At one time, I thought airlines (or maybe Southwest) had a plastic cutout at the x-ray machine where anything that did not fit had to be checked in. It maybe was only at OKC or at DAL airports.

US Airways now has folks at the gate with tape measures.

I think its the only thing that US has ever done right. :D

Actually, for tall people with large feet, putting small bags behind your feet does not always work. I'm 6'4" and I find that I can do it in F, or in UA's E+ seats, but it's either extremely uncomfortable or completely impossible in a standard coach seat with 31" of pitch (i.e. on CO). Putting the bag under the seat in front of me means making an already uncomfortable situation much more so.

It's unfortunate that the FA's who do this think they are actually helping, when in fact they are encouraging people to bring bags that appear too large to fit under the seat. I understand politely asking people to move bags around, but I don't think it's OK to order someone to move a laptop bag to the underseat storage area, particularly a tall person on a transcon.

This was attempted at some airports (I don't think it was necessarilly pushed by any one airline) a few years ago and disappeared pretty quickly. The cutouts I saw were usually metal ...

I don't travel on CO as much as I used to, but I did fly CO EWR-MCO last spring. I had my one carry on and a laptop bag which I planned to put under the seat in front of me. However, the aisle seats didn't even have enough room for a laptop bag due to some equipment (perhaps something to do with the in-flight entertainment system?) underneath. So sometimes, both items have to go overhead.

I think most of us do what we can to rearrange the overhead bins first, before asking people to stow things at their feet. And yeah, I suppose it does nothing to deter people from bringing on too many or too-large bags. But understand that being the bag-size police isn't really what the FA's do...we don't have bag sizers on board, and our job at that point is to get all the boarding business taken care of, close the door and go. Gate checking bags can be a little time-consuming at times. It's really up to the ground staff to catch problems before they're taken onto the plane.

+1

To be honest as soon as I see someone touching my baggage I get up and ask them to remove their hands from my property....its not theirs to touch or move and too many times I have seen some 300lbs persons wedging and cramming his stuff into the bins just to see if it will fit crushing my bags..5 months ago I had a cheeky chap ask me in first class (he boarded almost last in row 1), "can I move your bag" and before I could even answer he was moving it, I said NO you cannot touch my bag. He expected me to just say yes cordially, he got upset, I said hands off.....you snooze you lose, board the plane first like I do, do not make your problems mine.

This may seem harsh....but its reality, live with it.

Cheers,
CLEHillbilly

Im bad but not that bad

how do you know the person didnt arrive late from their previous flight and just bearly made their connecting flight??? Its different if you saw them sitting by the gate or in the PC . Even 1st flights in the morn they can be connecting from The Left Coast

no 1 passenger owns any 1 bin!

BTW Ive been known to by accident (Not) to have spilled a drink or 2 on others

Thats not the point, you do not touch other peoples possessions without asking...he assumed I would say "yes sure move it around" but started to move it without the OK. If its not your do not touch without asking...its simple common courtesy.

I disagree with that. Anything in the overheads is fair game to be moved around. Not moved to a different bin, but adjusted and moved aside in the same bin is fine.

thats how I always saw it!

now I will admitt if you tell someone that you have fragile things in your case and they proceed to treat it as if it didnt, or if they mishandled your bag thats something else

cant count the # of times I proceeded to replace the other bag in wheels out instead of the length wise position it was in , to get the cat calls. I said would you prefer to move it or should I simply remove your bag completely from the bin (not going to). alot of the time Im told back 'I want to be able to access my bag during the flight, I answer back no one will be stopping you. Most times they Never touched the bag whatsoever during the flight!

I fully understand if someone is gonna try and jam a bag in that really cant fit unless it squashes the other bags, but that is rarely the case

all too often its , hey thats MY bin and keep your hands off. However usually there isnt any problem whatsoever as most people are understanding and themselves either have been in the same situation or wouldnt want to be.

I have to disagree that anything in the OHB is fair game to be moved.....lets say I sit in FC and they want to move my bag to the OHB in 27C? Fair game lets say I sit in Y at 12C, would you really want your bag moved to 27C?

I personally would prefer that someone ask, "can I move your baggage around?", moving it to another bin is 100% against the rules IMHO, first come first serve. I do not carry on roller bags so maybe my comments are not so much included in this discussion, , my laptop bag is all that I carry on board.

First come first serve is my motto....you snooze you loose, your laziness, unawareness of the process, or simply being late is not my problem.....I get to the airport and gate on time, you didn't tough....if you cannot follow by these simple rules then do not bother me with your problems.

If you want to spill a drink on me then go ahead.....tit for tat, I hope that you have plenty of napkins available for my spilled drink.

You are entertaining something new now! No one ever said anything about moving something from 1 bin to another or from FC to Y. it seemed you were saying 'no one better even touch it yet alone rearrange it in the same bin.

thats the word REARRANGE, MOVING Id agree with you although Ive seen FAs numerous times actually move things from 1 bin to another and do usually ask 'whos is this' but w/o anyone staking a claim understood it belongs to someone elsewhere on the plane

Your OP seemed to condemn even anyone rearranging things w/o having gotten Your Majestys prior permission.

If someone tried to MOVE a bag from FC to Y or Y to FC to accomadate their own, Id stand up with You to prevent it unless it was an FA doing it and I hardly doubt they would move something FC to Y

Funny, I'm pretty sure the post you quoted said that moving the bag from Row 1 to Row 27 would be a no-no. You might try reading it again.

As for the rest of your post, I'm of the view that putting your bag in the OHB entitles you to space in that bin but does not entitle you to waste space. If you put your bag in sideways when it will fit wheels out, I'm going to rotate it without asking you. If you lay your jacket across the bottom, I'm going to remove it, put my bag in and then put your jacket on top of my bag. And I'm not going to hold up everyone else to ask you while I do that.

Fragile items in the OHB is a funny one for me. I think it's bad manners to put a fragile item up there, as one should know that things are going to be jammed in up there. If it's fragile, it should go under the seat in front of you or wrapped neatly in a shipping container carried by Fed Ex.

Also, your comment regarding getting onboard late is absurd. Contrary to your assertion, getting on board late is not always within the passenger's control. I take it you've never connected through EWR?

Me too IAH... my wife was actually the ring leader of the bin "abuse" at the DO and I thought someone saw her post on the internet and was coming after us. I do have some nasty pics I can send you privately - PM me ;)

But seriously, I have been lucky to fly upfront majority (most) of my flights but it still affects me with all the large luggage flyers bring on board and it is getting out of hand.

Usually my seat is Aisle (either class) but there are too many Pax boarding the flight with all their belongings - pull luggage, bag pack on their back, etc and hitting Aisle Pax - drives me nuts!

Then there are few sneaky ones that try to stuff their stuff in 1st class and most of the times, the FA don't say anything, even when they see this happening. Some FA tell them not to do that. I asked one FA why she didn't say anything and she said "I don't want confrontation..." That is BS.

So, this is all a mess and I truely hope CO fixes this issue, somehow.