ffay005

I wonder what she would have done if you had replied with "Niin, perhaps not, but fortunately most FAs try to protect them as exit row pax can't put anything under the seat in front of them", then just left all your stuff in the aisle and sat down.

FFlash

duvin

miklcct

The meal was crap, the food on the menu sold out already at half of the intercontinental flight I took, the entertainment was crap, USB charging not working, many more on long haul flight.

Flight report: AY102 HKG - HEL (economy)

haapalainen

This rant is not fully AY specific but just makes me wonder whether there really is no other way. I have checked in a bag four times this week and cumulative waiting time for this have been approximately 80 minutes.

1. At HEL about 10 passengers in OWE priority line before me. Line does not seem to move at all as one passenger has some problems and other desk is not open. I decide to go to check in machine to print tags myself and use self service bag drop but then all the bag drop machines freeze. I go back to OWE line but it is still not moving. After a while the self service machines start to work again and I switch one more time and finish bag drop in 17 minutes. The person in front of me in OWE priority line in the first place was still waiting his turn.
2. At NCE 8 people in front of me in priority line. It takes 18 minutes as one couple has some problems. Very long lines for economy desks which move quickly but still not worth moving for me.
3. At HEL no queue for OWE priority line. 0 minutes of waiting.
4. At TXL four desks open but not possible to check in bags as it is 2h45 until my flight and they are only taking bags for the earlier AY flight. I have to wait 45 minutes to get rid of my bag.

All in all the whole concept of baggage drop seems to be from 50 years ago especially at outstations. In my case the process once I get to the desks almost every time takes a maximum of 20 seconds so it seems very unnecessary to wait for so long just to give the bag away. I am more than happy to use self service machines for bag drop so why not have (plenty of!) them at every airport. Then only the passengers with problems could be helped at the desks.

And don't get me started on opening the check-in/bag drop not before 2h before departure. All the airlines keep repeating that passengers should arrive early to the airport and then they make us stand in the departure hall with all the bags. Well at least one positive thing with TXL is having lounge pre-security so one could wait there with hold luggage

intuition

While I haven't had much trouble with bag-drop, I agree the problem. The whole thing feels very 1970's charter. Queuing for BP and bag drop is part of the experience. You'll also get a watered down welcome drink on the transfer bus to the hotel and a guide telling you to look left/right for some sights...


One question that comes to my mind is why the industry hasn't moved on. I recall vaguely that QR offered a "print at home" system that meant no need to go to a machine either. Just straight to bag drop, so it actually was just a bag drop, ie no lines.

Or how about putting RFID or any other id-system in the bag tag that almost every airline gives to their frequent travellers? Again, so you don't need to tag it again at the airport, just drop it of at a true one-stop drop?

OH-LGG

Just avoid or forget checked bags and life is easier.

intuition

Au contraire!

Always check-in a brick or a concrete lump to fill up your allowance. Life is funnier at the lost bags desk when you describe your lost bag if it is a clay brick.

ffay005

In these cases I always wonder why they don't call J pax to the closest Y desk.

Otherwise, I agree with OH-LGG. Of course, it's not always possible to avoid checking in a bag, but it sure saves a lot of time and hassle.

miamiflyer8

Try doing a shopping trip in Florida with requests from friends and family, you'll easily fill up the 3x 32kg. Otherwise it's carry ons only for me.

Jainzar

Some do, but in general you (here: AY) get what you paid for. Same goes for haapalainen's story at TXL.

BlueNordicSky

Indeed few things are as frustrating as there only being one priority line, and it being blocked by someone with issues. To be fair, it's not always the fault of the pax: I've been the one blocking everyone else once. The check-in desk at MXP had never heard of TWOV for China and took forever to first find the text in timatic, then attempting to understand it, and then trying to calculate if my dates fell within the parameters.

FFlash

Agree. About similar issue happened me and I simply told pax behind me in the line (silently, I did not want the agents to hear) to choose another line: "guys this will take a looong time since those agents don't know what they are doing but I know, you better take the next queue"

intuition

An even better strategy is to tell the pax in front of you...

FFlash