Pax Hand Luggage

[Brown eyes]

When clearing emergency exits of pax hand luggage, how do you deal with pax who refuse to stow their luggage in the overhead lockers?
Also, do you always put the bags in the overhead lockers for the pax?

[A300Man]

Hi Brown Eyes,

If it happens to me and they refuse to stow their hand luggage, my favourite ploy is to raise my voice to a somewhat audible level and address the passengers in the 6 or 7 rows within the vicinity and say " Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have some volunteers for a seat swap with these passangers here at the emergency exit, who do not wish to stow their luggage. This is a legal requirement."

The red-faced passengers at the exit row then usually whisper and apology and immediately stow the bags in the o'head bins, with all the surrounding passengers glaring.

Try it.

[Brown eyes]

Thanks, i will. Any other suggestions?

[747flyboy]

just a gentle persuasion especially if they refuse!!
i am really sorry sir, but if we crash today your baggage may interfere with the evacuation of this aircraft. once again, would you please mind stowing your baggage in the overhead lockers.
(sorry if it's a bit harsh, but who is in charge and who's butt would be on the line!)

[quilfaitbeau]

Yup 747flyboy! That is the way to do it! Oh yea....don't forget those huge boots they love to remove too....that can be pretty hazardous too.

They just love their stuff too much that they can't even part with them for a few minutes. Weird!

[ditzyboy]

Try being nice to the people and tell them why you need them to place their bags in a locker...

"The floor at your feet is part of an escape path from the aircraft. We need it kept clear."

If they still won't....

"Your bag may impede the exit of the other 100 or so people who will need to use the door."

I also offer to bring their bag down for them once we are in flight.

Now wasn't that stress free? NO raising your voice or cholesterol levels. All smiles :-)

If they are being obnoxious I just tell them that they will have to move and that usually works. Oh and as a final back up I put on a really camp voice and say "Well, sweetie this exit here looks like a Price Is Right Gift Shop! I am moving your bag, mmmmkay. Fabulous, thank you...." And with a limp wrist I saunter off to the galley and have a good laugh.

[MR WIBBLE]

Hello Boys and Girls and fellow citizens of Wibble,

In situations like this I often find a bit of dry sarcasm works here, for example,

"I really dont think anyone is going to steal your bag from the locker which you can see above your head, even if they are successful I can't see them getting very far at 33,000ft. So I'll just put your bag up here then."

[christep]

As a VFF I often get the legroom seats and I know the situation so I stow my bags. However, the concern is not normally that it might be stolen - the problem on most flights these days is that people are often not very gentle when attempting to stuff too many bags into the lockers. The result could be a broken screen on your laptop.

The answer I find is to get onboard early and make sure your bag is stowed in a way that it can't easily be bashed.

By the way, I was pleasantly surprised recently when CX revised their hand baggage policy so that as a Diamond member I can now legitimately carry 4 bags totalling 23kg as cabin baggage (plus overcoat, umbrella & camera), even in economy!

[GalleyWench]

BrownEyes, I usually do not give the passenger the option of refusing . I reach for the item whilst saying, " I'll just stow this for you for take off and landing". If you are quick, it is stowed before they even realise what you just did. It helps to station a member of cabin crew near the exit rows during boarding so they can be politely reminded to stow the bags before they are snuggled at their feet.

[mainfrog2]

Why would anyone want to have 23kg of hand luggage.

Either it goes in the overhead locker or it's on the tarmac, with yourself.

[christep]

I dunno - so I can get it off quickly or something I guess. I'm not suggesting that I would actually carry:

1 standard dimension (22x14x9) carry on bag
1 garment bag (max 8 inches thick)
(the above two together, max 15kg)

1 laptop bag, max 4kg
1 briefcase, max 4kg
1 camera
1 overcoat
1 umbrella

I merely pointed out that that is what Cathay now say they will allow me to carry on to their flights, even in economy.

[Xenia]

:rolleyes:

[christep]

Remember of course that Cathay's fleet is entirely 747, 777, 340, and 330, so they tend to have more space than a fleet of, say, 732s would have.

In fact the only difference for normal pax is that the carry-on bag max weight is 7kg not 15kg, and only bus/first pax are allowecd the garment bag.

[cloud nine]

Brown eyes,

Being a solo f/a, what works best for me is to tell them whilst boarding. Just briefly tell them that they are seated in an emergancy exit row today, and to pop there luggage in the over head locker. And if they have any trouble let them know you'll be down to help in a moment. Since doing it this way, I have never had a problem.

Any other pax that are concerned about bags going under the seat in front of them, just let them know there is a bar there to prevent there bags sliding through the cabin.

It can be a difficult issue to settle easy, but if you say it the right way its usually okay.

[FloatJockey]

Christep, I guess Cathay will have to hire few more people for their "lost & found" counters around the world... :D Good for us wannabes!

Mrs. FloatJockey

[christep]

I'm afraid I can't follow your logic there Mrs Float Jockey ... :(

Oh, and Mainfrog... one of the advantages of being a top tier FF is that if your baggage doesn't fit in the lockers it is someone else's that gets taken out :cool:

On CX that is, where they treat their top pax pretty well all the time. Yesterday they even upgraded my girlfriend from an AD25 ticket to business so we could sit together :)

My previous experience on BA in this respect (as a Gold Card member) was pretty mixed by comparison.

[FloatJockey]

C'mon!! What are the probabilities that pax will remember their 7 pieces of luggage spread around 3 or 4 lockers??

I struggle myself to remember where I put my handbag, scarf, set of keys and I probabily lost a dozen umbrellas in restaurants in the last 15 years! I'm sure I'm not the only one with on/off brains... :D That's why I was talking about "lost & found" counters for Cathay! :p

My opinion: umbrellas shouldn't be allowed in the cabin, especially the old style ones with the pointy end. If airport security staff "confiscate" nail clippers and razor blades, it should be the same for umbrellas (with exception for the small, retractable ones that usually have a flat end). Hopefully this will change soon.

Mrs. FloatJockey

[PAXboy]

Mrs Floatjockey - VERY good point about umbrellas. I never carry one because of the old problem that if you carry a brolly, it never rains! I find it simpler to occasionally get wet than to lose umbrellas :rolleyes:

As to why PAX bring so much junk on board (and I note Xenia that the thread is about Emergency Exit rows!) stems from the problem that people will always try and get away with as much as possible!

Over the past decade, as pax numbers increased so wonderfully, carriers decided not to enforce the rules. Then they decided to close the seat pitch and found that they could not go back on what the pax had got used to. I see no way out of this.

The other source of the problem was from the USA. As Hub-and-Spoke developed, many pax found that they missed a connection whilst waiting for baggage (changing carrier) or their baggage did not make the connection (same carrier). As timings got tighter and routings more tortuous - pax reacted by carrying everything with them because then they felt that nothing could go wrong. [back on thread!!] Until they tried to get out of an a/c in hurry that is:eek:

[jayne]

Is it regulation for qantas mainline to clear exists of luggage cos i have flown them alot and have never been asked to put my bags up.....curious.