Picked on by gate agent.
 

I almost never check any bags. I travel with a carry on size suitcase and a backpack. I am Skyteam elite, so I always board early to make sure I find space to put my bag up. To me that is the best benefit (and pretty much the only one) of travelling Delta as a Skyteam elite member. This is how I like to travel and it always works well... until yesterday.

In ATL I was boarding an almost full flight when the gate agent stopped me and told me that my bag was oversize and had to be checked. As nice as I am capable of, I pointed out that it hadn't been consided oversized on the flight I just arrived on, nor on any of the hundreds of flights I have taken it on in the past, and that I really did not want to check it. She countered that it was a full flight and space was limited, so I would have to check it. I countered that while that may be true, there was certainly plenty of space still available since I was boarding in zone 3, the elite member zone, and that this was exactly the one and only reason that I was boarding early. She would have none of my reasoning, and so with great difficulty I relented and checked the bag. Of course I then watched many bags larger than mine board after I was seated and only at the very end did space actually run out forcing the last few boarding to have to check their bags.

Now while complaining about this may seem silly to those people that do routinely check bags, I hope those flyers that also only carry on can understand my frustration. While in the end (other than having to wait 20 minutes for the bags to come out) it worked out fine, I just don't like being singled out for whatever reason. If I am boarding while there is still plenty of empty overhead room, what right does she have to not allow me to carry on what their official rules say I can carry on?

Ok I will say right upfront I always check my bags and carry on only my small briefcase, I do this as much so I dont have to schlep baggage during a connection as anything else (I even take my coat off when I get to the airport and put it into my bag I am checking as I think it is STUPID how much big space people waste on coats when they arent going to wear them til their final destination anyway), so no I dont have tons of sympathy for those who want to bring their entire home on board with them. But trying to put that aside...

If you felt your bag was within the official rules why didnt you insist they put your bag in the sizer (usually one near each gate). Had it fit you would have been within the rules and had grounds to carry it on, had it not she would have been correct and it should have been gate checked if nothing else.

I do have to say I dont agree with your concept that if there is space when you board you should be able to bring whatever on. That logic says the first person on can take up 5 bins if they desire and to heck with the last person on who may have packed within the rules. No matter when in the process you board you should have to follow the guidelines and IMHO every bag that is even questionable should be measured with the sizer. Because bottom line the rollaboards most people use these days are NOT within the rules!

Lehava, while your suggestion is a good idea nobody's bag fits in the size-wise unit. At least no rollaboards (as you point out). If they actually cared about the rules very few bags would make the cut. Singling out one person is unfair, though.

I agree singling out one person is wrong. But the OP stated they felt that their bag was clearly within the guidelines. Like it or not, the guidelines truly are that sizer. If the OP was sure they were within the rules they should have pushed to have the bag measured. Otherwise they were not within the rules and truthfully have no ground to stand on. The rules were being enforced. Is it a shame they were only enforced for them, sure, but the rules were still being enforced.

At least this is a rare scenario, in Europe many carriers enforce a much more stringent carry-on policy, though I have personally never been prevented from boarding with my 'U.S. sized' carry-on.

NHFL9, you make a great point. I had to check my rollaboard this year when flying FLR-MXP-VLC and VLC-CDG-ATL. I wasn't too happy about it, but the good news was when it got off the belt in ATL I somehow 'forgot' to put it back on for my final leg.

Officially, don't the rules state one carry-on bag and one personal item such as a purse, brief case, etc.? I guess I'd need to know the size or dimensions of the backpack, but if it's larger than a briefcase (I've seen some in Europe the size of steamer trunks), they may have been within the policy to only allow one. That said, I rarely see this enforced. It's a free-for-all until the space is gone, at which time all remaining carry-ons get gate checked.

If you had placed it in the "Size Wize" thingys, and it was within the dimensions, and your backpack was briefcase/purse sized then the GA was lame. If it did not fit and/or your backpack was a large backpack, then the GA was right to check your roll-aboard. Even if someone boarded with a larger roll-aboard that does not necessary mean that the GA was picking on you. That may have been their only bag, or they may have had that bag and a second article that was smaller than your backpack. GA's make mistakes all the time, but this was just something to think about.

@:-) Maybe an idea for next time, (not that I am advocating this) but when the GA gave you a gate check tag, you could have possibly taken it off when you got to the end of the jet way and then boarded with both your bags. Not really in the spirit of the game, but it could work.

But you bring a 28 in roller, of course that isn't going to fit in the sizer. I bring a 21 in roller and a computer backpack, so I don't think that is my entire house.



I don't know where you are getting your information, but I think you are wrong... If you board first, of course you should be able to bring both bags. How can a person take up 5 bins with 2 bags? That does not make sense. I have seen people turned away at the gate for having more than 2 bags, I've seen them turned away at security for the same reason. I do agree that the OP should have used the sizer to prove to the GA that their bag fit, if indeed it did.



Again, I guess I don't travel out the the airports you guys fly out of. ALL bags I see put on planes fit in the sizer and wheels first (or last) in the overhead. How can you say that nobody's bags fit in the size-wize unit? That's silly....




Maybe there was some bad air on my airplane tonight, but Lehava, I'm just not following you tonight. :p The bag was illegal because the OP didn't have the bag measured? Can you explain your thinking on this because I am truely confused. :confused:

Maybe an idea for next time, (not that I am advocating this) but when the GA gave you a gate check tag, you could have possibly taken it off when you got to the end of the jet way and then boarded with both your bags. Not really in the spirit of the game, but it could work.[/QUOTE]

Why would you even suggest something like this
:mad:
On a 757 Delta always runs out of overhead space, why not gate check the bag? :confused:

The SizeWise unit is 22" x 14" x 9".

The best-selling rollaboard bag on eBags.com is 23" x 14" x 8". Right near the limit, but once you fill it and zip it up while sitting on it, it's not going to fit. Plus, the wheels sticking out does not factor into the quoted dimensions. I'd like to see most people fit their "legal" rollaboards into the SizeWise unit.

Plus, fitting in the overhead bin does not mean it fits in the SizeWise unit.

Go back and read again traveller, slower this time (I know if someone doesnt say Amex you get lost *smile*). What I said was if the OP thought that he/she was in the right they could have proven their point by insisting that the GA measure their bag with the sizer. The outcome of that test (one way or the other) would have unequivocally answered if the bag was within the rules to carry on or not.

Hmmmmm... if this was a CRJ, that would work.... but rollerboards don't fit on CRJs, so that won't work. On a jet, 737, MD88 and bigger, when you have to check you luggage on the plane, you don't get a pink tag, the GA takes your bag, asks you your final destination, and comes back to you with a carbon copy of the bagtag, so your idea won't work, TTT.

I would love to volunteer for a day measuring people's bags at the gate and having the pleasure of forcing all those who dont pass to have to check it. I am sorry, I know this is a sensitive subject for many (they have luggage separation anxiety disorder aka "I am more important than anyone else on this flight and will take as much space as I want syndrome") but I am sick of boarding taking 50% longer than it should because no one is following the baggage rules so we have to all stand while people fight with their bags and the overheads. This is what delays more flights than anything!!!!!

Heck I would like to see most people fit their briefcases/laptop bags into the SizeWise Unit. Most would NOT fit as these bags have become so thick they are ridiculous.

I think DL would take anyone up on volunteering to work for a day. :D