Originally Posted by bibbju (Post 28067795)

This isn't how it works. The personal item is tagged which means it's guaranteed to get on the plane and not be gate-checked. Any carry-on (e.g. rollaboards) which doesn't have the magic personal item tag risks going in the hold if they run out of space in the overheads. So it's in your interest NOT to rip the tag off. Instead, treasure that tag and save them up at home ;) Note that it's only Economy flyers who get the personal item bag tags. If you're flying Business/First with BA, it's still a free for all in the overheads (which can be an issue with short haul European flights).

Originally Posted by bibbju (Post 28070303)

I think you may have missed the point but my post relates specifically to British Airways as that is the example that was given earlier in the thread.

Originally Posted by ATOBTTR (Post 28053899)

Fair enough. And certainly true.


I never said my height gives me special privileges. I pack a bag small enough to fit under the seat in case I board late and can't find bin space and my roll-a-board would have to checked. This becomes "too bad, so sad" for me. But this is a big part of why I both maintain status (to have early boarding privileges) and why I have my own minimum connection times that give me the best chance at arriving prior to the start of boarding for my connecting flight, even when factoring in possible delays.


I don't think expecting someone else to be miserable for 5-6 hours on a transcon so you can save 20-25 minutes at bag claim is very collegial. Someone with no status or boarding late is going to have to go to the same baggage claim I am on arrival. Why should this bother me or why should I have sympathy for someone having to gate their bag (for free)? I'd have a different opinion if they were being charged but that's not the case, and not one person has provided a good answer to that question.

And why should I bother checking my roll-a-board then if I'm going to be forced to put my "personal item" under my seat anyway?
You tell me which you prefer:
1) I check a roll-a-board suitcase and bring a "personal item" which takes up about 50-75% of the volume of the roll-a-board, and that "personal item" goes in the overhead bin, thus leaving some 25-50% of the space I could otherwise take up for other bags & space under the seat remains empty for me to stretch my legs.
2) In order to prevent people like you from telling me my personal item should go under the seat in front of me, I purposely start packing my personal item in a roll-a-board so that it CAN'T go under the seat in front of me. 100% of the space I could take up is now taken up, leaving 0% additional space. Even though 25-50% of the space in the roll-a-board is wasted as empty space, I still have the space under the seat in front of me empty. Late comers have to check their roll-a-board because my roll-a-board is in the OH bin.
**Worst case with this option, I board late and my roll-a-board has to be checked. My stuff inside is packed in a roll-a-board in way that I can easily pull it out of the roll-a-board and place it under the seat in front of me, so that the stuff I don't want checked isn't checked.
3) Since you're going to make me put my personal item under my seat anyway, I now gain nothing by checking my roll-a-board. I carryon both my roll-a-board bag and personal item and put the roll-a-board in the OH bin and my personal item under my seat. Late boarders still have to check their roll-a-board because my roll-a-board is in the OH bin.

Those are your options. Tell me which you prefer, because I'm going with one of those three options. I posted about it upthread prior to this thread being moved from the DL forum to TravelBuzz. I went with Option 3 on my most recent trip out of convenience (I carried on my roll-a-board and my personal item went under the seat) since I had a late arrival in SEA and wanted to save 20-30 minutes by avoiding bag claim. This was my first flight on DL in a long time where I wasn't in the exit row, C+, or FC. Right after boarding in DTW, I immediately regretted that decision and that 5 hour flight to SEA on a lovely DL 737-900 was one of the most miserable experiences I've had on an aircraft since flying knee-to-knee on Blackhawk helos.

Originally Posted by ATOBTTR (Post 28066851)

My thoughts exactly. And have you noticed that I still have been unable to get an answer from any of the posters on the question of which of the three options I proposed that they'd prefer I take? ;)

It's always amusing to me when people get upset at me to care more about them than they clearly care about me. Some of the responses in this thread are a prime example of it.

Originally Posted by bibbju (Post 28067795)

This isn't how it works. The personal item is tagged which means it's guaranteed to get on the plane and not be gate-checked. Any carry-on (e.g. rollaboards) which doesn't have the magic personal item tag risks going in the hold if they run out of space in the overheads. So it's in your interest NOT to rip the tag off. Instead, treasure that tag and save them up at home ;) Note that it's only Economy flyers who get the personal item bag tags. If you're flying Business/First with BA, it's still a free for all in the overheads (which can be an issue with short haul European flights).

Originally Posted by mmff (Post 28070487)

I did not see any reference to BA in the post by ATOBTTR you replied to. Given that we're discussing on TravelBuzz, you should have specified that your remark concerned BA and not air travel in general.

Safe travels.

Originally Posted by ashill (Post 28071108)

Sometimes, I try to avoid spending my time engaging in back and forth forever. I don't have very strong feelings on this flight; I do see the argument both ways. As I said earlier (and I think we agree here), my main point is to counter the common fallacy that if everyone followed the rules there would be room for one bag for everyone in the overhead bins. That simply isn't true except in very limited circumstances.

But, since you ask and impugn my motives, I choose option 4 at least some of the time: I check my bag and bring only my backpack on board to reduce space used in the bins at my row. I then either 4a) put it in the bin and keep an eye on the space around me, being prepared to pull it down if it looks like people will have to start checking bags or 4b) keep it under my seat and fit it around other bags in the overhead bin once boarding is complete and/or it's clear that there will be room, since I know that I can stuff my bag into smaller spaces than rollaboards can fit in.

Either way, if the bag does wind up under the seat in front of me (not all that common), it goes against the seat at 10,000 feet and the space under the seat in front of me is unencumbered for most of the flight anyway.

And for what it's worth, given geometry, there's often little or no practical difference between a bag that takes 50-75% of a rollaboard and a rollaboard itself, given the jigsaw puzzle of actually getting bags into the bin.

Originally Posted by ATOBTTR (Post 28053899)

...
2) In order to prevent people like you from telling me my personal item should go under the seat in front of me, I purposely start packing my personal item in a roll-a-board so that it CAN'T go under the seat in front of me. 100% of the space I could take up is now taken up, leaving 0% additional space. Even though 25-50% of the space in the roll-a-board is wasted as empty space, I still have the space under the seat in front of me empty. Late comers have to check their roll-a-board because my roll-a-board is in the OH bin.
**Worst case with this option, I board late and my roll-a-board has to be checked. My stuff inside is packed in a roll-a-board in way that I can easily pull it out of the roll-a-board and place it under the seat in front of me, so that the stuff I don't want checked isn't checked.
...

Originally Posted by cayman4522 (Post 28087741)

Perhaps we should revert to the policies that were put into place after 911 - NO carry on bags. That would solve the problem and everyone managed back in those days. Agree - free checked bag - no carry on bag (except personal item) = faster boarding and on time departure.

Originally Posted by Loren Pechtel (Post 28095492)

And what do we do with our computers and cameras?