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Hand baggage-only fares have turned people into monsters

Hand baggage-only fares have turned people into monsters

Old Nov 20, 2017, 6:43 am
  #16  
 
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Originally Posted by Often1

Lastly, perhaps a small section on the website, providing helpful hints on packing. 3-4 day trips with checked luggage, unless it's a formal occasion with multiple changes of clothes, strikes as odd in this day and age.
I can do twice that length of time easily especially in the summer when clothes are light however the thing that has me checking luggage more often than I'd like to is the liquid ban and that is out of the airline's control.
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 6:47 am
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by ahmetdouas
I do exactly what you do CWS but I have always wondered if everyone did what we did then no one would ever board the plane!
This is why airlines "sell" priority boarding as a privilege to their customers...
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 7:42 am
  #18  
 
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Originally Posted by bisonrav
I was turned into a monster by the early implementation of yellow tag on long haul where despite travelling light with a small floppy rucksack, it was removed from the overhead and stuffed under the seat in front so that a number of identikit middle managers on a jolly out East could find room for their roller suitcases cum mobile homes. Despite early boarding. It created a perverse incentive to bring a big bag if you want legroom. From that day to this I have never suffered a yellow tag to remain attached to my bag, somehow they always fell off, and I've learned never to answer the question "is this your bag sir?" with anything more than a non-committal grunt or mumbled Sanskrit phrase.

Having said that, I've not generally seen a problem with stowing my bag in the locker - if you're half way through the boarding there is normally somewhere to put the bag. The scrum at the gate is more about the psychology of control than practicality. It worries you only if you allow it to worry you.
I recently had an agent trying to put a yellow tag on by backpack when I was waiting in the queue. I just told him this was my allowed main cabin bag and I did not have a smaller bag that needed tagging and did not intend putting my main cabin bag under the seat in front. He acknowledged my point and just moved down the line looking for others to label. Seemed pointless as it wasn't policed on the plane and people just put them in the overhead lockers anyway. Having said that everyone seemed to get their luggage stowed okay
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 8:13 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by TPloser
Seemed pointless as it wasn't policed on the plane and people just put them in the overhead lockers anyway.
This is a frustration of ground staff when at the end of boarding, being informed of the need to place bags in the hold by the crew when there are numerous yellow tagged bags in the overhead lockers.
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 8:25 am
  #20  
 
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I’m probably being naive here, but don’t the overhead lockers have seat numbers on them so 1 bag per seat should fit? I know some are missing at the front but it’s only a couple. I’m not expecting this to be policed (imagine the chaos) but if everyone stuck to that would the problem go away?
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 8:32 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by herbertgoon
I’m probably being naive here, but don’t the overhead lockers have seat numbers on them so 1 bag per seat should fit? I know some are missing at the front but it’s only a couple. I’m not expecting this to be policed (imagine the chaos) but if everyone stuck to that would the problem go away?
Overhead lockers do not have numbers nor would they be able to accommodate a standard carry-on if every single person brought one. Overhead locker space is common space rather than individual space.
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 8:33 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by herbertgoon
I’m probably being naive here, but don’t the overhead lockers have seat numbers on them so 1 bag per seat should fit? I know some are missing at the front but it’s only a couple. I’m not expecting this to be policed (imagine the chaos) but if everyone stuck to that would the problem go away?
No it wouldn't. There are between 4 and 10 rows of passengers without overheads (given two pairs of exit rows on the A321). Moreover if everyone brought on board just one bag at the full maximum dimension there would not be enough space, it's a simple geometric limitation. In reality, some people bring very little on board, and some people are happy to have a backpack at their feet for ease of access. So the only way it works at the moment is if sufficient people do not bring their full allowance. There will always be some people who bring along an extra bag of shopping or a thick winter coat, and even that's fine, so long as some common sense prevails as to where it will end up.
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 8:34 am
  #23  
 
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Thankyou I did not know that, I thought there was a locker for every row
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 8:51 am
  #24  
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Not only doesn't this work based on number of bags, but it also doesn't work because bags do not all take up the exact same cubic dimensions. Thus, even when the overheads are theoretically full as to larger bags, there may be places to slide in smaller bags. But, if a typical overhead traverses 2 rows of WT/ET, that bin would need to accommodate 6 bags if every passenger brought on a bag.
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 11:06 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by V10
Reduce hand baggage allowances across the board. As it stands there's no enough space on the aircraft to accommodate everything if all passengers utilise their allowance.

Then enforce it ruthlessly.
Ugh, hell no, baggage issues are bad enough as it is. You realize that people are going to a destination and need clothing for when they arrive, right? I never understood that about those LCC fares that only include under-seat storage. And all it does it increase fees as people now have to pay for hold or overhead bin space.

In my opinion, the answer to easier boarding is to give everyone one roller bag - either in the hold (any allowable size) OR overhead (standard size). Of course the tracking logistics of that are complicated, and the airlines would rather gate-check the bags when the bins run out, than give up those hold fees.
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 11:09 am
  #26  
 
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If we assume that 90% of seats have an overhead bin above them they can use and the seat pitch is 30" (76cm), then that's about 23cm x bin height x bin depth per customer. Meanwhile a maximum size carryon bag is 35cm wide, so in the best case about 2/3 of passengers can bring a maximum size bag on board. In practice there is unusable space, the bin length is not the same as the bag width and so on, so about half the passengers are likely to be able to bring on a maximum size bag.

Clearly if most passengers are not going to pay or feel they do not want to check in a bag yet still want to bring a maximum-size carryon for their trip, this is not going to work out how all of them would like it to work out. Look at any of the leisure routes where people typically take a longer trip.

Meanwhile, in Club Europe there is almost enough space for everyone bring on board a maximum size item, so as long as the bins over Club seats are kept for Club passenger baggage, they won't have a problem and boarding last will be fine for them. I'm afraid I do note that quite a few of the board-last-no-problems advocates either always travel in Club or travel with very little in a bag or both. For those where neither applies, boarding last means being separated from your bag that you aren't entirely intending on being separated from.

(Personally I check in a bag and bring a half-maximum-size backpack on board with all the things I need to stay alive, to work at my destination, that aren't insured in the hold, or that I want en-route and check the things that won't pass security screening and the rest into a bag that goes into the hold. Even then, I try not to board among the very last, or there may well be little room for my 20-cm-wide bag).

Last edited by flatlander; Nov 20, 2017 at 11:17 am Reason: add personal opinion, what is FT without anecdata?
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 11:19 am
  #27  
 
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I think it's been mentioned before, but tagging bags such that only those with say a green tag on are allowed in the overhead bins - all others to be under the seat in front or gate-checked - might have been a more practical approach...

Much harder to magic up a new green label than magic away a provided yellow one
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 11:57 am
  #28  
 
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Originally Posted by Whenderson
BA passive-aggressively hands out the "bag must go under the seat in front" label, but then don't seem to follow up any enforcement.
Originally Posted by TPloser
Seemed pointless as it wasn't policed on the plane and people just put them in the overhead lockers anyway.
Originally Posted by wythy
being informed of the need to place bags in the hold by the crew when there are numerous yellow tagged bags in the overhead lockers.
Originally Posted by Often1
The solution is indeed to strictly enforce the size limits,
Standard BA issues then. Someone in Waterside Towers making the policy and staff on the ground who don't enforce it. Guaranteed fail and irritation all round as the OP showed.
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 12:03 pm
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
I hadn't thought of that, but yes, my tactic only works because others can't / won't do anything other that get to a gate stupidly early, then get bored, then start queuing up, get bored again, start focusing on micro problems due to boredom, let the blood pressure rise.....
Whats your strategy CWS? At what point in boarding do you rock up? And have you ever struggled to place your bag in an overhead? Does it make a difference where youre sat on the plane?

Id love to rock up at the last minute, but get anxious about finding overhead space.
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Old Nov 20, 2017, 12:06 pm
  #30  
 
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I think hand baggage only has morphed into something which makes some people monsters.

It has two purposes:

1) To be off quick, or
2) To save money.

Now if you've decided to save money with a HBO fare, then you shouldn't be getting wound up getting your case onboard in order to be off quick. Accept the hold luggage free of charge. That is kind of what the new rules should hopefully help.

Of course the fighting which starts at the end of boarding is another thing...
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