United forcing to gate check a bag to destination
 

So I'm on a flight tonight, and a we are boarding I have with me my usual normal sized wheeled carryon. My flight is from las Vegas to San Francisco, and connecting to Seattle. My flight out of Vegas is already delayed 15 minutes trimming my connection time down to a nice 20 minutes. As I board in seating area two amidst many other carry on bags exact same size. The agent singled me out and insisted to check my bag to destination. After arguing uselessly she insisted there was no way my bag would miss my connection. So here I sit watching open bin space go unused and plethora of larger carryons being loaded.....will see if my bag actually shows up.

I even told her I'm flying on a mileage run, with alot of stops and did not want to check a bag, since the likely hood of it even getting back to me is slim if it misses any point. since this leg only shows me going to Seattle she wouldn't let me board with it as it showed my "final" destination in Seattle....

Anyone else experience this or similar situation or find a way around it?

What are the chances your bag will go on some other route...it is being loaded on your flight to SFO, and is labeled SEA. SEA is your destination, UA flies from SFO to SEA...what makes you think it is going to take a different routing? A lot of stops? You are (at least from this point) making 1 stop, and this is the most direct routing on UA, I don't see any major issues.

You have the right to request testing it in the sizer. If, after that, she still insisted, I would have told her that you had necessary Rx and medical devices in your bag and would be forced to deplane if she insisted on you gate-checking
it. I believe that she would have relented under those circumstances, but you can never predict their reactions.

"I am sorry, that rollaboard contains an urn with the cremated remains of my wife. We're going to fullfil her last wish and sprinkle it into the waters of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca tomorrow, and I am sure you understand that I cannot let that bag out of my hands."

While I don't agree with what the flight attendant did according to the OP (singling him out and making him check his bag), I'd be careful to claim this as a "right". I'm not sure this so-called right is guaranteed by anything (e.g. law, CoC, etc).

Out of curiosity, what type of plane were you flying on?

I think the issue the OP is concerned about is whether the bag will make the 20 min connection at SFO. It will most likely fly the same route as the OP, but not necessarily on the same aircraft on the SFO-SEA leg.

On two consecutive UA flights in the past three months, our (no status) son was "forced" to check his carry-on, even though there was plentiful overhead space available. He has since switched to Frontier, where FAs do not play the power trip game.

Looks like it was UA 309 (currently in the air), operated by a 757. Departed 13 mins late, expected to arrive 16 mins late into SFO (10:14pm)

Assuming the OP is then connecting to UA 62, currently scheduled to depart on time at 10:36pm, s/he will have the pleasure to hustle from gate 89 to 73A. About as bad as it could get :eek: (ignoring the remote possibility of a domestic flight departing from the international terminal at that time of the day)

The "right" stems from the announcement, (paraphrased) "that any bag that will not fit in the sizer will have to be gate checked", that we hear all of the time. I have never seen them refuse a request to check a bag in the sizer and I believe that if such a request were denied, the situation could escalate into a confrontation requiring security and possible ejection.

Tell them your actual destination is somewhere obscure they won't know the code for. Vladivostok, Tashkent, Cotonou, etc. They'll usually let you go rather than looking it up.

"That's no problem, let me see your onward boarding passes or itinerary so we can check it..." That will usually show the person is lying and he will quickly surrender his bag as being a person of untruths. Once proven to be a liar, the fight is usually taken out of a person. Oh, and SU allows a total of 10kg for Y class passengers...your bag is too heavy to be carry on for them, so we will just check it to the gateway so you can reclaim it and check it in with them/pay the fees.

What I don't understand is why ask someone to gate check a bag when it will fit into the overhead bin and there is room for it??:confused:

LAX

This is exactly correct, we just landed now and still have to taxi to gate. Even if I sprint and make it, the chances of my bag making it are iffy. An plus I leave Seattle at 8 am heading to Vancouver, then onward to about 10 other cities over next few days. So.....this could suck not having my bag. Let's hope this ground crew is hopping...

This gate check thing is clearly the most abused power that these GAs possess.
The capriciousness evident in the varied levels of enforcement is ridiculous.
You should never give "little people" big power, they will almost certainly abuse it. Absolute power corrupts absolutely!

Please update us as your situation develops. These abuses need more exposure, and the negative consequences need to be revealed.

Good luck. Keep us updated.

This is exactly correct, we just landed now and still have to taxi to gate. Even if I sprint and make it, the chances of my bag making it are iffy. An plus I leave Seattle at 8 am heading to Vancouver, then onward to about 10 other cities over next few days. So.....this could suck not having my bag. Let's hope this ground crew is hopping...

True that. But there's a rule in UA Ops Specs that says that in addition to all the numbers, weights, or other dimensions of a piece of luggage, any UA employee has the right and power to decide where a bag ultimately ends up. If a flight looks like it'll have a lot if extra space, an FA or GA can allow an oversize bag in the cabin. Conversely, if space is very tight, the FA or GA can tell you that your hatbox will have to be checked. They don't make that widely known because they don't want employees getting all "power-trippy" about it, but the rule exists nonetheless

Essentially, an OpSpec becomes FAR, as in Federal Law, so best to just go along with the agent or FA; they carry the power of federal law in their words.

FAB

Ran my ... off and barely made it, will see if my bag makes it....will update on arrival...

Agree with you on all points. However, in this case, OP stated that there was plenty of space, seemingly removing the discretion of the FA/GA in that regard. However, since they have all of the power, we are always at their mercy. The only Ace in our hand is a willingness to miss one's flight. The complications resulting from having to find and remove a checked bag in that case can cause even the most strident GA to yield. However, I would never recommend taking any but the most conciliatory tone with them in these situations.

As this is a domestic leg, why would anyone find and remove any checked luggage if you fail to board? When one surrenders a bag to be checked to a destination in the lobby, you accept the fact that the bag will be transported to that destination. The claim check given to you in the lobby as a way to claim it at the destination printed on it kind of confirms that.

Interesting. Thanks.

I am all for enforcing the size rules for carry-ons, but it appears that wasn't the issue here.

I have never run into the situation that the OP described, but if I did (ie if my appropriately sized bag was force-gate-checked without reason), the DOT would hear about it (at least in aggregate my complaint might then count for something).

Not referring to PPBM. I am referring to suspicious behavior of a passenger refusing to board a flight at the gate who already has checked baggage. Last I heard, the Feds want the bags removed for a passenger that refuses to board the flight for whatever reason. Has this changed?

Might also be good to remember that the bag about to-be-force-checked can contain items not allowed in checked luggage such as loose batteries.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtrav...batteries.shtm

I'd like to hear the measurements of the actual bag at issue...

OP sounds like a reasonable guy, so perhaps he will post the actual dimensions, including wheels/handle. However, having personally witnessed capricious enforcement on numerous occasions, I lean towards giving him the benefit of the doubt.

UA 62 appears to have left four minutes early (10:32pm). If the bag didn't make it, this was the last flight for today and the first one tomorrow morning won't arrive until 8:25am, so OP might be separated from his bag for a while.

Just landed in Seattle, about to go find out if I'll have clothes for the next 4 days of mileage running.....

If he had to run to make his connection, I don't see how his bag could have made it (could be proven wrong though).

Did the OP say what his status was? Might have made a difference.

I would suggest that the wise approach is to always pack a smaller bag within your carry-on. It need only be cloth (or even plastic), but in such circumstances you just transfer your most treasured possessions to your much smaller bag and pockets and let the horrible FA gate-check an almost empty roll-aboard. Then who cares if it is lost, damaged or otherwise mistreated, your insurance (and UA) will cover that.

Must say that such bad treatment has never happened to me, but my carry ons are rather modest.

[QUOTE=Grace B;16222111]If he had to run to make his connection, I don't see how his bag could have made it (could be proven wrong though).


I basically full on sprinted the entire terminal and the closed the door probably 3 minutes after I boarded. We pushed back prob 3-4 after that. I will be very surprised to actually see it here in Seattle....here's for hoping tho....

Pyridoxine, please keep us updated. i hope your bag made it.

i had a gate agent once insist on gate checking my bag, (my upgrade hadn't cleared and it was a full flight). she put the tag on it and told me to wheel it to the door of the plane and leave it at the end of jetway. as a 1k, boarding early, i knew there'd be space...so i stood in line with everyone else, pulled the gate check tag off once i was out of sight of the agent and boarded the plane with my bag. :rolleyes:

as i boarded, i said to the flight attendant 'gate agent said i'd have to check this, but can we see if there's space?' there was PLENTY of space, and FA said 'no problem.'

i've seen GA's do this in a variety of cities, where they pick no status pax and insist they check a bag...and then the flight leaves with overhead space available. i don't really get that. :confused:

Ooh, I like that tactic. I try to pack minimally and do whatever I can to board early (incl. OLCI as early as possible when I have no status) but it's good to know this is an option in a real pinch.

No update .. what a bummer!

Maybe his batteries ran low and the charger was in the carry-on - another reason not to let them gate check the bag!

Cheers,

-Cyborg

I'd like to know the dimensions, but regardless, on a MR, one should be packing stuff that fits under the seat in front of him.

I like bulkheads and would be inclined to stand in line early to stow the bag in the overhead, but see you point especially wrt MRs...

Cheers,

-Cyborg

The problem with the whole absolute authority of a UA employee with regards to carry-on (or not) baggage is that with the power comes the responsibility to use it for it's intended purpose.

As in the cockpit, emotional decisions have no place there.

FAB

^ roger that.

Yup....phone died at the airport, couldnt update. My bag did in fact show up, which was a suprise. But i was thankful for that. Still the whole situation has been annoying, i realised after that i had been carrying my laptop bag around NAB in vegas and had taken my hard drives and stuck them in my carry on. And of course my i didnt think much of it till i was sitting on the plane, and thought......oh crap.....my 2TB of clients videos are about to get tossed around by the bag monkeys. Either way if it ever happens again, im either gonna just let them tag it then take the tag off at the end of the jetbridge, or try and find any excuse that could work to not let it be checked again.

:D ^

I was in the OP's shoes last January. Was making a domestic-to-international connection with a 100% compliant rollerboard. GA tells me I have to gate-check. I tell him I need the bag on my flight to LHR. He says no dice, has to go to LHR. After some back and forth, I play the DYKWIA card as gently as possible -- "Does it make any difference that I'm a 1K" -- and he relents, tagging it to ORD and telling me I need to pick up the bag at baggage claim then reclear security. Not a problem.

I usually am not in this position, given that I board early, but this was an irrops situation and I didn't get a BP until boarding was already underway. What irked me is that they allowed pax with multiple, large carryons to board without saying anything, then penalized later-boarding pax who followed the rules. :rolleyes:

This wasnt just a MR, i was in new york on work from april 6-10, vegas for NAB from 11-14, seattle till sat to visit family, then the last 3 days were just tagged on for a MR. There was other purpose for the trip and other stuff was needed than just a couple changes of clothes