Please, please, please...take off your backpack while boarding
Jan 26, 2012, 5:29 am
#16
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,438
In addition to the annoying backpacks, I have sometimes tripped over the rollers that people will pull almost horizontally to the ground behind them, extending their footprint three or four feet longer than expected. You're kind of looking ahead mentally adjusting your queueing space and not expecting it. In tight lines I try to push mine if I can, or pull it more vertically.
Jan 26, 2012, 6:59 am
#17
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Posts: 2,395
Jan 26, 2012, 7:00 am
#18
Join Date: May 2009
Programs: UA Gold
Posts: 51
Saddest thing is that it doesn't matter at times if someone is holding it in front of them, when they turn to talk/look at whoever is behind them you still get hit while sitting in the aisle. Of course it is usually the shoulder or arm instead of the head in that instance, so there is a plus. 
Jan 26, 2012, 8:43 am
#19
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: DEN
Programs: JMB Diamond, Hilton Silver, UAL
Posts: 251
Great post. I prefer the aisle seat too so this is a common gripe of mine. When it happens now, I just give the backpack a hearty shove back towards the weearer, which usually makes them aware of what they are doing.
Last edited by rochel; Jan 26, 2012 at 8:44 am Reason: Poor spelling
Jan 26, 2012, 12:57 pm
#22
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,410
Besides, for travel I have a Pac-Safe version, pickpockets will have a hard time with it.
Jan 26, 2012, 1:08 pm
#23
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: BNA and TPA
Programs: AA-EXP, UA, WN, DL- zilch by choice, IHG-Diamond, Marriott-Gold, Hilton Gold,
Posts: 566
I often travel with a small backpack myself, but just after my Boarding Pass is scanned and as I am beginning down the jetway, I take off the pack and carry it with one hand down in front of me so I know exactly where it is what is happening with it.
Last edited by 6P&E; Jan 27, 2012 at 11:38 am
Jan 26, 2012, 1:36 pm
#24
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Reston, Virginia, USA
Posts: 653
I am most likely guilty of clobbering more than one poor soul on the aisle. My beloved walks with a cane (she always wanted to ride a camel). I schlep her carry-on. So my carry-on has to be a backpack.
Usually my BP is small - shaving kit, meds, and a change of knickers. But on a dive trip, it contains the stuff I can't arrive without - regulator, mask, dive computers. Heavy and clumsy.
We will be in 4A & B on our way to Bonaire next month. So I apologize in advance. Come to think, the only reason to go to Bonaire is to dive. So I expect a little slack from fellow pax. I 'spect you will all have carry-on bags as heavy as mine.
Usually my BP is small - shaving kit, meds, and a change of knickers. But on a dive trip, it contains the stuff I can't arrive without - regulator, mask, dive computers. Heavy and clumsy.
We will be in 4A & B on our way to Bonaire next month. So I apologize in advance. Come to think, the only reason to go to Bonaire is to dive. So I expect a little slack from fellow pax. I 'spect you will all have carry-on bags as heavy as mine.
Jan 26, 2012, 2:10 pm
#27
Join Date: Nov 2005
Programs: Chick-Fil-A Red, Wawa, Red Cross blood donor
Posts: 4,826
Jan 26, 2012, 2:12 pm
#28
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: UA 1P
Posts: 545
Sometimes I will yell "Ow!" but the offender is usually oblivious.
Jan 26, 2012, 6:56 pm
#29
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: LHR- ish
Programs: MUCCI, BA Blue
Posts: 4,295
Painful as it is, I still prefer it to people trailling their rollaboards - those things are dangerous. I am a backpack user but i'm aware of how much space it takes up and I make allowances - which would include not wearing it on a plane