Travel Shopper

And in Europe they want to Legislate so people can take MORE bags onboard, not less! How crazy is that? Read this.... EU Carryon baagage rules... http://www.moodiereport.com/document...6&doc_id=29711

Loren Pechtel

Just the bare laptop probably exceeds 7kg. It's about as big as laptops come. It always goes under the seat, it's not a problem for anyone. There's no reason for an airline to object.

ljwobker

Not UA specifically, this is a tragedy of the commons. If UA starts enforcing, they make the 20 well behaved pax happy, but the 120 people who are used to riding that elephant on board angry. Then all those people start complaining (on FT!) and to their friends, and UA management can't/won't accept the risk of that 'bad press'.

Unless someone (the airport? TSA?) enforces this for all airlines, I see virtually zero chance of anything changing. The airlines will just keep turning a blind eye and gate checking everything in sight, which slows the entire system down even more.

Aaaah... the glorious pursuit of that last dollar! (raging sarcasm there...)

MoJ0

***DING*** this is one of the problems ... the bins in F and to some extend bulkhead Y are narrower, so the premium frequent flyers who almost always carryon are having issues.

This is one of the reasons sizers don't work ... if sized for smallest common denominator, you'll have pitchforks and torches in the boarding area.

How about another approach ... elitist, I know, but really, DYKWIA?... why not use 2 sizers ... one painted deep blue and adjacent to the blue carpet that is slightly larger - and you have to have plat/1k/gs tags to use - and one on the regular area that is current color and size?

MoJ0

ALSO ... the under-seat storage in F (pmUA) is funky - the aisle seat has a teeny tiny space, the window has a more normal "Y-size" space, and there is a wider middle space between the two that isn't deep.

I've had to be a little passive aggressive on more than a few occasions when sitting in the aisle because I'm trying to play by the rules - briefcase under seat, rollerboard above. Sorry, fellow pax next to me, you can't use that middle space for your mini messenger bag and leave the spot in front of your feet empty for your stinking shoes (shout out to prev. poster who knows not to put his coat on the floor ... this is why!!!!)

TomA

... a 16 pound laptop? That would have been made in, what? 1984?

That's a great idea! A blue one and a grey one. Boom... new elite/cardholder benefit with no cost to United.

la2jax

I don't believe this. Please provide a reference.

chollie

Ugh, I really dislike those seats. An ordinary laptop bag often won't fit under the seat standing up, but you there's no room to lay anything flat on the aisle/window end. I've boarded to find the aisle guy had put a 'carry-on' so large it couldn't be jammed in the overhead under that middle section, leaving me no alternative but to stow my personal item, small as it was, in the overhead for takeoff and landing.

More importantly, a high percentage of the 120 people who over-do it are elites who will really make their displeasure known.

We do NOT want TSA getting involved in this. No way, no how. They can't even successfully perform their current mission.

Plus, if you encounter a rare overly-aggressive, rude GA, there is the possibility of recourse if you follow-up with management. At worst, you are forced to gate-check.

If you encounter an all-too-common rude, overly-aggressive TSO, there's no recourse whatsoever. Plus, you will be forced to return to the check-in counter to wait in line and check the 'offending' bag (that may have been acceptable the last 40 times you transited that checkpoint).

JeffK69

I cannot agree more that it has gotten out of control. There is no more 1 carry on per passenger rule, it is whatever you want to carry on bring it! Thanks to airlines cashing in on the revenue of check bag fee's and eliminating some ramp agents to cut costs, those of us that carry only a laptop in a shoulder bag onboard and check our suitcase loose! We wait for the plane to load and watch in dismay as passengers fight for overhead space and become almost inhuman to eachother.

It's a sad affair! They need to take a close look at their policies and procedures.

TomA

At the very least.

chollie

I wonder how many folks posting about this are observing excessive behavior in F and how many are observing excessive behavior in Y.

For those who regularly/always fly in F, how do you keep such a close watch on what is happening in Y?

For those who are elites regularly travelling in Y, do you believe the problems in Y are limited to infrequent flyers, or do you notice folks boarding in the 'elite' boarding group that are also carrying on excessive baggage?

Personally, I fly a mix of both, random routes and times (elite heavy, few elites, 'business' windows, non-peak times) and I am not seeing the huge delays others are reporting. I'm absolutely not suggesting they don't exist, I'm just saying they aren't as system-wide as some folks would suggest or I would be seeing it happen once in a while and departure delays attributable to boarding delays would be widespread. I have yet to be on a flight whose departure was delayed by carry-on bag handling.

And based on my observations, for every unwittingly offending Kettle, there are a dozen deliberately offending elites.

JeffK69

Hate to say it but some of us "Elites" are the biggest offenders. There seems to be a sense of entitlement. I don't mean to offend anyone but just watch a flight being boarded and take note of the elites going to the gate with their bags.

TomA

I haven't been on a domestic Y in ages. I have never had a problem finding bag space in domestic F, even when I boarded last. I might not have gotten space right above my seat, but it makes little difference in F.

I HAVE been on lots of international Y and C on the 777 and 747 and have never seen a problem on either one.

InHouseCounsel

I always assume on UA f where there is little room underseat on aisle that the demarcation line for that middle space is the exact middle of the two seats in front. Seems like that is my space to use if I have the aisle seat. My small briefcase backpack fits on my half. It sticks out some but I have never had a FA tell me to move it because of that

My daughter tells me on Frontier they give priority boarding to folks who are not using the overhead bins since they just get on and sit down.

Loren Pechtel

No. It's of fairly recent manufacture. I find I'm wrong on the weight, though, it's only 12 pounds.