IAN-UK

To be fair, by the time the gate staff received the advice, most of the passengers had probably passed that checkpoint and were queuing on the airbridge, or standing on a bus.

winchpete

Some BA CC are totally passive about the hand luggage problem. They just stand in the galley and make announcements about "we have a full flight today etc". They need to adopt the same no nonsense approach as Ryanair CC. The staff at the gate also need to use the hand luggage template. After all it is not supposed to be for decoration!

I shudder to think what will happen when BA add more seats without adding more room for the bags.

shefgab

No blame at all to the passengers that ignore the yellow labels, or put their bags in sideways, or lay out their winter coats across the locker? If everyone loaded their bags properly, then I imagine most of the bags on your flight would have fit.

Of course, it depends if you think people should be treated as adults (you have a big allowance, please use it wisely, and put your small bag under the seat, and coat on your lap) or as children (since you can't stow your bags properly and fairly, everyone is only allowed a single plastic bag with them).

That being said, I think BA need a cut off like on Ryanair. First 90 roll-aboards get on, all the rest get checked. End of, and fair enough.

During boarding there has to be at least one crew member at each set of doors whilst in manual, so the person at the back (that does the announcements) can't just wander about the plane sorting out baggage issues.

Smid

The problem seems to be endemic of the low service carriers, it was pretty much the "baggage dance":

"You want to charge me £56 for hold luggage, but I can get it on for free, and it's more likely to be free if its hold luggage size"

That however, is based on the idea of enforcement. BA has half arsed this one by charging for hold luggage without enforcing the hand luggage rules. Passengers are playing the game. BA hasn't thought about it...

Jane42

I guess I am one of the few that never use the overhead bins. I check everything and then carry on a bag that fits under the seat.

Of course, I usually fly Southwest, which does not charge for checked luggage. I realize many can fit everything they need into a regulated carry-on - but I am not one of them.

I believe this would not happen if they just didn't charge for checked luggage - but we know that will never change.

And I have seen gate staff go through the waiting area and tag bags that need to be checked well before boarding even starts!

Often1

This is not a BA-only problem and occurs on many carriers worldwide. The key is vigilant enforcement prior to boarding. The carrier must commit to enforcement and whether it is using its own employees or contractors is irrelevant. There simply must be consequences for gate staff who do not enforce the rules.

As a starting point, there is not enough room on most aircraft to accommodate all "legal" carry-ons. Therefore, there needs to be communication with crew. When the bins are close to full and there are passengers still lined up to board, it is time to cut off anything too large to fit under the seat.

The allowance is irrelevant as this is a matter of geometry.

At the same time, enforcing bag size limits is critical. In order to be fair, this needs to be a binary decision with no favor extended to one passenger over another. The bag either fits comfortably in a sizer or it does not.

Bags which are compliant but for which there is no room should, of course, be checked without fee. Non-compliant bags should be checked but with a tag which has them held at the claim area and not delivered. Passengers who cannot obey the rules ought to pay the full bag fee based on a 0 bag allowance plus a penalty fee. This both discourages the conduct and does not appreciably hold up boarding.

People who wish to argue with staff are free to do so after all passengers are boarded and if there is time. At that point, they are advised to board or not as they choose.

AA has recently undertaken at least the strict enforcement effort at some of its busier locations (no penalty fees !). Unrelenting gate staff treat all passengers the same and I have recently seen several AA CK's (GGL in BA-speak) have their bags pried from them as they board. Not only does this help on the specific flight, but it sends the message that the rules apply to passengers not just the unannointed.

DYKWIA

Actually, I think the opposite is true. The LCCs strictly enforce the one bag per person at the gate, and ensure that only the first 90 bags get onto the cabin (the rest go in the hold, like it or not).

It normally takes around 10 minutes to load a full A320 on U2. That's from opening the doors to everyone seated.

ANstar

Exactly... I believe they have the attitude of not assisting with bags.. whislt that may be a policy from the company they can still direct people to not put small bags up etc... its just not managed at all once onboard.

af101

Simple solution. Stop charging extra for checked baggage.

Some people HBO for convenience, others for cost. For the latter group, get stuff checked at checkin, breeze into the plane. Everyone's happier.

rockflyertalk

Were all 3 of the flights, you mention in your last sentence, delayed due to cabin baggage?

Or were you just annoyed because the 3rd flight was delayed and therefore the reason was cabin baggage but it could have been a different reason, as there are multiple reasons why flights are delayed, therefore you would have been annoyed regardless, understandably when its your 3rd flight in a row!

Think of the passenger not in CE and at the back of the plane that may of had their luggage checked in after boarding! It could always be worse! Hopefully your next flights are smoother and trouble-free.

As a side note my tactic, I always try to bag (no pun intended) 1F or 1D, is either board 1st and people watch with delight, as I do, therefore avoiding any overhead locker problems for yourself, as these are challenging in row 1.

Boarding halfway through the entire process can be stressful for everyone involved watching and waiting for others to board and find seats etc, this could have been avoided as a CE pax, unless you were late to the gate!

Happy flying.

HIDDY

Meant to ask earlier but what does FFS stand for?

Cerebrito

Or charge for carry on baggage bigger than a small handbag/laptop bag.

It makes more sense to me to charge more for the limited cabin space than for hold space. I would imagine that business travellers used to travelling HBO would be prepared to pay more to take a carry-on into the cabin than tourists would to put a suitcase in the hold.

Cerebrito

Frequent flier slang

binman

The lack of consistency has been around for years and I agree this is the main issue.
There is no agreed and universally enforced boarding procedure, there is no universally enforced carry on policy or indeed any other policy. If you travel AA you board in order or you don't board at all. You comply with the hand baggage policy or you don't travel.

Misco60

For flip's sake.