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Subscribe to RSSWe’ve all seen them on airplanes: Fellow passengers who put their stuff in an overhead bin toward the front of the plane before sneaking off to an assigned seat way in the back.
When that happens, some passengers seated up front end up having to store their bags in the rear of the plane.
“Do I have any recourse about what is in the overhead bin over my head?” writes Barbara, a nurse from Elizabeth City, N.C.
“I’ve ended up with my bag being placed all the way in the back and it delays my deplaning 'til the very end. I actually once missed my connection because I had to wait so long to get my carry on.”
“This is a huge flight attendant pet peeve,” said Sara Keagle, a flight attendant who writes the The Flying Pinto blog. “Most flight attendants I know close the first few rows of overhead bins at the start of boarding because of this issue.”
Keagle says that when she and other flight attendants are on duty as the aisle flight attendants, they’ll try to police the situation. But Heather Poole, a flight attendant who writes the Galley Gossip column for Gadling.com, noted that passengers can’t always rely on bin space being saved. “Because we are usually staffed with FAA minimum crew, there aren't enough of us on board to direct passengers to other bins.”
Bottom line: It can be irritating, but the overhead bins are first come, first serve. “You don't have any recourse or right to the bin above your seat,” said Poole, who pointed out that one way to get first dibs on the overhead bins is to pay the extra fee most airlines now charge to passengers who wish to board early.
And bin hogs, beware. Overhead Bin has heard from flight attendants who make note of bin abusers − and then quietly gate-check those bags right before departure.
Have a travel-related pet peeve or question you’d like answered? Overhead Bin will track it down. Send us your question.
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Find more by Harriet Baskas on Stuck at The Airport.com and follow her on Twitter.
Leave a Comment:
If the carry on limits are observed properly, there is no reason any passenger would need to use the overhead bin other than the one over their own head. The people who are abusing the space are simply bringing aboard more baggage than they should be allowed to.
Or they are placing their one bag over someone elses head and heading to the back of plane...
What irritates me is when I pay to check a bag (one that technically could go into the overhead bin), but then get the guilty trip from flight attendants about putting a smaller bag into the overhead bin. "Whose backpack is this??" As I see it, by paying to check a bag, I am helping to reduce the overhead bin space crunch, but I still am entitled to put something in the overhead bin. I should not be further crowded in my seat in terms of foot-room just because other travelers are too cheap to pay to check their bags.
I will be traveling in August. to California. I will have my daughter with me who at the time will be 9 months old. I plan on taking one carry on and my mother will have one too. Everything else will be checked. People wonder why its so frustrating to wait for people to find overhead space. Well, if people would limit it to ONE carry on a person, we wouldn't have this problem. And if you stick to a backpack or something at least medium sized, everyone can put their stuff right above where they sit.
The whole point of the article is that people are putting their bags above someone elses seat... If someone takes that spot before you get there, then you may not have room above you.
Airlines should re-think their baggage policies. I think they should eliminate all the checked bag fees and replace them with carry-on fees. Passengers should be allowed ONE carry-on only, and that must go under the seat. Anything that goes in the overhead bin is charged.
This would greatly increase bin space, as well as help the plane turn faster as people can get on & off much quicker. (This is one key to Southwest's success... quick turning of the aircraft) And if they do it right with the adjustments in regular fares and the carry-on fee they will not lose revenues but may increase them by keeping their planes in the air more.
What gets my goat is one gag weighs 55 pounds and they want to charge a huge fee to check it, but if you stick that extra weight in your carry on it costs no more. Guess what? The total weight on the plane is exactly the same. People totally abuse the carry on luggage and use the overhead storage as if the Titanic were up there. People bring bags on the planes they know should be checked, but would rather kill someone while they try and get that over sized bag out of the overhead.
The government blames the airlines for weights on the tarmac and I get ticked because too many people carry luggage onto the plane and it takes a long time for them to stow their trunks. One small carry on is all that should be allowed and the TSA should get off their high horse about their limited liquids and gels.
I'm sick of flying and would rather drive even if I blow a couple of more hours, even six.
@Frank
People aren't abusing the rules for carryons, the rules have just changed. Nobody wants to pay some outrageous bag fee so they bring stuff on the plane. You can actually fit a fair amount of stuff in a large duffle bag and there's easily enough room for every passenger on a 737 to fit such a duffle bag in the overhead bins. Its the hard cases that tend to clutter up the bins since they can't be squished together and thus don't use space all that effectively.
The 55lb thing has to do with baggage handlers. I hardly ever deal with it anymore myself unless I'm flying Southwest but I think it comes from that somebody determined that a baggage handler shouldn't have to lift more than 50lb. Anything more would require two baggage handlers (at least in theory) so to speed up the baggage handling operations they decided to limit bags to 50lbs. It used to be 75lb not that long ago. I've certainly had to take stuff out of checked baggage and put it into carryon in the past but I usually weigh my checked bags at home now before I leave so I don't go through that hassle. Occasionally the airport scales are miscalibrated though.
6hrs? why dont you just drive anyhow... I only fly to destinations that are like a 6hr (or more) flight away. If its less than 16hr drive I wont even consider flying.
I agree with EMDF9A, if you want to put stuff in the overhead bin you should have to pay for it. I just want to get on and off quickly.
No, I think they're just being lazy. They don't want to carry their bag with them all the way to the back of the plane so they leave it up front so they can grab it right before they get off. Unfortunately that leaves no space for the people sitting up front. Its really kind of selfish.
Those that pay the exhorbitant fee to check a bag should be allowed to board first. They get first "rights" to place a carry on in the bin over their seat. Getting first dibs becomes an incentive to pay the fee to check a bag. Those that don't check their bags either stow them under the seat, find space in an open bin, or gate check the bag. When they get tired of that, they'll check their bag and the airline will increase revenue.
Redesign the plane with baggage storage underneath the seat, or some way you don't have to kill yourself doing it. Also, hire some strong arm attendants who can actually help you with bags, rather than airlines hiring 'cashiers' charging you for everything. UPS has standards to hire people who can lift upward of 50 #s, why not give these lazy attendants who are no longer needed on flights. Do buses or trains have attendants? No! Lower prices by getting rid of the disingenuous stewardesses over trained to patronize your every moment.
Whether flight attendant CAN lift the 50 pounds or not is not what is relevant to the issue at hand. Flight attendants are paid only when the cabin door is closed. IF they were to assist you in hefting that bag into the overhead bin & injure themselves, they would not be covered under L&I and would be disciplined or fired by the carrier. IF they actually help you (and most I know wont) they do so at their own risk.
Why would you bring a bag that you can't carry yourself?
I have seen a flight attendant trying to stuff a huge duffel into an overhead, whe I thought she should have told the passenger that they would need to get it into the cargo area. We were also late in our departure.
There are bins at the gate for Southwest, which have no effect, because nobody says "let's check that one out" to anyone boarding.
This has to be addressed long before that at security.
We have a terminal for SW so have a SW rep there to ENFORCE the size limits before they get to the gates, and they can more easily check their bags.
Or have airport employees at each security point.
When it is a pain for travelers to do this, maybe then they will wise up and use the appropriate sized bags.
Many time I've seen a passenger place their luggage in an overhead bin in the front of the plane and then head for the back. And more than once when their bag takes up the space over my seat or the immediate area and I've not place to put my bag, I take their bag out and ask all the passengers in the immediate area if it is theirs. If no one claims it I place my bag in the overhead bin and inform the flight attendant. And in several instances the offender's bag ends up getting tagged and placed under the plane. I figure the selfish passengers have gotten a surprise when they come forward to claim their prize at the end of the flight. Time wounds all heels, but it doesn't hurt to give them a little help once in a while.
Great idea!!!
I was joking with a flight attendant once about what the airlines started when they started charging for checked bags.. She said "yeah I wish they would just charge for carry-ons" That to me made more sense. Just think how fast we could board a plane if all the baggage was where it's suppose to be.
First: Make the overhead bin fit the luggage restrictions. Airlines have rules for the size of a carryon bag and have that little bin at the gate to check your bag...but the overhead bin won't actually accommodate it. If the overhead bins could fit bags that match the published dimensions, that would help.
Second: Lockers. Your ticket has a bar code. That barcode opens a locker by your seat in which you can put your standardized luggage items. Thus, people cannot put items in a bin that isn't theirs. And bin hogs who put both of their carryons into the overhead rather than one above and one under the seat in front won't be able to unless they can both fit in the locker.
Simple solution...Board the plane with the front rows first. Also, be more strict on the bag size checking. I have seen Check that they actually fit in the steel frame put out as a size example.
You might as well give in to the fact that no one wants to put anything under their seat! Many times, its small bags that take up extra room~this is a start. Next, passengers should have enough common sense to place their bags above or near their seats......I agree with one comment about taking a bag out if its owner is nowhere near!
wish I had the nerve to call those offenders out as you see them place their bags in the bins just as they board then proceed to the back of the plane.......Connielogg has a good solution!
or learn to travel light...I mean do you really need all that stuff?