Originally Posted by
asdf1234
So the laptop battery goes awol in an unlocked bin at 38000ft. You still have an overhead bin fire to contend with. Who says the unlocked bin fire will be noticed and acted upon in time?
Locking the bins when the seatbelt sign is on will prevent injuries and potentially save lives throughout periods or turbulence, post landing taxy and emergency evacuations.
Go bang your head a bit more, you seem to enjoy it.
I hesitate to chip in to this thread, as a shipping man not an airline man, but we have similar situations (getting four thousand passengers off a ship...) and we would not ever lock the bins; a passenger may "freeze" and continue trying to open a locked bin, which would cause more of an obstruction than is caused by the passenger trying to get their carry on baggage.