HFHFFlyer

I’m sure this has been discussed before but I witnessed a rather unseemly spat on an A320 departing LHR today.

A gentleman seated in 1D boarded and went to put his case in the locker above his seat. He was the first Row 1 passenger on board and I could see from row 4 that his chosen locker must’ve been full (probably with crew bags) as he then shut the locker and turned around and put his case in the opposite locker above 1 A and C.

Fast forward a few minutes and a lady boarded, opened the locker above her apparent seat (1C), turned to the man in 1D jabbed him in the shoulder and said rather aggressively “is this YOUR bag?”

“Yes”he replied.

“well you need to move it. This is the bag space for my seat”.

The woman’s mortified boyfriend attempted to persuade her otherwise but she was having none of it.

Just as the man in 1D was about to move his bag, the purser walked up and said “ Madam, there are no allocated lockers. You can put your bag back there.”

And that was the end of it.

but my question……who was right and who was wrong here?

Gastrocnemius

The crew member was correct

ThatT1Feeling

I often put my bags on the other side from my seat - I can keep an eye on them more easily that way.

For Row 1 it's often a lottery with crew bags and the mystery blue bag which often seems to be in the lockers above Row 1.

Can I help you

Correct, there is no reserved overhead lockers, ideally you use the one above your seat but if it’s full you have to find somewhere else.

crazyarmadillo

We side with 'no reserved space' view.

Some airlines do reserve for individual cabins, so maybe some customers just assume that the locker above their seat is theirs.

No excuse though for rudeness even if the customer wasn't aware.

corporate-wage-slave

That's the pillow bag - it contains the shorthaul blankets and mini pillows. It's quite useful for me, since I like to saunter in at the end of boarding, so that bag can go to the flight deck if necessary. I also put my bags on the opposite side, it has been useful to keep an eye on my bag, mainly due to kerfuddled passengers picking up the wrong laptop bag on arrival.

The NEOs are a bit better in this area, there is a bit more row 1 space. But yes, it's a locker, which stores bags, it's not reserved for anyone.

HFHFFlyer

Thanks for the replies. I must say they confirm what I suspected but it’s nice to know for sure.

Maximum compliments to purser on the flight. He was very quick to deal with the situation firmly and politely. The man in 1D looked like he ate babies for breakfast and for a moment I wasn’t entirely sure where it was all going to end up!

Carolina2Cali

In most cases, there’s no reserved space. That said I’ve been in row one on many airlines (and sometimes not first to board due to tight connection or otherwise) and I don’t like putting my bags too far behind me (and obviously there’s no under the seat in row one) - it’s not like someone is going to steal them but if everyone rushes to exit when landing, you have to fight the crowd like a salmon during spawning season to get your stuff.

Since first row has to stow their carryons perhaps they should be putting the crew stuff in row two or half the coat closet or in the galley I dunno but I can see how this problem could happen. But yea. The lady is wrong and I can’t believe the guy was going to move his stuff!

AmaaiZeg

Is there more over head locker space in the NEOs? In our recent flight to and fromTFS I was surprised to be able to put our rucksacks above our seats instead of under the middle seats. Maybe more passengers decided to check in their main luggage as we normally do or maybe the overhead lockers are bigger?

corporate-wage-slave

The lockers are bigger in shape and length. TFS is the sort of route where there wouldn't be much of an issue - people would be checking in bags on TFS. It's more of a problem on VFR sectors - which are very price sensitive - and business routes (of which there are currently none).

S_W_S

The recent deliveries have the larger lockers, but most of the NEOs have standard size.
These ones - https://services.airbus.com/en/in-fl...e-xl-bins.html

KARFA

The lockers extend forward of row 1 especially on the A321neo on the port side, so the space around row 1 is less of an issue.

Fatdickie

Had to chuckle to myself on a flight up to Glasgow this week,
a couple boarded, placed their 3 largish bags in the first free overhead locker space they came to (in the CE area above row 6) and promptly marched off to their allocated seats towards the rear of the plane, I lost sight of them, must have been around row 25 ish.
It caused a few problems for those seated in that area around row 6, with cabin crew having to play bag tetris to slot their cases in.

Upon landing, the cabin crew requested that we remain seated and asked us to collect our bags six rows at a time, not a problem...

But they were also doing the same from the rear doors... 😂

Presume the smug couple had to wait until it was all clear in front of them, with almost everybody having left the aircraft, to wander down and sheepishly collect their bags, they were the only things left in CE when I left from row 13.

SarahWest

I misread that as 'crayons' - which would seem appropriate for the lady in 1C in the first post

Carolina2Cali

You know, I don’t blame them (depending on the route), you never know when the bins will become full and they make you walk off the plane or to the front to check them. Getting them in a guaranteed space isn’t the worst idea (unless you’re looking in front of you and there’s tons of space and not tons of people in front of you, then that’s just stupid)