Overhead Bins: The Fight Gets Uglier

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Overhead Bins: The Fight Gets Uglier

With Flights Full, Airlines Try To Enforce Carry-On Limits; Cramming In a Stuffed Giraffe
By AVERY JOHNSON
August 9, 2006; Page D1

(snip)

The fight for space in the overhead bin is leading to a rash of bad behavior and angry standoffs between travelers and rules-enforcing flight attendants -- and between fellow travelers. With planes flying at record capacities, even if travelers kept to the standard one-bag-plus-one-personal-item limit, they would still find trouble storing their things. But the space crunch is being exacerbated by fliers worried that summer travel delays and snafus will lead to lost checked bags. Now they are trying to sneak more stuff on board with them. And some travelers are causing near-brawls by defying the generally accepted rule that you should put your bag in the spot above your seat. Airlines are beginning to crack down. In July, British Airways began firmly enforcing its carry-on policy. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines says it is enforcing its carry-on rule -- one bag plus one extra item, like a purse or a laptop -- more closely than in years past.

(snip)

Still, fliers are finding that their fellow travelers are cramming more stuff -- and more bizarre stuff -- into the overhead bins. Richard Ginkowski, who flies frequently as part of his hobby photographing wildlife, recently saw a passenger trying to shove a five-foot-high stuffed giraffe into a bin before a flight between Atlanta and Sarasota, Fla. The flight attendant was "very flustered" and "visibly perturbed." Ultimately, "after much huffing and puffing," he says, the flight attendant managed to squeeze the toy into an extra long overhead bin, rendering that area unusable for other passengers nearby. "I just can't imagine how they got that through security," the 54-year-old prosecutor from Kenosha, Wis., says.

(snip)

New boarding policies are also fueling preboarding chaos. Earlier this summer Northwest Airlines, for example, instituted a policy under which all passengers (except elite passengers, first-class travelers and others with special circumstances) are allowed to board at once. Some passengers say that the approach can cause a mad dash for storage space, as fliers stash their bags in whatever overhead bin they see with available space, rather than the space directly associated with their seat. United now has a boarding system that loads everyone with window seats first (regardless of whether they are in the back or the front). Earlier this year, Delta also adjusted its boarding process to seat window-passengers first.

(snip)

Airlines are placing limits on checked luggage, too. British Airways is lowering the maximum weight for checked luggage from 70 pounds to 50 pounds in October. Starting next month, Continental Airlines will no longer accept any checked bags weighing more than 70 pounds (the airline used to take bags up to 100 pounds). Late last year United made a similar change on international routes, fixing the maximum weight at 50 pounds from a previous high of 70 pounds. American in November dropped the checked-bag maximum on domestic and international flights to 50 pounds from 70 pounds.

(snip)

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115508834302030667.html (subscription)

[iamjoy]

1. Some People Are Selfish

it drives me crazy when some one puts a shopping bag or purse overhead. It's like - leave that space for the weekend bags and put your darn shopping bag or purse under your seat!

[petronius]

2. Sometimes I think they should get rid of overhead bins entirely

Airplanes would load/unload much quicker, there wouldn't be any spaghetti-armed morons wildly swinging 50 lb wheelies at my head, and us tall folk could stand up a lot easier...

And it would remove a source of friction between passengers and crew...

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Now that's a great idea.

It would never happen because the road warriors would be forced to check their bags, but I think it would make the boarding process a lot easier and it would force the airlines to adopt better luggage handling systems.

[question everything]

12. But will never work

the airlines will have to hire more ground crew - adding more payroll costs - to load all the bags, which may lengthen the time that the planes are on the ground - which they are trying to shorten by changing the order of embarking.

Plus, they may not even have room for all the bags, may have to limit other cargo that goes in the belly, like mail, and lose the added revenue.

This way, all they are doing is angering the passengers - which they don't care.

[question everything]

25. Looks like your suggestiong is now the reality

urggh

And I have been trying to getby with carryone only for short trips..

[xultar]

3. STOP THE MADNESS...CHECK YO FUCKIN BAG!

that is all

I travel every week and I check my bag and take my briefcase on board so I don't have to deal with the fuckers.
I let all the assholes board the fuckin plane first so they can duke it out. Then I come on last put my bag under myseat and go to fuckin sleep. DROOLIN all the way to my destination.

Then when I arrive I watch the fuckers struggle and fight to get their shit out. I'm the last one off the plane and my luggage is waiting for me @ baggage claim. I pass ugly bruised up sweaty fuckers on the way to the car.

Buhwawawa!

[Beausoir]

5. LOL. They do get all sweaty and banged-up and furious!

I'm also the last one off the plane. What's the hurry? I just sit and chuckle and relax for the extra 6 minutes it takes.

[enlightenment]

7. Agreed -- though without the language . . .

:-)

[Catherine Vincent]

11. LOL!

I'm one of those too, that exit the plane last (or bus, train etc.) That way all the idiots that think they are in a hurry and have the need to be first off and be out the way.

[VolcanoJen]

14. "Ugly bruised-up sweaty fuckers"

Thanks for that visual!!

:rofl:

Great post, xultar. :-)

[xultar]

22. Thanks.

[mccoyn]

18. You are more patient than me.

I usually bring one bag and put it in my seat and get on last and all. The one thing I don't do is get off last. After a three hour flight in a cramped seat I'm itching to get out of there. Those 10 minutes are the ones I hate the most.

[xultar]

23. I agree but it is better than getting an elbow or bag in the face. I try

to stand a little but I always stay under the bins...I guess I'm short enough for that.

[wakeme2008]

6. I love AIRBUSES :)

I have been flying for some time the Airbus 319/320, last week I had to fly a 737, the first thing I notice was the smaller overheads. The Airbus bins are made to fit a rollaboard wheels in. Much more can get in the 319/320 overheads....

Just IMHO :)

[MrCoffee]

15. I'd rather fly Airbus than Boeing any day

which probably means i hate amerika, but whatever. it's a more comfortable ride.

[porphyrian]

8. I haven't flown that much, but I mostly hate the overhead bins...

...and the people who constantly try to cram as much into them as possible. Half of the pain in the ass time wasted in boarding and disembarking is waiting for people to cram their oversized shit into them or pull it out, and I don't have patience.

[NV Whino]

9. When they come up with a more effecient way to handle

checked baggage, I will check my bag. (Notice the singular--bag not bags.) As it is I travel with a backpack that fits in the overhead and sometimes a laptop that goes under the seat.

Good move to seat the window passengers first. It's a start.

By the way, when traveling in the winter, which requires packing bulkier clothes, I frequently send clothes in advance to my destinatin by UPS or FedEx and take minimum stuff with me.

[question everything]

21. Excellent idea. I have often thought about doing this (nt)

[burythehatchet]

10. I recommend flying first class

;)

[JackintheGreen]

20. I'll get right on that

and pay for it with my under 20K graduate stipend. Maybe I can afford it if I check my wife and daughter and pick them at baggage claim.

[ReadTomPaine]

13. If it's less than around a thousand miles, I'll drive if possible.

This, among many other reasons, is why. It's often faster to boot esp. when you consider the arrival/departure nonsense people are forced put up with.

[Beaverhausen]

16. People put gift wrapped packages in the bins around the holidays

and they are all protective of them.

Newsflash- there is wrapping paper, scissors and ribbon where you are going. Wait and wrap it when you get there. Sheesh!

[MadHound]

17. More and more airlines are starting to resemble cattle cars

Less space to sit in, less space to store things in, more rules, regulations, security checks, etc. All the while with less amenities and higher ticket prices.

I've flown on airlines rarely in my life, at first because of the expense, and then because of the service. I would much prefer to drive if my destination is in North or South America. And I haven't gone overseas since 9/11, thus I haven't flown since then. It just isn't appealling. Don't get me wrong, I love to fly, small planes, ultra lights, hot air balloons. But don't put me on a goddamn cattle car in the sky.

However it looks like within a couple of years I'm going to have to get on one, since my wife and I want to do some traveling in Europe. More and more I'm thinking that it might just be worth the extra bucks to get first class tickets. At least I won't have to compact my 6'5" frame into a seat meant for somebody 5'10".

[OregonBlue]

19. I fly internationally all the time. My bag has been lost and believe

me, it can take weeks to get it back. Sorry but I'm one of those that carries on everything I will need to get by until my bag is located! Since I fly the same airline (Northwest) to Asia, I am one of those preferred passengers and get to board first, thus, I always find room for my bag. I will start checking all my bags when the airlines get a better system for locating lost luggage!!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. It would help a lot if people would just turn their bags on their sides

and stick them in the overheads lengthwise, with the wheels facing in (or out), rather than lay them flat. It would help even more if people wouldn't be selfish assholes and insist that they "own" a particular overhead space even if their bag doesn't actually fit there. And while we're at it, why do people jump up and start lunging for their bags the instant the aircraft stops at the gate and the seat belt sign is turned off, then they swing the bags out and bash people in the head with them and end up standing in the aisle and just wait for their turn to get off the plane? Sit down, folks. Keep reading your book and wait for the crowd to thin out. The plane won't empty any faster just because you're standing in the aisle...