Close Overhead Bin Early During Boarding?
 

Does it expedite boarding to close up an overhead bin when it is full and the boarding process is still going strong?

1. People assume that the bin is full and quickly move on to the next bin.

2. People open it again anyway to look and be sure and use up more time. Even more time used up if the bin gets closed and opened more times.

It's actually a pet peeve of mine. I believe it slows things down.

On AA, the FA's will frequently walk the aisle and close mostly full bins. Their criteria seems to be, will another rollerboard fit? If not, then close. Invariably, one or more additional pax will board after that with a backpack, small soft duffel, etc, that will fit, and they have to start opening up bins until they find a closed bin with a small but sufficient amount of space.

Slows things down, IMO.

Don't know how many times I've seen someone throw a rollaboard sideways into an overhead, put their coat next to it and then - because it's "full" - close the overhead bin. Naturally, follow-on passengers could fit other bags into that space and end up doing so after minutes of searching and sometimes calling an FA who rearranges the "full" bin.

Slows things down. The bin is rarely ever 'full'. I sometimes travel with a 3' x 3" dia roll of architectural drawings - I love to stick those in with a bin full of rollaboards, because there won't be anything else going in there, and it uses otherwise unusable space. Really the bins should be closed by FAs, since they have a better handle on what will be needed, not some schmuck that travels once a year.

Then Why o Why...
 

Time and again someone puts a single roller into a bin, and then closes the bin door. What is the motivation for this? Are they testing to make sure the door will close? Well why not open it again once you're sure it will close?

I see this happen quite often. I can't tell if it's inexperienced flyers, or experienced flyers ("Maybe if I shut the bin, no one else will put their bag next to mine.").

Any ideas? Are you a closet "Bin-Closer?"

it's a pet peeve of mine as well and i will close o/h bins if i see that they are full tho a closed o/h bin "ain't gonna stop some yutz" from opening it to see if it has room :rolleyes: (and then there's the aforementioned yutzes who once they see the bin is full simply move on without bothering to close said bin which they opened in the first place <grrrrr>)

might as well leave all of the bins open... the FAs are going to march down the aisle before take off anyway.

The bins are closed by the FA's to indicate to the customers and the Gate Agents that no more roller boards will fit and it is now time to start gate checking bags that will not fit under your seat.

Why a customer would close a bin is beyond me.

This is my practice though I do open it after.

It's a habit that I developed in response to an experience long ago: boarded early, placed bag, sat down. End of boarding, bin wouldn't close, no space left, had to gate check. So now, even after bringing the same bag countless times on the same equipment, I still double-check. It's save me countless times when other pax shifted my bag such that it no longer "fit", I knew how to reshift it such that it would.

I've been ordered several times to gate check a bag if I am one of the last to board. Often, I try to convince them to allow me. 100% of the time, I have been successful in fitting a roller bag when allowed to try.

agreed. this is annoying, as there always is some space for a small bag/laptop bag/.

This is a huge annoyance of mine. I mostly fly AA and get upgraded about 99% of the time, and theoretically, with ~16 people (max, and talking MD-80 here) there should be sufficient room in the overhead bin for everyone.

It never fails, if I've come from a tight connection or just not felt like sitting on the plane for an extra half-hour, that ALL of the overhead bins in F are closed. The first time it happened I went to put my bag in the back of the bus (no room, right?) and got screamed at by a Y pax (told him to suck it up - there was plenty of room). 5 minutes later FA came by and said there was room in the overhead after all and that I could move my bag up.

Ever since, I've boarded, unlatched bin after bin in the F cabin, and looked for somewhere to stick my rollaboard. I always, always find space. This is so annoying. I understand that FAs shut them so as not to encourage Y pax to put their stuff in the F cabin, but it becomes a time-consuming hassle to find somewhere to put my stuff. I'm one of those people who HATES it when people block the aisleway for unnecessary amounts of time when boarding, so it's a double curse. ;)

So in SFO the Gate Agents are standing on the airplane watching for the bins to be closed? :)

No wonder it is so inefficient. :)

Yes, I test the bin door, usually leaving the door open when I am done. As far as other pax shifting my bag, I would need to jump up (oops, correction, excuse myself from the window seat) and go reshift it immediately such that it would ... rather than wait for the boarding process to finish. (oops, me back in the aisle again wasting time)

Bothers me too.

FA's close bins that are in fact not really full - just packed poorly. I am convinced that if I were to pack the overhead bins there would be room to spare on every single flight even after all carry ons have been properly stowed.