Sneaky passengers and the overhead bin.....
 

I saw something on ORD-CLE the other day that made me think how sneaky people can be, and how it impacts others who behave nicely. I watched a gentlemen load an oversized rollabourd sideways....typical, not good, but typical on UA 737-900. Another passenger boarding almost last,,about 15 minutes later gets on, opens the bin, turns the oversized bag "right ways" with wheels sticking out, and stuffs his carry on into the newly available space. The bin won't close now, but apparently the late boarder was happy as his stuff was in the overhead bin.

Now the bin would not close, and the FA asked my friend in an exit row if he'd mind having this oversize bag put under the seat in front of him. Before I could say "don't do it mate" he said "Ok" enabling the culprit, and the FA said "thank you" and all was settled. He's not particularly tall, so his lack of legroom was not too terrible, but seriously folks!

Anybody else have stories to share about innocent, sneaky acts that drive you crazy?

Im confused by the intent of your post. Who exactly was the sneaky one here? the guy who put his oversized bag in the wrong way purposely, because he knew it wouldnt fit if it was put in properly? or the guy who turned it at the end so his bag would fit?

I feel the person that turned the bag the proper way is right. It sounds like the rollaboard is too large and should have been checked. They are supposed to fit wheels or handle first, not sideways.

It's a jungle out there. Anyway, it was up to the guy with the oversized rollaboard to say something and if he didn't well that is his lookout.

I once watched a late-boarding passenger open a closed, full overhead bin above his assigned seat and then start unloading it, asking passengers in the area who owned what and then handing them their bags/backpacks etc. All this so he could fit his oversize bag sideways into the bin.

Amazingly, everyone involved simply accepted this man's gross misbehavior.

The guy with the oversized bag didn't suffer....my buddy in the exit row Allowed this guys bag from the FA to be placed in front of him.

If the late arrival had a business or FC seat, asking people nearby to identify their bags and removing anything belonging to coach passengers seems reasonable to me, especially on DL flights where there are signs saying that FC bins are for FC passengers, etc.

Basically, a late boarder, rearranged other baggage to make his stuff fit, but he made someone else's bag stick out in the process, and THAT's SNEAKY.

Oh ! I get it now, well, the answer was "erm, thanks but no"....what on earth was he thinking ! Tell him I am not impressed ! :)

This happened back at row 20/21 exit rows on mainline. No FC involvement. I've sure seen enough economy passengers board early and stuff their baggage into F bins and disappear into economy.

I have seen this type of crap for years. Someone took my bag out one time and it had to be checked. I was in E+ and put bag one row behind me in E+ because of full overheads. Now I always hustle to get on early and I out the bag across the aisle and overhead so I can see if someone takes it out. My bag fits either wheels or handle out, but people will take your stuff out of the bin if they can. That's the world we live in. I think united should charge for overhead bin space, ie if it can't fit under your seat, you get charged. I think elites should be exempt from this. Others have talked about a tag system.

Thats why i asked what the intent of your post was. I think the late boarding passenger did exactly what he should have done. I dont see anything sneaky about that at all.

That could have been me. Since my upgrade never clears I hang out in the lounge and always board late with rollaboard, refusing to check it. Bags going horizontal are fair game as far as I'm concerned. I just have one 18x14x8 inch bag to go up and if you're taking up more than your 14 inches, well I'm just doing the FA or GA's job. IME anything up to 22 inches long fits in the proper orientation in the overheads, at least for narrowbodies.

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If the bag sticks out beyond the underseat area in an emergency exit row, isn't that a safety violation?

In Australia, no bags of any size are allowed under emergency row seats.