Why close bins when not full?
 

So I've seen OH bins closed by FAs and PAX before they are full but yesterday I was boarding a UA A320 from ORD-LAX and as my wife and I approached row 7, the FA closed two bins on the left side that were empty. It seemed rather random to us as:

• We were early to board [so it didn't seem to be motivated by getting things ready to go]
• The rows in the vicinity of row 7 weren't occupied yet [so it didn't seem to be motivated by having PAX put bags above their rows]
• F passengers had already boarded and were seated [so it didn't seem to be motivated by saving space for F cabin]
• He did not do the same to the bins on the right side

It didn't affect us in any way (We just opened up the bin and put our luggage in), but it just struck me as odd. As I've said before, I've seen bins closed when 85% or even 50% full, but never when 0% full and so early in the boarding process.

Any FA insight into why one might do this, or is this just a futile attempt to find reason in a chaotic flying world?

Row 7 is the bulkhead, right?

I normally only see FAs close overhead bins to reserve space for:
- First Class passengers
- rows where passengers need to put everything above (bulkhead and on some airlines, the exit rows as well)

On AA, I'll see FAs start to block off bins above the bulkhead if the back of the plane is starting to fill up.

This is the reason on United. They will close the bins so people sitting farther back so not use the bins reserved for folks in the bulkheads and first class. Less of an issue on the UA airbus twins since they have good storage behind the bulkhead, but definitely necessary on those planes where there is no floor storage.

For me that is new on UA ... but then, I don't fly UA much anymore.

SQ and BR do this all the time and it is patently annoying. As soon as "group 1" is in they start slamming close some overheads which IMO greatly retards the boarding process.

I've seen this quite a bit for the smaller aircraft (MD, B717, CRJ) to reserve space at the bulk heads for the pax at the bulk head who don't have floor storage....

Can't tell you how many times i've been almost last on the plane at a bulk head and had a secret bin waiting for my roller. Much better than sitting in row 10 and having your bag in row 33...

Or in the cargo hold.

As a passenger, if I'm in an aisle seat in FC, I'll often close the bin over my seat to preserve space for my seatmate and other FC passengers who board late. When I later see FC passengers looking for space, I'll point out the somewhat empty bin. I do this because I find it incredibly annoying when people sitting in the back of coach park their bags in FC or the first few rows of coach because they can't be bothered to carry their own stuff back to their sets.

I would never put my stuff up in the row 1 bin if I was sitting down in row 30. I like to keep an eye on it.

I've seen this on other A320 flights before - presumably so that late-boarding premium passengers still have space (I've observed some E- passengers like to stuff their bag in E+ lockers before heading back, even near the start of boarding). I think it's probably a good idea, however not everyone will know that there might be free spaces hiding near by. I realised this was probably the case, since I was the 3rd E+ occupant to board, people halfway through E+ are more likely to not suspect this being the case. I'm even tempted to close lockers after putting my bags in - it's not hard to then tell people who are actually sitting close by that there's fee space in those lockers.

Now one time I boarded an int'l flight on a 763, and all the lockers on one side near my seat were closed, with a few people seated. I'd assumed they were full, on landing someone opened them - they were completely empty. Must have annoyed the one late boarder who had put his bag 5 rows forward.

preserving bin space for FC and bulkhead passengers makes sense. but why not put a large sign on the inside of the bin door that says "this space reserved for first class" or "reserved for passengers seated in row XXX"? i'd think a well-placed sign could deter some portion of bin space offenders. i'm sure that in reality, you can't 100% deter people who do it, but you might cut down on some.