to be a graceful dishonesty, it's a way in which we honor and respect others. (I wish I remembered who said that to credit them...) Next time, if it's truly in the way and not optimally positioned, you just move it very gently without falsely asking people and then blatantly disregarding them after they've actually taken the time to answer you.

I say this as someone who sides with you 100% on the issue itself. People should generally be willing to allow movement unless there's an underlying fragility/placement issue with the contents--and sometimes there is. Example: If I've positioned my folded jacket and coat on top of my bag which is well-seated against bin sidewall, consuming all of the vertical space in the bin as well, there's really no reason anyone else should need to touch it, let alone re-position it.

I fear I wouldn't have let you get away with cursing at me AND moving my bag after I've answered the very question that you posed to me. Neither one of us would've probably flown on that flight.
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Last edited by Grog; Nov 17, 2017 at 7:02 am
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 8:01 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by Grog

...
I fear I wouldn't have let you get away with cursing at me AND moving my bag after I've answered the very question that you posed to me. Neither one of us would've probably flown on that flight.
+1 ^ for the retort, and for the likely result. After all, it's only a felony! It's not like I groped a girl 5 minutes to 40 years ago.

To stay OT, and answer the question-"Grasshopper (OP)-First answer the question "How long is a piece of string. Then, you have your answer.".

Or less philosophical-DYKWIA

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 8:31 am
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by Grog
Call me crazy but if you're truly asking someone and not just informing them of your intended actions, you should allow them the right to say no and accept it, if they do. Otherwise, why ask? Being polite is not meant to be a graceful dishonesty, it's a way in which we honor and respect others. (I wish I remembered who said that to credit them...) Next time, if it's truly in the way and not optimally positioned, you just move it very gently without falsely asking people and then blatantly disregarding them after they've actually taken the time to answer you.

I say this as someone who sides with you 100% on the issue itself. People should generally be willing to allow movement unless there's an underlying fragility/placement issue with the contents--and sometimes there is. Example: If I've positioned my folded jacket and coat on top of my bag which is well-seated against bin sidewall, consuming all of the vertical space in the bin as well, there's really no reason anyone else should need to touch it, let alone re-position it.

I fear I wouldn't have let you get away with cursing at me AND moving my bag after I've answered the very question that you posed to me. Neither one of us would've probably flown on that flight.
See that to me would depend on the action I am doing. If there is room and I am entitled to that space above my seat just as well, I would consider the asking more of a nice gesture of, "Hey I am going to move your bag a touch, it's not going to inconvenience you any but I am letting you know so there is no misrepresenting what I am doing up here with your property." Now if I were moving it completely somewhere else away and the response was no, then fine that's it because apparently is an inconvenience to them if I do and they were there first.

As for the swearing, yeah that's too far, no matter how selfish I felt someone was acting, it would take A LOT for me to start letting the language fly.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 9:14 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by usafltg
im opening this up for discussion, because SERIOUSLY???? What is WRONG with people? You cant move your bag an inch? Ive seen this once or twice before in first as well.... same circumstances. I DONT get it?
It seems like an unlucky confluence of a DYKWIA pax and a less than assertive FA. On most flights, FA's do all kinds of shifting and shuffling to help bags fit, so not sure why this would have been different.

You're also right that some pax seem to think that when they're in F, their overhead space allowance is unlimited. My personal experience with this is usually the first three guys who board an E175 and want to put their rollaboards and briefcases in the overhead, filling the space before the other 9 pax board.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 9:20 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by Grog
I say this as someone who sides with you 100% on the issue itself. People should generally be willing to allow movement unless there's an underlying fragility/placement issue with the contents--and sometimes there is.
If the contents of the bag are truly fragile, then it should be under the seat in front of the passenger where it can be watched. After all, contents in the overhead can shift during flight.
Of course, I get your point about the jacket (and especially if the bag is already efficiently using the space, i.e., at the edge of the bin), but I can't think of ANY reasonable reason someone should decline to move OR allow their bag to be moved slightly.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 10:21 am
  #25  
 
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I would have just pushed it over a bit and put my own bag in the bin.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 10:36 am
  #26  
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A combination of three personality traits:
#1 - Current occupant is a jerk.
#2 - Upgraded passenger is a wimp

FA's are trained to deflate not inflate situations. Where there is a reasonable alternative, that's what a good FA does. Had there not been closet space, I suppose that the FA would have returned and asserted herself. OH space is neither reserved nor guaranteed.

I would have simply placed my bag in the OH. If that moves another bag, that's fine. Not like I am moving someone's bag 20 rows back. Same thing in reverse. I don't mark off the OH space to see whether my bag got moved.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 10:47 am
  #27  
 
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This has happened to me before. I was upgraded on a 788 into 1D and there's no overhead bin space above the seat. There was plenty of room in 1A if the guy moved his bag. The FA asked and he refused. So I then had to put my laptop bag over in row 5 for take off and landing. Maybe it was a cultural thing, but the guy in 1A looked offended when the FA asked - like someone just insulted his mother, wife, and child.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 10:52 am
  #28  
 
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FA

How about this version of events, its almost the complete opposite. Last week I was flying Los Angeles to Boston in paid first class, I boarded the plane a little late in group 3 maybe, and when I got there all of the overhead bins in first class were completely full, I thought with some wiggle room my bag could fit, but it took some serious wiggle room in moving around, so I turn to the flight attendant in first class And said can you help me rearrange things here so I can get it in, and she tersely replied you have to check your bag. I said theres plenty of room, if we work around this, and she said you have to check your bag. I said to her theres no way Im checking my bag, and one of the other passengers in first class stood up, a very nice woman, and offered to move her bag to help me get my bag in.
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 11:40 am
  #29  
 
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I guess it's on topic.... maybe not....

A few weeks back in J on HKG-DFW I walked on the plane and loaded up the bin directly above my seat. I then realized I needed to get something out of my suitcase before take off so once the boarding traffic slowed I stood up to get it down and get what I needed out of it. The guy sitting across the isle jumped up quickly and placed what a small bag (looked like a computer bag) where I had removed my suite case. I made the comment that my bag was going back in there to which he didn't respond. Once zipped back up, I turned to him and said "hope that ain't breakable" and put it back in its spot (except now it was on top of his bag). I probably wouldn't have done it if it were not for the fact that he pulled his bag out of the overhead directly above his seat and threw it in mine the minute I removed my suitcase. Oh well.

We should have a thread for Overhead Bin complaints. Maybe this is it!
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Old Nov 17, 2017, 11:45 am
  #30  
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Anyone ever heard this?
"Please be careful when opening the bins. Bags can shift while in transit."
Guess what, it's moving. You can just chalk it up to movement while in transit.
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