bealine

We had a 23 minute delay to the BA706 Vienna flight the other night because of "Excess Cabin Baggage". Funnily enough, no one had "excess" cabin baggage - everyone was within the permitted allowance. The trouble was, we had a full flight and couldn't accommodate it all.

I do worry sometimes about exactly how much weight is riding overhead, and when I see the odd story like this one, I think "If a shoe could do this, what would the wheel of a trolley bag do propelled downwards into your cranium?"

http://www.itv.com/news/central/2015...light-landing/

LTN Phobia

Well it wasn't a cabin baggage dropping on my head but I had issues inflicted on me by a "dump and runner" today.

Someone further back (not sure ET or further down the CE, but wasn't within 3 rows of me) dumped his wheelie into the overhead locker above my seat. It had picked up some ice and dirt which had melted by then.

The dirt dripped onto my overcoat and stained it quite badly in several places, as well as dripping onto the seat back in front of me. The guy who was doing it noticed it drip but did not say anything, and as it was during busy boarding process, I did not really have the time to react due to not wanting to hold up the boarding process either.

Just saying, hand luggage can be a menace...

I also had things dropped onto my head, including a bag. Thankfully nothing heavy yet (the nature of heavy items is such that of course they are less likely to be accidentally dragged out of the overhead bin while trying to retrieve something else) but it's really a matter of time before someone gets injured by someone trying to put things into the overhead locker and dropping it, for instance.

Yesterday, there was a guy with an oversized bag that had to go in sideways. Luckily the flight was very quiet, but if it had been full, it would have been a problem, because it was a rather big bag. Both height and thickness appeared to be quite a bit outside the limit. A GCH (according to his bag tag) should really have know better.

Prospero

Had a similar delay on Thursday out of AMS onboard a "More Room Throughout Club™" configured A319.

hcuk94

When I first started flying for work and got my Red Oxx Air Boss, I recall being worried about it stretching the BA cabin baggage limits when it was /really/ full. Having seen some of the monstrosities people bring on board since then, it seems my concerns weren't really necessary..

Often1

Few aircraft can acommodate all of the cabin luggage if they are full and every passenger brings on the full allowance.

I would prefer ruthless enforcement at the gate and then accepting that once in a while there will be a delay while the overage is handled.

shorthauldad

If airlines ensured checked bags were returned to pax promptly at the destination, perhaps said pax would be more inclined to check (some of) their bags in?

LondonFlight

Flew from Amsterdam to LHR early in the morning on Dec 20th to connect to the Rio flight. More than one hour delay in Amsterdam due to strong winds and chaos on board with FA asking passengers to make sure that only cabin luggage was stored in the overhead bins as it was Christmas and people were carrying shopping bags along with hand luggage - there was not space to accommodate the excess. I was in CE on the 767 and took my coat and hand luggage out to offer space to those in need - FA seemed thankful. The whole thing made me think why on earth BA started charging less for tickets with no checked luggage without putting something in place to control what gets on board more efficiently. The same scenario was witnessed on another flight the day before and both were full. Landed late at LHR and the connection became so tight that I just made onto the Rio flight on the verge of having a heart attack. As soon as I stood by the conveyor belt at GIG airport I received a text message from BA saying "sorry to inform your 2 checked bags did not reach your flight in time". It made me regret for not having my belongings with me at all times as non-checked luggage, you see. Was somehow penalized by the mishandling of the excessive luggage brought on board and was only reunited with my suitcases 4 days after arrival in Brazil. No compensation was given other than £130 to get me through 04 days with nothing but the clothes I was wearing. Next time I will make sure to have my things stored within reach right over my head!

gypsyjaney

I can't believe the size of some of the baggage BA allows onboard. I must have spent hours standing in the aisles of various aircraft waiting for people to wrestle their monstrosities into the overheads. I don't understand why BA don't control it more strictly - nor why people can't use smaller cabin luggage. It causes a great deal of inconvenience and I'm sure must contribute to flight delays when boarding is held up in this way.

I was on one SH flight in Y when a couple boarded late with two larger sized cabin bags and a huge carrier bag of shopping (not duty free). I felt really sorry for the crew who were driven crazy running all over the plane trying to find some corner to put them all so that we would not lose our slot.

Arne1972

Yep, several times. Wheelies under the middle seats in CE seems increasingly popular.

South London Bon Viveur

It's unacceptable that flights are delayed because cabin bags cannot be stored. Sorry but it's time to be draconian and enforce strict size limits. I also agree that if I had any confidence that BA would deliver checked luggage (i) at all and (ii) quickly and effciently then I would be more minded to check bags and take less carry on, but I don't.

As regards the OP's comment about the shoe, it's interesting to note that some airlines, such as AB, limit the weight of carry on, although this strikes me as being hard to enforce in practice, certainly with those that use OLCI.

hugolover

Of every single BA flight I have ever taken I have NEVER seen ground crew properly police the cabin bag rules. I have two carry on and both are fully compliant with the cabin bag rules, I can't remember the last time I saw someone told to use the sizer. Time to get the sizers out and check bags that are too big which will probably be loads of bags.

EDIT: It wouldn't be so bad if BA processed priority baggage properly.

bealine how does the priority baggage work? Do you use specific containers for priority bags, separate for both C and F? On loose load aircraft (of which that is probably on the Embraer's?) are those bags loaded last?

My impression is the answer to these points is no!

SWISS take priority bags very seriously. There are constant reminders sent out to stations that all priority bags need to be containerised properly, C and F (HON) bags are loaded separately and mixing of containers is only allowed in limited circumstances and C and F should be separate on longhaul. Even short transfer bags are supposed to be separated from these plus ground crew are supposed to load priority bags last on loose load aircraft. Performance reports are compiled for every station showing priority bag satisfaction with league tables and "prizes" for the best EU and Intercontinental station.

I'm sure an FTer will be along to say LX priority bag handling is cr*p but IME it has often worked quite well...much better than BA.

skba1

It is embarrassing to see some of the stuff that people bring on board - clearly oversize bags and extra items. If there is enough space in the cabin (i.e. flight half empty), sure it doesn't need to be policed, but if you have a full flight I'd actually appreciate if there would be some pro-active offering to gate-check bags like in the U.S. I'm sure that some people would happily give them away!

It has to run more smoothly than it does today. Although I wouldn't want every bag to be measured, and having to check it because it is 1 cm too thick (and clearly fits in the bins) etc. a la Ryanair style. HBO fares made sure people bring more on to the plane, and there is limited space. Not to delay departures this means more needs to be checked in - and this should happen before everybody is boarded.

Personally I often travel with quite heavy carry on items, but in 99% of flights I always stay within the size requirements (weight is a different matter on the airlines that have official weight restrictions - not that I have had it weighed in about four years on any airline), and always put my smaller items at my feet if it isn't obvious that the flight will have plenty of space left in the overheads.

vishalgupta22

This is common on many airlines. I often see flight delays here (US) due to hand baggage as most airlines have 0 free checked bags policy.

I travel very light with a very small bag and don't think I am unfair in using a little extra space for my jacket in the overhead. Airlines do announce to please store only big bags in overhead and store smaller items under the seat, but I ignore it.

I am not giving up my comfort just because some people bring a huge carry on + a laptop backpack fit for a 32" LED

Dicksbits

Late comers in ET annoy me when they try and take your soft stuff out of the locker over row 1. They get it with both barrels then.

vishalgupta22

I agree it's very frustrating.

Off topic: from your signature, glad to see you visited my hometown in 2014. Hope u had fun in BOS.