oliver2002

As reported earlier LH seems to have embarked on a reinforcement of the already 3 year old 'Baggage Excellence' Campaign, this time with more training and clearer visuals in the airport stations, increasingly in the hubs.

There have been reports of hiring external 'service' agents to help the gate agents enforce the checks during boarding. Cabin crew have complained via their representatives that they are literally left holding the excess luggage passengers bring on board with no place to stow partly due to the limited storage space that comes along with NEK on mainline A32S and B733/5 cabins.
Communication to LH staff (note the silent mention that status customer aren't entitled to anything extra):

Communication to customers: (handouts in the cabin and signs posted in the terminal):


IMHO its a right initiative, sadly the implementation leaves plenty of gaps. As posted by EU-US, neither staff nor passengers have anyway to verify the size or weigh of the luggage they carry. For example I have a regulation rimova that is exactly 55x40x20 that is a super light weight and yesterday I checked it in to reduce the hassle of carrying stuff along with my children and it weighed an eye popping 15 KG Normally I carry that thing with me wherever I go and would have never noticed.

What are your experiences/views/feedback on the current initiative?

Key8

I might be naive - but one questions comes to mind:

Why didn't they make larger overhand bins when they invented NEK?

It is obvious that people want to take as much as possible onboard, because they don't want to wait for their lugagge or even loose it...
And the airline should be happy as well: it surely costs them money the move our suitcases around and also handle lugagge delays etc...
Also they need to employ more staff to "enforce" this - and last but not least: they will annoy at lot of clients

Other airlines seem to manage better, they have 10kg (LX before it was integrated) or as much as you want (some U.K.) as long as you can lift it...

So what exactly should be the benefit of limiting carry on lugagge???

On another note:
LX has been "enforcing hand lugagge rules" for while, and a lot of people complain about it. I can understand that you "enforce" the rules on full flights with small birds (AVROs etc.). But I have been on half empty flights where I had to argue about perfectly legal cabin lugagge. At least train the gate agents not to annoy people on half empty flights PLEASE!!!

oliver2002

Changing overhead bins was probably a very costly option and discarded in NEK... the A32S overheads stayed the same only the 737-500 and -300 got a complete overhaul. In this they installed bin kits (mainly new lids) to extend the size, new lightning and new walls. However this was related to the refit of the aircraft to extend their life with LH as it was decided at the same time to keep some of the 737 in the fleet and not retire them for a few years (and 000s of cycles). The aircraft went in for the so called cycle kits and got the interior refurb at the same time.

Jasper2009

Is it just me, or am I mistaken in reading that "the limits listed above" (insert: business and first class limits) apply to status pax. They surely couldn´t have meant that all the above rules apply to status pax.

Johnnie W

Sadly I read this as 'all the limits listed above apply equally to status pax' - that is to say 'don't get on with a Y boarding pass and wave your red leather baggage tags to try and get two bags in the cabin - one means one'.

JW

Jasper2009

That´s probably what the statement intended to say, but I clearly prefer my interpretation.

I guess it would be great fun having this argument with those contracted "service agents" who...hhm let´s say are not always the brightest folks in this universe.

Maigret

Got to be long overdue - it might reduce the stampede on board to cram multiple rucksacks/ rollaboards etc into already full bins.

Hopefully it will be enforced consistently at all outstations - I suggest BHX as the first trial site.

Rambuster

I can't wait to be told be external service staff what I should do or shouldn't do ...

robffm

How do you come to your interpretation? Status pax are not mentioned at all.
Only travel class.

totti

Thanks for sharing. I have to admid that I like this law enforcement and hope that it will be a consistent policy...

MFreezer85

I just experienced this "new" service when I returned home for the weekend from FRA to TXL.
The flight was half empty as I checked beforehand but at the gate an announcement was made "that since the flight is full, passengers should check in their hand luggage".
Of course the flight was almost empty and I was pretty angry to say the least! I mean this was a blatant lie. They knew that the flight was empty but nonetheless stated it was full to make passengers check their bags?
They will definitely lose some pax because of such a treatment.

AND the rules on LH website state that ADDITIONALLY to the carry on or two if in C, you may also bring a small laptop bag...but the newly hired staff did not seem to know this and enforced the rules quite impolitely and aggressively.
ANd trying to sell this as a "more comfort" way to travel is ridiculous...
Checking baggage at the formerly named "quick baggage drop off counters" is quite a hassle involving mostly long lines and means losing quite sometime for those who have to fly a lot.

Jasper2009

In the lower right corner of the article Oliver posted there´s a statement "Die oben genannten Grenzen gelten auch für Passagiere ...." ("The limits listed above also apply to status pax...")

As the statement is directly beneath the rules for C/F pax, I was arguing that "the limits listed above" are the C/F rules and not all the rules above (Y and C/F rules).

Most likely LH meant that all the above rules (Y nad C/F limits) are applicable to status pax, but the wording is a little vague.

totti

While I understand you anger in this particular case, the "small laptop bag" rule was always a problem because no one knows what "small" actually means. I have seen persons carrying their 17" Tumi Expandable Organizer briefcase as a second or third piece of carry-on and claiming it is a small laptop briefcase

BTW it can be improved comfort if you are the one wait for the guy in front of you who booked a Y tix and tries to stuff his 2 carry-ons in the C overhead and starts arguing with the FAs because he cannot find sufficient space Hence, I am absolutely fine with enforcing the rule.

ausffm

Well, I hope that the amount of carry-on luggage will be strictly enforced in the future. It absolutely drives me mad when I see all the bags (plus jackets, scarves, handbags, shopping bags) that passengers bring with them.

The arguments that it is quicker and that you have less chance of loosing your luggage, is in my opinion, for the follwing reasons, not entirely true:

- You have to arrive even earlier at the airport beacuse the lines at the security check are so slow due to the numerous bags that have to be screened or even opened.

- Dropping a bag off at the check-in counters is now much quicker than waiting for passengers to get themselves organised when loading their "hundreds of items" onto the x-ray belt; boarding passes can be printed at home or collected from automatic stations.

- Why do people want to walk around massive airports lugging their large heavy bags, which not only block concourses and public toilets, but completely slow down the entire boarding and disembarkation processes??

- The fight for space onboard is also becoming a new kind of "sport" - adding even more stress to travelling.

- Why should the cabin crew have to lift a bag (above their head) that sometimes weighs 15kg to 20kg?? I have also been asked several times for help from other passengers - why should I??

- I have been travelling all over the world for more than 25 years and have never lost a piece of checked-in luggage - lucky you may say, but what are the actual statistics??

- I actually believe more items are likely to be forgotten at the x-ray machines because it really is confusing after having to get almost completely undressed. Once, I left my wallet there and luckily was paged when I was already in the Business Lounge.

- Most of the times my luggage is already on the conveyor belt when finally getting to the arrival hall because it had taken so long to exit the plane due to all the carry-on luggage blocking the flow of movement.

-I would rather wait relaxed at the luggage conveyor belt than on a cramped, stuffy plane with aggresive passengers. Getting rid of your luggage at check-in also allows for a more relaxed overall experience when travelling.

Sorry for such a long rant!!

abhilife2001

FWIW IMO this is quite bad.. the 8 kg limit is even less than what Ryan Air allows for the same bag size ( 55 *40 *20) ..
So, I guess we now need to get ready for longer lines at the gate since they may enforce cabin baggage weighing etc there
If the allowance is something decent ( 10-12kgs) then its much better and acceptable since 8kgs is virtually nothing..