Please, please, please...take off your backpack while boarding
 

Do people not realize that while wearing a backpack they are significantly longer and that every time they rotate their body to put luggage in the overhead bin, or turn to ask aunt Mary if she brought her medication or see if their child in tow is indeed following, that their backpack is in fact whacking the person sitting in the aisle seat in the head? Apparently not, since I get hit in the head on just about every flight I take (or if I am lucky and see if coming, have to move my head to avoid getting hit). :mad:

So, please, please, please...take off your backpack while boarding.

Amen, but you are preaching to the choir. If I'm in the aisle seat I just keep my hand up to ward off errant backpacks.

Ditto, I usually do the same

Totally agree
 

I am almost always on the Aisle and the number of totally oblivious individuals that board and "turn"...is astounding....often not even realizing they have whacked someone.
I will shout out to them along with keeping my hand and "guard Up" as they traverse the aisle...not exactly a relaxing scenario.
The perk of being able to board early and secure your overhead space is greatly diminished by these buffoons.
Sadly they are everywhere these days....elevators, grocery aisles, stairwells.....
I have on occasion commented to a few of those who do right (a rare few) who properly remove the backpack outside the entrance to the plane and carry it low...directly in front of them... considerate of others and aware of their environment.
It is all a matter of thinking beyond yourself and what only pertains to only you.....couple that with an electronic distraction....Give it a head's up.
Oblivion...not an admirable quality.

I carry a backpack to work and am always aware of it and take it off entering elevators or places where it will be a nuisance. Travel with it too.

Also it has been suggested by some experts that on Int'l trips an American business person is safer carrying a nondescript backpack rather than a Tumi briefcase.

I usually have a (small) backpack that holds my laptop in addition to my roller or actual bag. Before entering the plane, I wear the backpack frontwards and roll the roller in front of me down the aisle. I think that's a good solution, as I can see where exactly my bags are going.

I carry a smaller backpack, but those guys with the BIG ones hit me too. Not only on planes, but also on trains, buses and anywhere that's tight. Ladies with mega-purses do the same!

Or any other thing that sticks out! I usually push back on backpack type things but the other day I was whacked by a baby on someone's back! I really couldn't elbow or push back or shove a baby back. I did exclaim excuse me and the woman turned around and whacked someone else with the baby while looking at me. You have to be pretty tough to sit in the aisle seat sometimes. I get bumped by bags, backpacks, purses, big totes, any kind of objects people carry down the aisle with them while sitting in the aisle seat and now a baby in some sort of on the back baby tote. I was hit in the head by flying boots the other day, fortunately they didn't have any feet in them.

Keep alert and just shove them when they are approaching you.

Yeah, backpacks say "budget traveler", Tumi says "well-off business traveler". Who is the bad guy going to target??

If you're wearing a pack you should learn to be careful about turns. It doesn't need to be crowded conditions, carelessness with your pack can easily hit traveling companions even if you're in the middle of nowhere.

Today on the AA ORD-DFW flight, the Chicago-based crew actually requested people who were carrying backpacks, duffles, large purses carry them in front in order to be considerate to other passengers. Much props!

When I use a backpack, I'm always quite careful not to bump it into people. But by the same token, I wish people behind me in the checkin line wouldn't walk so close to my pack that they bump into it which, of course, means bumping into me as well. Also, it's not unusual for people in line pulling a roller bag to suddenly back up enough to bang the bag into the foot and/or shin of the person behind them.

Bottom line: everybody should kindly realize that all their luggage occupies space. Thank you.

This is precisely why I leave the Tumi bag at home and carry an old ragged backpack for international travel. Domestic is fine with nicer stuff, but going to some countries I prefer to look as poor as possible..

I've seen seated passengers take one in the face by a backpack carrying idiot so many times! It's one of the reasons why I always get a window seat.

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.

This is why I don´t carry my fanny pack abroad. I don´t want to be targeted as a well-off tourist. And yes, I always take it off while boarding. :p

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. :D

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.

Indeed, this is Kettle behavior. I have learned to see it coming though and can avoid getting blindsided.

+1

Why do you think a fanny pack marks you as a well-off tourist?

Besides, for travel I have a Pac-Safe version, pickpockets will have a hard time with it.

Sort of... I sometimes get a confused "Sorry", as if to say.... "Gosh, did I hit you or something??? how did that ever happen?"

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.

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.:p

When I take a backpack with me on the plane, I usually take it off at the airplane door so I don't smack people around with it. :)

Or just don't turn/move around so much.. walk in a straight line. remove bag. put in overhead. sit..
no problems.. :p

+1...if you have a fanny pack, people aren't thinking you are "well-off" ;)

Sometimes I will yell "Ow!" but the offender is usually oblivious.

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

Exactly.

I carry a backpack and a CPAP, travel frequently over many miles each ear, and hardly consider myself a "Kettle". That being said, it's best to take that baby off at the door and carry it in front of you so you don't become a menace to the folks in the aisle seats.

Smaller backpacks aren't as much of a problem; it's those behemoths that people have packed a week's worth of clothes in, a computer or two, food for their row, etc. etc. that stick out a good foot or two from their backs that I find the most dangerous.

The backpacks are almost as bad as the large handbags ladies carry on their shoulder while carrying other stuff in their hands - hitting just about every passenger they pass right in the face.

We all deserve to have sufficient space.. so if someone unknowingly flips the backpack into private spatial area.. then I would fend the backpack off