I am not a frequent flyer by any means. I fly maybe once a year. I have never had any issues flying, but I was reading a thread in the BBQ Pit about boarding.
It got me to thinking, since people complain about airlines not enforcing rules about baggage size and limits, why don’t they?
One poster in the Pit thread, said something about questionable size? How is it questionable? It either fits in the allotted space or it doesn’t?
I don’t know maybe I’m oversimplifying as I don’t fly much.
The airlines would have to set up another procedure, and install some equipment (the size bins) wherever the passengers would get their boarding passes. They’d have to train the clerks in how to do this procedure, and they’d have to allow yet more time to get each flight off the ground. All of these things could be done fairly easily.
However, they’d also have to deal with the Emperors and Empresses Of The World, who don’t think that rules apply to them. And this would take an incredible amount of time, and it would increase the stress levels of the clerks who had to deal with them, and all the other passengers who are patiently waiting to get their boarding passes and board.
Don’t they? I’ve seen people at the gate asked to check carry-on bags that were too large. And at the Atlanta airport, at least, the ticket counters have size uh, cages that you can put your bag in to make sure it fits.
Because it doesn’t really matter? The real concern here is that people want to put their stuff in the overhead bin, rather than under the seat in front of them. That’s a reasonable desire, but not really worth introducing new levels of delays, bureaucracy and inflexibility for.
I often fudge the bag limit, bringing on a small purse as well as my carry-on and laptop bag. I always keep my stuff under the seat in front of me (I don’t need the legroom, and like having my stuff accessible). It doesn’t hurt anyone.
Keep in mind for every passenger who’s complaining about oversized baggage, there’s at least one passenger who owns that oversized baggage. The airline, as a business, has to weigh the consequences of how it treats its customers. If they start enforcing the baggage rules more strictly, the first passenger, who gets a little more space on the plane, might be somewhat happier - but the second passenger, who has his baggage rejected, will be significantly unhappier. And even some of those passengers who are complaining about other passengers’ baggage are probably just mad because there isn’t room for their own baggage - and they’d be unhappy if the strict rules they’re calling for were enforced on them. So overall, the airlines apparently find the benefits of flexibility on baggage outweigh the costs.
They don’t? IME, they do. My daughter and I ended up with a ridiculous amount of luggage crammed into our cases and clothing - and us wearing three hats each - to get past boarding because the rules on our ticket were different to the rules the check-in people decided to enforce.
I don’t know, I saw a family of 6 get rejected at the gate at Oakland International. They rolled up with more or less a trolly of luggage then wanted to count each piece as one of their children’s “personal item” in addition to the stuff the kids were carrying themselves. The people at the gate seemed to tell them they were drawing the line at the “personal item” outweighing, out-sizing, and being unable to be transported by the actual person.
Yeah, I’m man enough to admit that this would describe me. What I tend to recognize, though, is that so many personal items (the things that should fit under the seat) end up blocking the carry-on (the things that should go in the overhead bin). I have no problem putting the things the fit beneath the seat in front of me. I’m too tall to put my legs there anyway. No, really. The pitch is too tight, the angle to acute, and I can’t get my feet there. Foot space under seats is only for short people.
It clearly does, there’s a number of people complaining about how people bringing oversized luggage unto the plain and stuffing it sideways into overhead compartments messes with where they can put their own belongings, or with whether they can take their own stuff on the plane in the first place. Apparently, sometimes you have to gatecheck your stuff and can’t bring it on. I never bring a lot of stuff on the plane, mostly what I think I’ll need to keep me entertained during a transatlantic flight or what I would need to get some work done, and if I had to gatecheck that I would not be too pleased. There’s clearly some passengers that are bothered by other passengers violating the rules, which may not bother those violating the rules, but should in my view bother the airline.
I think the main issue is that the real alternative is to preventing people from exceeding carry-on and checked luggage weight and size limitations, is that they leave stuff behind at the airport, and that would result both in rebellious passengers to say the least, and in a lot of time loss as people try and sort out their stuff, frantically trying to somehow magically fit their vast suitcase into a single tax free plastic shopping bag, crying all the while, eating the souvenir delicacies they bought at an alarming rate while putting on layers and layers of extra clothing which are making them sweat profusely. Nobody wants that.
I have a standard size carry-on roller bag I travel with that gets gate-checked 50% of the time because the planes I fly on are so tiny. I also carry my purse (which is a laptop-size bag) and my CPAP case. Only once in the four years I’ve been flying with some regularity have I been challenged about my allowable third bag, and no one seems to care that there is more stuff in there than my CPAP.
If the airlines were serious about reducing the number of carry-ons, they would reduce the price to check them. $20-$25 to check one bag one way, times two ways, puts a serious dent in my budget. $5-$10? I’d check the roller bag in a heartbeat and save myself the struggle and just carry on my other two. And they are going to put my roller bag in the hold 50% of the time anyhow for free!
That said, they have never misplaced a gate-checked bag for me, but twice my paid-for checked bag has gone walk-about for a day. Which is why I pack a change of clothes in the CPAP bag! And my SO has had his checked bags totally disappear about twice in the last few years, and get temporarily lost many times. He has lost a lot of clothes and a camera and work-related paperwork and books that did not fit in his carry-on and had to be checked. And he PAID for them to lose it. And that was AFTER the international portion of his flight. So until they improve baggage handling, I am very leery of checking a bag at all.
This. At $10/bag, I’d check everything. I have a tiny backpack that easily fits under the seat in front of me and carries any books, a change of socks and underwear and my PJs which is all I’d need if my bag got waylaid (I’ve never had it so lost that it wasn’t delivered to me by midnight the same day).
But the objective of the pricing is not to optimize overhead bin use. It is to get as much of the ticket price as possible off the ticket itself so the ticket shows up as cheapest in the online search engines, which is what people buy tickets by.
Three bags? UK budget airlines only allow one bag. Anything from a small purse to the overhead locker standard.
You’re allowed one carry-on sized suitcase, and a personal bag like a purse. And medical equipment (the CPAP) is allowed as an additional item.
I expect the medical equipment would pass, but Ryanair and Easyjet are explicit that otherwise it’s one bag and one bag only. Not one carry-on and a personal bag but just one bag only.
Ryanair can be strict about the size but it varies from airport to airport. Someone told me (dunno if it’s true) they’re very strict at Stansted. They’re variably strict in Dublin airport. One thing that amazes me on transatlantic flights is how much carry on luggage most people bring. I might have a small backpack with some snacks, some water, and books or magazines while most others it seems bring several much bigger bags on board.
If you check your baggage you have to wait in line and then pay. If you take your bags to the gate they may let them on or they may force you to check your bags but it is free and, best of all, your bag goes in last and thus comes out first. Obviously the airlines want to encourage the latter so why not do it?
Yea, this is more or less what I do. I have a back pack I put books and stuff I might want to use in and then a carry-on which I put the rest of my luggage in. If it fits then I keep it with me in the overhead, if not then it gets gate-checked and I get it when I leave the plane. Either way its free and I don’t have to around the baggage return for twenty minutes when I get off.
Let me get this straight, if you don’t feel like paying, you can simply drag your luggage to the gate and have the gate clerk deny it Then they check it at no cost? For real?
So basically it seems like the airlines are being wimps about enforcing their own rules. They’ll have the rules to look like good guys. Then they don’t enforce them because everyone is trapped anyway?
Yep. My wife discovered this when she brought her correctly sized, single bag to the gate and was denied because the overhead space was already full. So they checked it. She has since taken more than the allowed one bag and the trick worked. I don’t know what would happen if she brought 3 huge bags. What could they do, tell her she had to leave some or stop her from flying?
The airlines certainly don’t mind if passangers blame each other for any problems they encounter.
One of the problems with the overhead bins is that different planes, and even different configurations of the same plane, have different sizes. I have a roller that can fit on the short side on about 50% of the flights I take. Otherwise, I have to turn it lengthwise.
Personally, especially when coming home from a business trip, I prefer not to wait a baggage check. That’s 20-30 minutes saved getting home. I don’t even like to gate check, but I’ll do it if I must.