More people giving in wheelies than in Groups 1, 2 and 3
Jan 27, 2019, 8:41 am
#16
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: BA Gold, several other less interesting cards...
Posts: 3,712
This, IMO, is the major problem with the system.
They need to police it to make sure that those who do this WILL leave their bag to be checked in, but that is not always the case.
Just how they will police it and whether they have enough staffing level to do it is another question altogether.
Maybe having a trolley at the gate on which they leave their bag as soon as it's tagged (rather than by the aircraft door, then someone will come along to drag the trolley full of bags to the door on the aerobridge where they would take them down to the hold) would work?
They need to police it to make sure that those who do this WILL leave their bag to be checked in, but that is not always the case.
Just how they will police it and whether they have enough staffing level to do it is another question altogether.
Maybe having a trolley at the gate on which they leave their bag as soon as it's tagged (rather than by the aircraft door, then someone will come along to drag the trolley full of bags to the door on the aerobridge where they would take them down to the hold) would work?
Jan 27, 2019, 8:43 am
#17
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 360
They really need to police the bins over row1, since you have no choice to put things under the seat in front CC should ensure that the bins are kept empty for those sitting there as everything including a small personal bag with passports etc must go in an overhead bin. It would be good if this also applied to all CE seats, on our last flight the people in row 2 (we were row 1 and had put our bags above our seats) had no chance as someone from way back in ET had filled their bin with two large wheeled bags!
Jan 27, 2019, 9:05 am
#18
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Berkshire
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 75
Generally, policing of hand luggage does not happen and it really needs to. If you are not one of the first to board, you can almost be certain there is no chance of having your bag anywhere near your seat, even in Club – be that because people put more bags up there than they should (I saw a person putting two metal cases, both of which were at least the maximum size for each category, into the overhead) or because people near the back of the plane put their bags over the Club seats…
I have also had experience in the US where gate crews/cabin crews at the aircraft door count bags--when the maximum that can go up top is reached, every other wheelie after that is tagged and put in the hold.
Jan 27, 2019, 10:26 am
#20
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: London
Programs: plenty - ggl, ccr, etc, etc.
Posts: 1,704
This is one area where BA really does need to copy the low costers - pay say £30/person to get into group 2 (say), or expect to pay (ie not for free) at the gate.
Jan 27, 2019, 11:08 am
#21
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: coastal Croatia
Programs: BAEC Gold, M&M Senator
Posts: 2,181
With EasyJet at least, cabin bags are checked for free if they run out of overhead space. Which I think is more than fair.
Jan 27, 2019, 11:48 am
#23
Join Date: Nov 2014
Programs: IHG Spire Elite,Star Alliance
Posts: 121
Jan 27, 2019, 11:55 am
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: UK
Programs: Mucci, BA, AF
Posts: 10,129
Jan 27, 2019, 12:56 pm
#25
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Programs: IC Hotels Spire, BA Gold
Posts: 8,667
BA's problem is the inconsistency of the policy. Sometimes you see it rigidly enforced at the gate and people told when their BP is scanned that their bag IS going in the hold. Sometimes pax are simply asked to give up their bag - and guess what....most don't want to @:-)
My last GOA flight from LGW 10 days ago there were way too many bags and I was one of the last to board. As I was waiting on the airbridge right at the door one of the gate staff had also come down and was really being apologetic to the CC, pretty much saying, "Sorry but I did ask and I tried to get passengers to check-in their bags but only 2-3 passengers wanted to". At which point I couldn't resist asking the GA as to why wasn't it not enforced and bags taken away rather than asking politely - this is how Easyjet do it and it works a treat.
It was a full flight and during the taxi out (I was in 1A so no bulkhead on the LGW fleet) I chatted to the CC. She said they had informed the GAs a while before that there was no more room and to start checking all large bags. However it seemed this was only done as a "would you mind checking your bag" and of course most passengers declined. So the inevitable happened....all passengers boarded, no space left and then a delay as the CC had to carry all the excess bags back up the aisle to be offloaded for putting in the hold. About 10 bags I recall were offloaded.
This seems to be BA on so many fronts - so consistently inconsistent!! With Easyjet I believe it is only the first 90 pax rollaboard bags allowed on board, after that all others ARE taken by the gate staff for the hold. They are also taken off pax at the point of BP scan too, none of this allowing pax to take them to the aircraft door and try and sneak them on. It is a consistently enforced policy and it works very well! Why is this so difficult for BA??
Edited to add that although a full flight, strangely there was no advance text + e-mail message this time asking pax in advance to check their carry-on for free. Yet a few weeks before on an AMS rotation out of LGW the messages were sent but there were at least 30 spare seats so no risk of full overheads. More inconsistency!
My last GOA flight from LGW 10 days ago there were way too many bags and I was one of the last to board. As I was waiting on the airbridge right at the door one of the gate staff had also come down and was really being apologetic to the CC, pretty much saying, "Sorry but I did ask and I tried to get passengers to check-in their bags but only 2-3 passengers wanted to". At which point I couldn't resist asking the GA as to why wasn't it not enforced and bags taken away rather than asking politely - this is how Easyjet do it and it works a treat.
It was a full flight and during the taxi out (I was in 1A so no bulkhead on the LGW fleet) I chatted to the CC. She said they had informed the GAs a while before that there was no more room and to start checking all large bags. However it seemed this was only done as a "would you mind checking your bag" and of course most passengers declined. So the inevitable happened....all passengers boarded, no space left and then a delay as the CC had to carry all the excess bags back up the aisle to be offloaded for putting in the hold. About 10 bags I recall were offloaded.
This seems to be BA on so many fronts - so consistently inconsistent!! With Easyjet I believe it is only the first 90 pax rollaboard bags allowed on board, after that all others ARE taken by the gate staff for the hold. They are also taken off pax at the point of BP scan too, none of this allowing pax to take them to the aircraft door and try and sneak them on. It is a consistently enforced policy and it works very well! Why is this so difficult for BA??
Edited to add that although a full flight, strangely there was no advance text + e-mail message this time asking pax in advance to check their carry-on for free. Yet a few weeks before on an AMS rotation out of LGW the messages were sent but there were at least 30 spare seats so no risk of full overheads. More inconsistency!
Last edited by BOH; Jan 27, 2019 at 1:25 pm Reason: Added last paragraph