We try to fly non-stop, with only carry on luggage at all times. It cuts down the time we spend in the airport at our destination dramatically. On the occasions we have to fly with a connection (usually long haul overseas flights) we will check luggage if needed.
On a few recernt flights we were near the last to board, the overhead bins were full and we had to check our luggage. This added 15-30 minutes to our time at the destination, which granted isn’t a huge deal but is annoying. It doesn’t bother me much, but it drives my wife crazy. Recently we’ve paid a bit of additional money to bump our class and get to board earlier. We’ve started to become more amenible to paying the extra fees to buy extras; I never used to do so. So, if nothing else, there’s also a monetary incentive for the airlines to make basic travel inconvienent.
That would be simple; I’d never fly again. My camera bag doesn’t fit under my seat & you should never check valuables. (besides the fact that nothing really fits under the seat in front of me except for my feet. Discrimination against tall people I tells ya!)
On the rare times I’ve checked luggage, the only time it has beaten me to the carousel is when I had to wait to get thru customs. Unlike the airlines, I have never lost or damaged my own luggage. I prefer to have everything carried on, quicker, easier, & safer…
Airlines found out that nervous people with too much carry-on luggage really like to be inside the plane first, some will even pay for the privilege.
This is why we cannot have nice things.
I like reading a book with a cup of coffee until the nice people at the terminal get nervous: standing in line to get into an airplane is for idjots. There is plenty of time, you have to be really late to have them leave without you.
The nice people inside the plane will help you stow your carry-on: somehow they are nervous as well, they really don’t want me standing in the aisle with my bag in hand when the plane takes of.
When the plane has landed, I’ll be the first out of the airport, That race I care about.
If everyone could be forced to put their luggage only directly above their own seating row, this problem would disappear and the OP’s idea would be correctly the best way to board most efficiently, once you accept the need to have clusters like families sitting together board as a group.
…where I’m at we dont understand this. Every flight ive ever been on cabin bags are stowed as close to your own seat as possible.
The airlines ive used also enforce carry on size limits, and sorta enforce weight limits.
Start charging people for carry-ons, the same as checked luggage, with an exception for one small-ish bag per person. This nonsense of a person in economy with a rollaboard, a backpack and a purse has to stop, if we want to improving boarding.
Same thing for putting carry-on luggage anywhere outside 1-2 rows from your reserved seat.
And I would like to use at least part of the space underneath the seat in front of me for my feet.
I flew them only a few months ago, and that’s still the deal. If you want to board relatively early you can be ready to get your boarding pass exactly 24 hours before your flight or pay $25 to get an earlier number.
Most people do put their bags near their seats except when it fills up, which is dumb since SW does not charge for the first two bags.
I’d much rather check my bag and be able to bring my Swiss Army knife and not be stuck with tiny bottles of shaving cream and stuff.
The last time I few on a plane with first class, you turned left at the door, not right, so first class (business class in my case) and the peons never mixed.
The larger ones do it that way. Flew to London last week on a 777, the lucky ones turned left. I have never slept so well on a plane. Seats that go completely flat!
We use business class on BA and which way you turn depends on the length of the flight. On a 4-hour flight to Turkey, we turned left and had nicer seats as well as the other perks.
On our last flight to Gibraltar (and the previous one to Madeira) business class was just the front rows, with a curtain to separate us from cattle class. There was no difference in the seat quality or legroom, but the middle seat of the three on each side was left empty and had a fold-down table which was handy.
We do pay extra for this, but the benefits start in the airport, with priority through security and a nice lounge with free food. On the plane, we get a better meal and ‘free’ drinks as well.
AFAIK, boarding is totally random, but as DW is disabled. we are usually last to board and last to leave anyway.
I must say I find that behaviour amazing. I’ve always made a point of keeping my carry-on as close to where I’m sitting as possible, preferably under the forward seat or in the bin directly overhead, although I sometimes find that some idiot not sitting anywhere near me has already stuffed their crap there.
However, I have a solution to the problem you describe. Flight attendants should be equipped with little remote control devices that control electronic locks on the overhead bins. When a particular group is boarding, * click! * – all the bins are locked except the ones directly over the assigned seating area. Wouldn’t that be cool?
Although in the long term the best solution would be to load passengers into large crates like so much cattle, then load the crates onto the plane like container cargo. This also has the advantage that the effects of unruly passengers would be confined to their own crate. At the next airport the problem crate would be offloaded and the flight could continue while authorities on the ground sorted out who did what to who, without delaying the flight!
Any airline may feel free to use any of these ideas at no charge!
Do you do dual boarding in the US? In New Zealand we board through the back via stairs and the front door via the bridge (weather and staff permitting). It works pretty well until someone doesn’t get the memo and goes through the front trying to get to row 28 through all the people who are boarding at the rear.
ATRs only board at the rear. A320 and A321 will board both front and rear at the same time domestically, but it’s dependent on staffing to setup and monitor the external walkway. It’s pure chance you haven’t seen it on your Christchurch - Auckland flights.
I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t know it existed! I went to Wigram a few months back and thought it was pretty good.
This happens in some airports in the US, depending on the weather and gate configuration. I have done it at Burbank, CA and Spokane, WA. It does make boarding quicker, it seems, and is more fun to walk around the plane on the tarmac and use the portable stairs. But yeah, some dumbass can gum up the works.
