Swissroll

The guy sitting in 1A solved this problem (well tried to) by ramming his laptop under his own seat into my feet last week, didn't seem overly happy when I politely told him to remove it. Not the first time that's happened either.

LTN Phobia

I don't know, maybe. I think I have flown easyjet twice in my life and I didn't notice it.

But certain conducts need to be discouraged and financial disincentive should hopefully work to discourage people from attempting to bring a ridiculous amount of luggage on board.

Valuables, fragile items, certain items not being permitted in the hold (lithium ion batteries etc.), confidential documents etc.

I think the longest wait for baggage I had on BA without the bag deemed delayed was 50 minutes at TXL after I reached the carousel. I think that was too long. The longest wait for baggage on any airline was 9 days on SQ. That also was too long. Off-putting? Yes. But more importantly certain items cannot be checked in.

V10

I'm not so sure. A big part of this is also the expectations generated by holding recognised frequent flyer status (and Bronze clearly needs to be included in this despite the inevitable guffawing from their betters).

"I'm important to this airline, so these rules shouldn't apply to me."

SussexFly

So pop these items in a rucksack and there should be space for everybody’s bags in the overhead lockers.

Granted some will still genuinely need/want to bring trolls bags on board.

is there really a fix though to stopping trolley bags in the cabin?

From what I’ve seen BA actually have less cabin bag delays than other UK LCC.

Vinotraveller

As we are getting into "silly season" with giant coats etc, I have decided to embark upon the novel idea of checking-in a bag tomorrow as I have two flights, both in seat 1A, and I am relishing not having anything to carry on board other than a tablet, and more importantly not having to worry about boarding near the front of the queue so that I can find a space for my bag. I feel more relaxed already! Granted I can do this as I don't have tight timings at my final destination so waiting at baggage reclaim is fine in this instance.

I have noted on a few recent CE flights that status pax boarding early but sitting at the back of the plane are being allowed to stow their bags in the CE lockers, and this is what is making things much worse. Only rarely have I seen crew asking them not to do it.

LTN Phobia

Speaking from my own perspective (I flew in ET once this year and wasn't on HBO, and last year I only flew once in ET because of a downgrade due to weather disruption, all the rest of them were in CE, quite a few connecting from F), I don't see any need to reduce the cabin baggage allowance for those in CE just so that people on HBO can bring more on board to save them the checked baggage fees. Aircraft cabin isn't exactly an egalitarian environment.

Besides I would feel comfortable about putting fragile items into a soft bag - they way people handle other people's belongings in the overhead locker leaves a lot to be desired.

SussexFly

The way people treat other people’s belongings is disgusting sometimes. No respect at all.

Perhaps those not on a HBO fare shouldn’t be allowed to bring on trolley bags?
I assume those on a HBO have a tight connection so don’t want to run the risk of waiting for bags. Or there on a budget.
Perhaps those who check in a bag shouldn’t be allowed to bring a trolley into the cabin then?
Both of which will see people just playing the game and jumping through whatever hoops necessary to bring trolley bags onboard.
which brings me back to - is there actually a way to limit the number of bags approaching the gate/cabin?

LTN Phobia

It doesn't make sense if those who paid more are penalised by being banned from bring trolley bags on board. If anything, I think it should be the other way round - HBO fare = bag under the seat in front of them only.

I think the first thing though is to prevent oversize bags and excess hand luggage from reaching the gate. They often seem to cause big problems. I have seen too many ridiculous ones.

Also, a lot of people with who bags and not in the exit/bulkhead row putting both bags up in the overhead locker, instead of keeping one of the bags under the seat in front of them. That need to be stopped.


Charging those in HBO fare for bringing anything that doesn't fit under the seat in front of them, perhaps? If they are financially motivated, then they could be given more incentive not to put anything in the overhead locker?

However I think it wouldn't be a bad idea if those who are only carrying bags to go under the seat in front of them are given priority boarding so that it's easier for cabin crew to spot anything going up in the overhead locker and tell them to pull them back out and put them under the seat in front of them.

As for the coat, those who bring it on board should be made to either put it in the overhead locker space that is otherwise useless (e.g. above their trolley bag where nothing else would fit anyway), or keep it on.

Actually that would be a good solution - BA should keep the cabin temperature low in winter on short haul flights (i.e. it's cold at both ends so people would have an overcoat) so that passengers would keep their coat on.

The idiot like me who put the coat into checked baggage on a short haul when connecting onto long haul can just freeze - it's my own choice to check in my coat! (Which actually is a rather bad idea in case of a misconnect anyway, but I still do it from time to time as long as the conditions aren't extreme).

iantheglobetrotter

What Airbus and Boeing need to do is recognize the need to accommodate more hand luggage and redesign the overhead lockers on future planes.

No one with limited needs on a short trip wants to wait what can be at some airports 30 minutes to get the bag back. Or maybe it contains valuable items that could "disappear" or get lost. So the tendency is to pack as much as possible into something that (they hope) they can carry on board. It's just easier and better and also human nature.

The simple answer is to redesign the overhead lockers to receive a standard sized (10 inch or 25cm deep) bag, wheels first, standing ** on its side ** with the 10 inch / 25 cm width taking up the horizontal width not the 18 inches / 45cm as of now. Imagine how much more hand luggage could be stored! Then enforce rigid controls on oversize items. The problem will go away and aircraft will get away faster.

Dover2Golf

Perhaps it's time that HBO fares did not include a roller case and luggage was restricted to something that will fit under the seat in front of the person.As for the yellow labels, as I only ever have one bag I've always refused to put one on as I will get off before I put a bag under the seat in front of me because at 190cm tall I need that space if I'm to have any comfort at all.

McCoy

Isn't there a cognitive dissonance in that proposal?
HBO fares can only have a small hand baggage (and no hold luggage allowed)
Hold luggage allowed fares can have a large hand baggage allowance (and a hold baggage allowance, that they're less likely to use)

Personally, I think introducing HBO fares was an important factor in the problems now being experienced, and attempts to tinker with boarding order/control don't address any of the (many) underlying issues.

Smid

I always assumed the cost saving to the airline of providing HBO fares was two fold: Less fuel for less baggage, and less fees per bag for the baggage handlers on both sides of the airport. While clearly the latter saving applies here, but the former does not... Whether it ever did is another matter, when people stopped putting luggage in the hold for free and started ramming it into overhead compartments.

LTN Phobia

Increased capacity of overhead lockers are available as options, certainly for 737s. I have been on a QF one with very big overhead lockers into which the wheeled bags were put in wheels first on its side, rather than wheels first on its back.

I recall seeing some photos of the A320 family with similar concepts although I am not sure if it's already available or not.

wythy

The real reason that LCC carriers encouraged their passengers to bring their luggage on board with them is that it takes a long time to load and offload a bulk loaded aircraft full of bags greatly extending the turn-around times of the aircraft. BA doesn't have this problem as, for the most part, their aircraft are Containerized and off loading and loading is a very quick process. BA have really just created a solution to a problem that didn't exist for them.

Crampedin13A

I have started using a similar pack in the Osprey Porter 46. If I absolutely have to ram it full it is sturdy enough to go in the hold but most of the time it can be strapped down to a very small size and is easy to slide into a fairly full overhead locker and in CE just put under the middle seat in front (I no longer bother with Row 1 anymore unless I check it in). These days I generally check it in on the short haul legs and carry it on as hand baggage on the long haul sectors. Can't say I've lost much more than 10 minutes max by waiting at the belt (with the notable exception of MAN) as so many people seem to be going hand baggage only