Upstream Swimmers
 

:mad:

Since bin space is inadequate these days, many pax have to place their bags in bins further back in the aircraft than they are sitting. I get it.

What I don't understand is how in anyone's mind they can think they are going to be able to get up upon gate arrival, fight the crowd already standing up as they swim up stream to get their bags, and THEN try to move them back forward through the crowd again. Oh, actually I do know..common Kettle ignorance.

People...just wait until the row near your bag is deplaning and go get it then. It's fruitless and annoying to attempt to get the bags until the crowd is gone.

Are you the type who the blocks their attempts? ;)

Oh yes! I get all passive aggressive on them, and relish every minute of it. Of course, most of the time I am stuck and have no choice anyhow.

Don't see many of them... the ones that get my goat are those that are sitting at the rear of the plane but put their carryon in the very first bin they get to in which it'll fit. This then creates the need to put the bags in bins behind your seat and thus the upstream swim issue.

The other day when I boarded our row, the one before and after on both sides were totally empty of people and yet our bin was overflowing with bags. On this occasion I only had a laptop bag so could stick it under the seat but I've more than once been tempted to remove other's luggage when its clearly not for those sitting near us and put ours in.

I'd never put my stuff where I couldn't see it.

It's a trade-off. If they get to their seats and find no overhead bin space, they run the risk of having to gate-check their bags as forward bin space fills up. From a pure "close the flight and push back on time" perspective, it's probably better to have bags from the later boarders gate-checked since the FAs won't be able to get to the un-stowed bags at the back of the plane until boarding is pretty much complete.

Indeed, those people infuriate me because I see the problem they are creating. Worse when coach pax do this in the F bins, but even within coach, the guy who is sitting in 22C putting his backs above 10D and walking on back like it was nothing is basically screwing one of the pax in row 10. I wish FA's would discourage this kind of thing.

Some do. I have witnessed (on LH I believe), a FA taking the bag out and calling the passenger to remind him to stow it above his seat. He did not seem very happy about that.

I do like the FAs that close the overhead bins for FC when boarding begins so that those in Y can't lob their bags in there.

I can't remember which airlines I've flown recently where the overhead bins had some decals that indicated they were reserved for business or first class passengers.

UA has started doing this even for the E+ seats. I'm not sure when they started, but I've started noticing it recently. They used to occasionally have an FA stand and guard the bulkhead overheads for the pax in the bulkhead seats, which I always thought was nice of them when I had a bulkhead seat.

AA is still a mess so far as this goes.

The sheer futility of it is fun yet sad to watch.

I forgot where I read it, but I recall someone finding another passenger's belongings in "their bin". So what they did was put it in the aisle and advise the cabin crew that the luggage was left there. II don't remember if they said it was removed from the plane or "checked" into the cargo hold as the rightful owner wasn't around to "claim" it.

I can kind of get the whole "upstream swimmer" thing. What I don't understand is why, once they've swum upstream and retrieved their bag, they don't just stay put until it's that row's turn to deplane.

Last night I almost got whacked in the face by some guy who slithered back to row 23 from row 8 and then hoisted his suitcase over his head as he muscled his way back to row 8 so he could stand there for another 5 minutes waiting to get off.

Good intentions, but...
 

IMHO, this creates the impression in the mind of PAX that they "own" the bin space above them. I have seen PAX stand in the aisle dumbstruck that "their" space has already been claimed.