Explorer789

Funny thing is that LCCs who have even stricter baggage rules have fewer or no high profile incidents, and usually provide some leeway.

To all the people quoting and bolding UA rules, please give me a break. I have had family members without any status travel with overstuffed mini-roller that clearly would not fit in the sizer, yet were allowed on many flights without a single word.

It's not like the boarding will devolve into chaos if a passenger has a slightly larger bag, let alone loyal high status passengers who are responsible for a bulk of UA's revenue. If overhead bin space is an issue, gate check some economy passenger's bag. Rest assured, that tennis bag would easily fit in the overhead bin.

UA needs to have mandatory retraining and weed out these disrespectful power-tripping FAs/GAs.

FlyngSvyr

If you believe that the 2 pictures of the bag in question (one standing outside the sizer & 1 stuffed into it) are the same bag packed exactly the same with no modifications, then I think there is no hope for us on agreement.

They are clearly the same bag, but the upright picture is clearly "fully loaded" & the picture with the bag stuffed into the sizer clearly has had much of its contents removed.

Look at the 2 white stripes on the face of the bag. In the upright photo they are a good 8-12 inches apart and the bag looks "plump" and expanded. In the sizer picture, the bag looks "empty". In the world I live in an upright athtletic bag like the one in the picture does not "look stuffed" standing up when it is empty...

I am sure there is some whizbang out there that could do a forensic analysis of the photo and prove to you that the bag is way to big for the sizer, but I am not that guy.

The reason there is no picture of the upright bag fully loaded in the sizer is because it WOULD NOT FIT!!!

Your other comments about customer service and what other airlines allow are great, but really have no bearing on the size of this particular bag.

fastair

so does this manditory retraining basicly state "take our published rules and do the opposite. Let early boarders bring anything on and check small bags of those that board late"? That is the outcome of your suggestions. I highly doubt the DoT would ignore that for very long before fines by bucketload started being issued

Aussienarelle

(I have been watching this discussion since it first posted and I finally felt the need to share/rant about my perspective of this issue.)

Either the carry-on fits within the sizers or it does not. UA is very clear during OLCI about the size of carry-on and we agree to it. Just because UA used to let people smoke on the flights does not mean you can do this anymore. Just because my prior carry-on luggage used to be acceptable but no longer fits the sizer does not mean I argue with the GA/FAs every time I want to travel - I went and got a smaller carry-on to fit the sizer.

This mentality of well I know it will fit in the overhead as I have done it before is a load of hogwash. UA is clear about the sizing and I for one am glad the GAs/FAs are now enforcing the rules - that is customer service in my book for those of us that adhere to the requirements. The number of people in BG1 who have oversized carry-ons and more than the one carryon and one personal item makes me seeth that the rules are not enforced more regularly. I don't care about your status and your DYKWIA attitude. Follow the rules.

Hope UA continues to enforce these rules as that is customer service in my books for those of us that do not flout the rules.

(End of rant.)

docbert

You know what I find most interesting about this? His tweet from June 6th where he said
That was almost 36 hours BEFORE Zhang posted her FB/twitter entries for the incident. ie, this wasn't someone responding to her posts, it was someone simply commenting on an event occurring in front of them.

DenverBrian

Needless hyperbole, and binary thinking.

The DOT has nothing to do with sizers. Sizers exist for one reason: Because airlines abandoned customer service and started charging extra for checking bags. @:-)

emcampbe

no. Sizers are there because airlines have rules regarding the largest carry-on bags they can accept, and these rules become the defecto FAA regs for the airline. While it's true the airline is the one that proposes it, and can make them bigger (like Alaska, for example) or smaller, once approved by the FAA, that is what the carrier has to go by. And if he airline ignores these regulations, then yes, they can get fined.

While the current sizers are pretty new, I've seen various iterations of them well before airlines started charging for checked bags. Including the plastic cut out things that used to go on the belt at security checkpoints in the 90s (IIRC) - or are you going to argue that airlines were charging to check bags at that point, too?

kb9522

Airlines submit their baggage allowances to the FAA. If the airlines don't enforce these allowances (either allowing non-compliant baggage or denying compliant baggage) the FAA can and will hold the airline accountable. AA experienced this not too long ago and began cracking down on carry ons.

wolf72

That appears to be the problem at UA...and their inability to realize their PR gaffe's in part are a reason why they have had to dig themselves out of so many problems thanks to the small minority of idiotic FA's and GA's.

You don't see the same problems UA "experience" happen with other airlines.

Common sense is missing.

wolf72

Funny. If it was a white athlete who was throwing a tantrum, I wonder if he would have posted what he posted.

DenverBrian

So, the FAA, not the DOT; and the FAA isn't mandating anything. The airline could submit a different baggage allowance. @:-)

kb9522

Don't get stuck in the minutia... the specific 3 letter agency is irrelevant to the overall idea.

If they increase the allowance, people will start pushing the boundaries of the new limits. And we'll be back here again with you suggesting they increase it again.

There is nothing wrong with the current allowances. There is something wrong with passengers who choose to ignore these restrictions and then have an internet temper tantrum when they don't get their way. UA is absolutely doing the right thing here. As you can tell from this thread many people recognize that.

kb9522

The race of the passenger has nothing to do with the fact her bag was oversized. I know everyone wants to be offended by everything these days, but try focusing on the facts.

docbert

Given that he didn't mention she was Asian, Female, or any form of Athlete, my money is on "yes".

FlyingNone

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Seriously, what "training" do you think airline staff should get when it comes to irate passengers ? Gate Agents are generally trained for about 1-2+ weeks on computers, opening and closing flights, fare restrictions, rules on baggage allowance, etc., not all the vagaries and "moods" of human nature when it comes to travel. Every situation is different and mostly unpredictable. We could "roll-play" into exhaustion and there would still be people who will perceive their treatment as "unfair" - they are just not getting things their way, what they think is the way something should be done versus rules that have held for decades and have managed to fly millions of people uneventfully with little or no melodramatic horror - until iPhones and social media took hold.

Without a doubt air travel is totally more stressful because there are millions more traveling, full airplanes, more airlines competing etc. but gate agents and airline staff should not have to be trained on "Whining 101" or "How to debate with unreasonable passengers" or
"Give the store away to make them go away", "Coddling, Hand holding and Compromise", "United, the Friendly Safe Place", etc. This, while an entire planeloads of passengers get to watch and film it on their iPhones and then comment on Facebook, Twitter etc. and even here on FlyerTalk where the baggage sizing, allowances and gate agent bashing is hashed to death. Over and over and over again.

For example, I personally cannot stand Southwest. They are over-rated, their prices are too high and even higher than most, their gate agents are snotty and unknowlegeable or act silly and childish and still unknowlegable, including on the phone -- my choice is definitely not to fly them - not even as a non-rev. If I go to a restaurant that continually serves lousy food, why would I keep going there and spending my hard-earned money? Ms Zhang should analyze accordingly, she does not want to play by the rules.