Incident w/ pro tennis player, too many carryon items/oversized bag & "aggressive GA"
Jun 9, 17, 12:49 pm
#76
Moderator: United Airlines; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.9MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 63,100
Carry-on Baggage must not exceed the Maximum Outside Linear Dimensions of 9 inches (22 cm) x 14 inches (35 cm) x 22 inches (56 cm), which includes its wheels and handles. Personal items must not exceed 9 inches (22 cm) x 10 inches (25 cm) x 17 inches (43 cm), which includes any wheels and handles. A personal item that exceeds these maximum linear dimensions but is not greater than 9 inches (22 cm) x 14 inches (35 cm) x 22 inches (56 cm) will be considered as Carry-on Baggage. Carry-on Baggage or personal items suspected of being oversized may require being placed into a sizing unit to determine acceptability.
Jun 9, 17, 12:52 pm
#77
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: IAH
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hyatt Globalist, DL Plat, UA Silver
Posts: 4,043
If it were the case, she should have handled it and made sure she was compliant prior to getting to the gate. If this occurred prior to the start of boarding, then yeah, the fire drill should be permitted considering she is 1K. After the start of boarding, all bets are off... you don't get to delay others (who may also be UA elites) because of your poor planning.
Jun 9, 17, 12:56 pm
#78
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: where the chile is hot
Programs: AA,RR,NW,Delta ,UA,CO
Posts: 38,042
That rule also doesn't say that each individual tennis racket counts as one carry-on item. The agent was wrong.
Jun 9, 17, 12:57 pm
#79
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: AA, DL, Avis, Enterprise, National, IHG, HH, SPG/MR
Posts: 1,852
Edit:
Kids rackets and smaller adult rackets would fit the sizer. This passenger had larger rackets which didn't. So checked baggage it is.
Jun 9, 17, 1:05 pm
#81
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: AA, DL, Avis, Enterprise, National, IHG, HH, SPG/MR
Posts: 1,852
You agreed to a set of rules when you chose to fly with <insert carrier>. You do not get to unilaterally decide those rules no longer apply.
Last edited by l etoile; Jun 9, 17 at 1:15 pm Reason: Removed deleted quotes
Jun 9, 17, 1:11 pm
#82
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MRY - CNX - TXL
Programs: UA 1K / *G / Marriott PE / Expedia Gold+ / Hertz PC
Posts: 7,059
*lightbulb*
Jun 9, 17, 1:45 pm
#83
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: SFO South Bay
Programs: UA 2MM, B6 Mosaic
Posts: 3,049
..I did a bit of quick math. In order to get a 29" racquet to fit in the sizer in the length dimension (22" limit) it would have to be rotated about 40.7deg. With that rotation it would be 18.89" in the height dimension (14" limit).
Edit:
Also just realized she could use the width to her advantage. The diagonal would be ~23.8" allowing her to reduce the angle of the racket to about 35deg. But even in this case the racquet would be more than 2.5" too tall. And this is for a single racquet. Obviously stacking more of them reduces the usable diagonal length.
Edit:
Also just realized she could use the width to her advantage. The diagonal would be ~23.8" allowing her to reduce the angle of the racket to about 35deg. But even in this case the racquet would be more than 2.5" too tall. And this is for a single racquet. Obviously stacking more of them reduces the usable diagonal length.
Jun 9, 17, 1:51 pm
#84
Join Date: May 2003
Location: IAH
Programs: formerly UA GS, now lowly MM lifetime gold :(
Posts: 1,204
So many of the comments here miss the entire point. United's front line staff continue to have a major customer service problem. They are too focused on rigidly enforcing their interpretation of "the rules" and not focused enough on providing actual customer service and being a problem solver.
The whole company needs a culture change.
The whole company needs a culture change.
Last edited by osxanalyst; Jun 9, 17 at 2:10 pm
Jun 9, 17, 2:02 pm
#85
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: SFO South Bay
Programs: UA 2MM, B6 Mosaic
Posts: 3,049
So many of the comments here miss the entire point. United's front line staff continue to have a major customer service problem. The are too focused on rigidly enforcing their interpretation of "the rules" and not focused enough on providing actual customer service and being a problem solver.
The whole company needs a culture change.
The whole company needs a culture change.
But yes, you are spot on. The mentality of many UA staff is that of being a police officer. They seem to put endless effort into enforcing rules, but little effort into ensuring customer satisfaction. Yet this is not an either or proposition. Look at Lufthansa. NO ONE is more rule focused than a German! Yet they still provide great customer service.
Jun 9, 17, 2:09 pm
#86
Join Date: May 2003
Location: IAH
Programs: formerly UA GS, now lowly MM lifetime gold :(
Posts: 1,204
Sorry, but I could not resist a good math arguement
But yes, you are spot on. The mentality of many UA staff is that of being a police officer. They seem to put endless effort into enforcing rules, but little effort into ensuring customer satisfaction. Yet this is not an either or proposition. Look at Lufthansa. NO ONE is more rule focused than a German! Yet they still provide great customer service.
But yes, you are spot on. The mentality of many UA staff is that of being a police officer. They seem to put endless effort into enforcing rules, but little effort into ensuring customer satisfaction. Yet this is not an either or proposition. Look at Lufthansa. NO ONE is more rule focused than a German! Yet they still provide great customer service.
Jun 9, 17, 2:29 pm
#87
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 10,254
Sorry, but I could not resist a good math arguement
But yes, you are spot on. The mentality of many UA staff is that of being a police officer. They seem to put endless effort into enforcing rules, but little effort into ensuring customer satisfaction. Yet this is not an either or proposition. Look at Lufthansa. NO ONE is more rule focused than a German! Yet they still provide great customer service.
But yes, you are spot on. The mentality of many UA staff is that of being a police officer. They seem to put endless effort into enforcing rules, but little effort into ensuring customer satisfaction. Yet this is not an either or proposition. Look at Lufthansa. NO ONE is more rule focused than a German! Yet they still provide great customer service.
Jun 9, 17, 2:29 pm
#88
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: DYKWIA, But I'm a "Diamond Guest" UA 1K/2MM
Posts: 2,131
We know that the sizer is actually an inch bigger than the 22X14X9
15^2 + 23^2 = tennis bag diagonal ^2
So that gets you 27.45 inches. But that's only if you place it perfectly upright and straight. If you angle it within all 3 dimensions, you get another inch. So I don't see why a tennis bag wouldn't fit.....
The tennis player loses my sympathy by uttering the "D" word, without any evidence given. It's one thing to call someone out for being nasty. But calling them racist or discriminatory without clear evidence is not OK.
edit: I see blueman, et al did the calculations while I was typing. Clearly, there are many who are faster at math than I....
Last edited by porciuscato; Jun 9, 17 at 2:39 pm
Jun 9, 17, 2:41 pm
#89
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: AA, DL, Avis, Enterprise, National, IHG, HH, SPG/MR
Posts: 1,852
The long diagonal length of a prism that is 9x14x22 is 27.6". So if the person (who appears to be on the small side) uses a 27" racquet, it might just fit. Hard to know because the curvature of the head of the racquet makes the 'straight line' formula I used not perfect. But I think it just might barely fit. But multiple racquets in the same bag? not likely.
The conclusion is still the same though. I saw somewhere her rackets were 29" long. And definitely with the bag and other rackets stacked on it, no chance it fits.
Jun 9, 17, 2:48 pm
#90
Join Date: Apr 2017
Programs: AA, DL, Avis, Enterprise, National, IHG, HH, SPG/MR
Posts: 1,852
So many of the comments here miss the entire point. United's front line staff continue to have a major customer service problem. They are too focused on rigidly enforcing their interpretation of "the rules" and not focused enough on providing actual customer service and being a problem solver.
The whole company needs a culture change.
The whole company needs a culture change.
It's simple, make sure you're flying in accordance with UAs policy, and you won't have to deal with these issues.
We should be more outraged by the GAs who let Fatso McGee and his three oversized carry ons onto the plane, where he plops all three into the first overhead in F and waddles his way down to row 24 where sits down in the middle seat (the only one he's paid for) and promptly raises both armrests.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jun 9, 17 at 3:10 pm Reason: Using symbols, spaces or other methods to mask vulgarities is not allowed.
