BA - Sort Your Cabin Baggage Policy FFS
#61
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Seniors Bus Pass
Posts: 5,529
How upset the poor passenger must have been when they arrived at their seat without the yellow label?
#62
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: TLL
Programs: LuxExpress VIP
Posts: 220
I'll try to explain this from an outsourced gate agent perspective.
Every damn person flying with oversized baggage (and the flyertalk guys) will appear at the gate and give you a long speech about how their bag has always been accepted before, there is plenty of space in the airplane and that his/hers bag containts extreme valuables, preferably glass or diamonds. That is about 2 minutes already gone at the gate. Then you are supposed to handwrite the tag and fill a paper about the bag, that is another minute gone atleast. Considering that 99% of the time there are 2 people at the gate and about 30 bags you should check-in, that is a minimum of 30 minutes gone atleast that you unfortunately don't have considering the minimal turnaround times.
I have a hard time seeing this as a problem of the staff.
Although I must note that a lot of the blame should be put on the passengers, people flying FR and U2 seem to have a much better understanding of the concept of gate checking than the customers of BA.
#63
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: TLL
Programs: LuxExpress VIP
Posts: 220
#65
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,804
I also agree with you that the passengers using Ryanair in particular are better self disciplined in this area, perhaps given FR's previous hardline stance in this area. These days the airline is more relaxed, thankfully, but the passengers tend to still be quite sensible. On easyJet, they are still on a "one bag only" rule for most tickets, so that helps. However both airlines tend to get people queued up and pre-processed well before boarding, or even before the inbound aircraft has landed in some cases, which some people on FT seem to prefer (I hate it!). Not sure that would work for BA's passengers.
#66
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: TLL
Programs: LuxExpress VIP
Posts: 220
Exactly. Try queueing and pre-processing BA passengers and see what hell goes loose on FT when they cant say in the lounge for the extra 5 minutes.
I spent some time at the gate for fun and experience of being on the front line of an airline. Definitely worth it.
Would love to have some data on how much of the delays are caused by hand luggage, but since they are mostly tagged as gate delays there probably isn't any.
I spent some time at the gate for fun and experience of being on the front line of an airline. Definitely worth it.
Would love to have some data on how much of the delays are caused by hand luggage, but since they are mostly tagged as gate delays there probably isn't any.
Last edited by vanaema78; Nov 15, 2017 at 5:17 am
#67
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: BAEC Silver, IHG Diamond
Posts: 7,769
Exactly. Try queueing and pre-processing BA passengers and see what hell goes loose on FT when they cant say in the lounge for the extra 5 minutes.
I spent some time at the gate for fun and experience of being on the front line of an airline. Definitely worth it.
Would love to have some data on how much of the delays are caused by hand luggage, but since they are mostly tagged as gate delays there probably isn't any.
I spent some time at the gate for fun and experience of being on the front line of an airline. Definitely worth it.
Would love to have some data on how much of the delays are caused by hand luggage, but since they are mostly tagged as gate delays there probably isn't any.
"we're waiting for paperwork"
"we're waiting for the last of the hold luggage to be loaded"
"we'll be off in 15 mins as ATC want us to wait"
etc.
#70
I would think so, one factor modifying the behavior would be the carrier reputation with handling luggage. FR is tough and everyone knows it, so people comply and do not try their luck. BA less so thus it is human nature to see how far you can push.
#71
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold; FB Silver; SPG; IHG Gold
Posts: 2,985
I can't say I've seen any delays due to hand baggage. Even if everyone is onboard and the doors (practically) shut before the scheduled departure time, there's always:
"we're waiting for paperwork"
"we're waiting for the last of the hold luggage to be loaded"
"we'll be off in 15 mins as ATC want us to wait"
etc.
"we're waiting for paperwork"
"we're waiting for the last of the hold luggage to be loaded"
"we'll be off in 15 mins as ATC want us to wait"
etc.
I also imagine that if ever there was a situation where a flight boarding on time was delayed by hand luggage issues the Captain might be circumspect about admitting as such and feel it easier to refer to slot delays or such like.
#72
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold; FB Silver; SPG; IHG Gold
Posts: 2,985
I'll try to explain this from an outsourced gate agent perspective.
Every damn person flying with oversized baggage (and the flyertalk guys) will appear at the gate and give you a long speech about how their bag has always been accepted before, there is plenty of space in the airplane and that his/hers bag containts extreme valuables, preferably glass or diamonds. That is about 2 minutes already gone at the gate. Then you are supposed to handwrite the tag and fill a paper about the bag, that is another minute gone atleast. Considering that 99% of the time there are 2 people at the gate and about 30 bags you should check-in, that is a minimum of 30 minutes gone atleast that you unfortunately don't have considering the minimal turnaround times.
I have a hard time seeing this as a problem of the staff.
Although I must note that a lot of the blame should be put on the passengers, people flying FR and U2 seem to have a much better understanding of the concept of gate checking than the customers of BA.
Every damn person flying with oversized baggage (and the flyertalk guys) will appear at the gate and give you a long speech about how their bag has always been accepted before, there is plenty of space in the airplane and that his/hers bag containts extreme valuables, preferably glass or diamonds. That is about 2 minutes already gone at the gate. Then you are supposed to handwrite the tag and fill a paper about the bag, that is another minute gone atleast. Considering that 99% of the time there are 2 people at the gate and about 30 bags you should check-in, that is a minimum of 30 minutes gone atleast that you unfortunately don't have considering the minimal turnaround times.
I have a hard time seeing this as a problem of the staff.
Although I must note that a lot of the blame should be put on the passengers, people flying FR and U2 seem to have a much better understanding of the concept of gate checking than the customers of BA.
#74
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 1,174
easyJet are now introducing a new cabin baggage policy similar to Wizz Air and Ryanair - https://www.easyjet.com/en/help/bagg...d-hold-luggage
Will leave BA as one of the only comparable carriers exLON to allow you to bring a case onboard free of charge.
Will leave BA as one of the only comparable carriers exLON to allow you to bring a case onboard free of charge.
#75
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,804
easyJet are now introducing a new cabin baggage policy similar to Wizz Air and Ryanair - https://www.easyjet.com/en/help/bagg...d-hold-luggage
Will leave BA as one of the only comparable carriers exLON to allow you to bring a case onboard free of charge.
Will leave BA as one of the only comparable carriers exLON to allow you to bring a case onboard free of charge.