Waterhorse

Well after the Manchester Airtours disaster several changes were mandated to the interior layout of aircraft cabins in order to minimise any impediment to egress. The fact that there has not been a high profile accident where people died inside a burning aircraft while others escaped with their bags has merely lead to the situation we have now. Passengers will make an assessment as the urgency of the situation based on their own opinion, fair enough, the problem is that they do not have a full picture as to any potential danger and the urgency needed. If the fire had spread to the fuselage and people had not got off successfully while others came down the slides with wheelie bags there would be a change, it would not be locked overhead bins, rather a return to hat racks and absolutely minimal hand luggage.

Global321

I think of the Singapore air takeoff crash of many years ago. Lots of deaths. But, people grabbed their bags before leaving. I don't think grabbing bags were attributed to any deaths.

Not saying it is right, but, same question, any deaths associated with grabbing bags?

KARFA

I don't understand, are you seriously suggesting that in an evacuation grabbing bags is not a problem?

Do you actually need a name of someone who has died because of it before you agree with what your common sense should already tell you that wasting time taking bags, having them potentially block aisles, and having uncontrolled 15kg weights hurtling down an evacuation slide is not a good idea?

Do you ever watch how people often struggling moving bags down the aisle on boarding often knocking every seat and getting them caught? What do you think that would be like in an evacuation when you have smoke filling a dark cabin and people pushing you desperate to get out?

simons1

If these heavy bags are a risk, then rather that re-educating passengers, installing locked lockers etc the easiest thing would just be not to have all the bags in the cabin.

It has always seemed nonsense to me that you can take a 23kg bag inside the cabin on an HBO fare.

Peter M

Gone are the days when bags were cheap and did not contain valuables. Today more than ever, bags are often highly valuable (Coach, Vuitton etc) and are likely to contain valuable items that are also highly personal, such as computers, mobile phones, keys, and stuff. Unfortunately, there are some people who will never abandon their bags, even in a life or death emergency. You are wasting your time trying to educate or fight these people. If you locked the overhead bins in an emergency, it would be these people further delaying the evacuation while they try to break the locks on the bins to retrieve their bags. My suggestion is to accept reality and build evacuation slides with a side slide just for evacuating luggage. Its a silly idea, but will make evacuations safer for us all, since it separates evacuating people and evacuating luggage down different parts of the slides.

BA4EVER

Exactly. Sadly, some are still convinced that legislating human behavior actually works.

simons1

I guess it's the world we live in. Sadly I wouldn't trust my valuables to BA, even in a Las Vegas situation. In fact I read somewhere that it took some time to get passengers personal belongings back to them and some luggage has still to be handed over?

8420PR

I doubt that anything will change after this incident, just some more discussion... (and I even think some people planning to take their luggage in an emergency).

However, sometime in the future, there will be lives lost caused by handluggage, and I believe we will see a substantial reduction in the amount of luggage allowed in the cabin.

Tobias-UK

That's no excuse to endanger the lives of others.

simons1

Were lives placed in danger? Whose conclusion is that?

I don't really feel that taking a handbag or laptop bag is a major risk. I do think it's a bit much to be taking roller bags down the slide but as stated earlier the best way to manage that is to limit the size/weight of bags brought into the cabin.

IMHO the real challenge here is people who lug on huge bags to save a few mins at baggage reclaim.

thejohn

O/T but a insight into people in shock a good few years ago I came across a car accident in the middle of the night a car in a ditch and badly damaged, the driver was wandering around looking on the ground his wife was in the car with a badly broken arm crying and screaming. When I asked if their was anything I could do to help (Phone for the emergency services basic first aid) he said I've lost my wheel trim can you see it....
John

8420PR

For some people, it is always possible for them to justify that the rules only apply to other people. This is evident also in other life or death issues - a good example being drunk driving.

Can I help you

I don't understand why some think they can decide how much handbaggage is safe enough for them to take with them in an emergency evactution, no handbaggage means NO handbaggage.
Both hands and arms should remain free so if needed you can assist yourself and others of the aircraft safely.
Now keeping your phone and passport in your pocket for takeoff and landing sounds sensible to me.

SpeedBird17Victor

Fire, smoke, a huge load of fuel, flames spreading below the aircraft to starboard. To me, that's a risk of serious injury/death, IMO.

BA4EVER

I would much more gladly trust in the judgement of an individual in the situation than a blanket policy that is rigidly enforced.

I always remember being in Germany one summer afternoon and getting an incredulous earful from a woman who could not believe I would dare cross an empty street that I could see a hundred meters down in each direction without waiting for a pedestrian traffic signal to say I could. She was completely flummoxed when I replied in perfect German that I was not a robot, and could make my own decisions regarding my safety and how my actions impact the safety of others.

In the event that someone is responsible for death or injury because of their actions in an emergency, that is a matter for civil courts after the fact. If we try to legislate away all risk in life, we will just be robots.