What’s the rule about luggage under the seat in front of you?
 

I have a standard size carry on. I thought the whole point of this is that it fits in an overhead locker (end on) and fits under the seat in front of you. I was on an Easyjet flight the other week and all the overhead lockers were full. They were taking bags off people and checking them into the hold. I put my carry on under the seat in front of me. It fitted snugly but perfectly and I was able to sit in a normal upright posture with my feet flat on the floor. Alright I couldn’t slouch down and stretch my legs out under the seat in front of me because there was a bag there but, I was happy to forgo that luxury for an hour to save time and worry in collecting the baggage.

However, one of the cabin crew said it was not allowed and, after much protesting, I had my bag taken off me and put in the hold. The excuse was that it stuck out past the end of the metal bar. It did stick out about 3 inches but it was flush against the front of the metal bar and is a standard size (22 inches IIRC). What is the point in having a standard size which is then too big to fit?

Sorry to be negative but ...

They all make their own rules! There are many, many 'standard' sizes. If the CC thought that, in an emergency evacuation, your bag would have caused you, or another pax, to trip as they left their seat - then that is that and you accept or leave the aircraft.

You will never get a clear answer on this. All the airports point to the airlines and they point to their standards. If there is an anomoly between the 'standard' on one sector and on another - even with two aircraft of the same carrier? That's the way it is. The CC have to secure the cabin the way that they can defend to their manager of, worse case, in court.

Yeah, i think the crucial point in all this was that, whilst it fit under the seat if it was sticking out in anyway that could cause someone to trip in an evacuation, it shouldn't be stowed under the seat in front. Although I sympathise, it was absolutely right that the bag was offloaded. Tagging and offloading bags is a hassle for the crew so it is unlikely that they would have done it if they really didn't have to.

Human beings don't come in one standard size, and neither do aircraft or their baggage provision, either overhead or under the seat. Likewise for manufacturers of "standard" luggage their job in life is to sell their luggage. They probably don't know one end of an aircraft from the other (and certainly don't if they pretend there is some standard, 22 inches or anything else).

Fortunately there are people at the airline, not the bag manufacturer, who do understand about both dimensions of baggage etc, and safety factors, and spend quite some time defining limitations, while still being reasonable to their paying customer passengers, which limitations they then train their cabin crew in. Please take advantage of this. Contrary to much belief, cabin crew do not receive commission from the bag handler for each piece of baggage they reorganise.

I still don't understand how within one paragraph the bag transmorphed from "fitted snugly but perfectly" to "stick out about 3 inches". You also don't say if you were sitting in a window seat (nobody to go past you), centre or aisle seat (where two people alongside may have to negotiate past your protruding bag in smoke conditions). Given the high density seating on Easyjet, 3 inches is a significant proportion of the space available to those passengers to pass between the seats.

I don't believe Easyjet charge when they take bags off passengers and put them in the hold, so what is the issue with doing that ?

They don't charge if they take the bag due to lack of space, but they do if they take it because it's too big - that's fair.

The problem with taking your handbaggage off you is that you will normally have stuff in it that you don't want to check in - keys, papers, laptop, etc. If they take it off you then you have no way of carrying this unless they provide with at least a plastic packet. This is a matter I have taken up with EZY.

Well the "too big" should be dealt with by the gate staff. The cabin crew, dealing with issues inside the aircraft, do not, I understand, even have a charging mechanism available to them for bags that make it that far.

I've never encountered a laptop bag that doesn't fit under the seat (even my whopper does), and other items would surely be either on your person or in some genuine hand luggage - not in some 22" suitcase.

WHBM

The point you are missing, and perhaps I was not clear, is that sometimes, due to lack of space in the overheads, they make you check in genuine cabin-bag sized baggage which you are entiteld to take on board. This particularly happens when you don't join the baa-ing queue of sheep and you choose to be amongst the last to board. By that point the overheads are sometimes full.

Simple answer, get to the airport earlier then you will one of the first to board so won't have the problem again.

It's not about 'getting to the airport earlier', it's about not leaping up and standing like an idiot for half an hour before the gate opens, or standing like a sheep in queue for 40 minutes being jostled. And before you say 'Speedy Boarding' .... that's a farce out of most of their airports.

Well "genuine" cabin-bag sized items, including my quite chunky laptop bag, will always fit under the seat in front of me, without obstructing anyone else, as will other comparable items, women's handbags, etc. A 22" (nearly 2 feet) sized bag can go where it belongs, and which the airline provides facilities for, in the hold.

In passing I've never found no space in the overheads full for coats, or even laptops, only for what are actually suitcases that belong elsewhere in the first place.

Standard size carry on ... didn't think there was such a beast.

Each airline makes its own rules, pax beware!

Check each airline's website for their own restrictions and stick to them.

You might end up with different bags for different airlines though!

From Wiki:

Many network airlines apply this standard but beware when travelling LCC or similar.

Read the conditions of carriage before you buy your ticket, and again, before you travel.

If you choose not to join "the baa-ing queue of sheep" and "choose to be amongst the last to board" that's the risk you take. Maybe they're not sheep at all but frequent flyers who know what happens when the overheads get filled up with monster suitcases that should have been checked in. This isn't limited to EZY and its ilk either. Same on BA, including in business class.

A few minutes standing in a queue before boarding must be better than having to check a bag in or to have to put it in an overhead somewhere well away from your seat so you have to force your way against the flow of disembarking pax just to get to it.

By choice I don't fly on race-for-your seat carriers so can't comment on carriers without seat allocation. As for the others I tend to try and assess at the gate how full the flight is going to be. If it looks heavy I do my best to get on early so that I can guarantee a space in the overhead locker. Otherwise I stay seated and board at my leisure. I also check what type of aircraft I'll be flying on as hand baggage size is more restricted on the commuter types.

Of course, all airlines could fix the problem with carry-on luggage very simply by installing overhead bins with separators to create individual compartments of the exact size of their maximum permissible carry-on bag. Label each compartment with a seat number - and presto.

Of course, all airlines could fix the problem with carry-on luggage very simply by installing overhead bins with separators to create a individual compartments of the exact size of their maximum permissible carry-on bag. Label each compartment with a seat number - and presto.

It would at least stop a lot of the cheating that goes on(In the states I noticed a lot of the pax taking on 2 or 3 pieces of handbaggage!).

You're kidding, I hope. I can't think of anything that would make worse use of the space available than a whole bunch of extra, expensive, and unnecessary dividers.

The most flexible arrangement, though clearly not possible for structural reasons, would be to have a single bin the full length of the cabin with no dividers at all. Closing it would be fun as well. :O

Far better, simpler, and quicker to stop passengers getting past the gate with more than one piece.

The strategy I employ, particularly when there is no allocated seat, is simply to choose any overhead bin with empty space before arriving at my seat.

Never quite sure If I feel guilty about this :confused:

Last time a flew an internal BA flight seats were preallocated but boarding was a free for all, usually my goal to be a super cool flyer last on last off. By the time I'd got on to the plane the closest empty bin was half way down the plane, so I was last off though I didn't need to collect my luggage. The airlines ought to board FF first so they can get the bins closest to their seats.

Many do, but obviously not BA. But you do have a choice, don't you? Oh, maybe not.

On Swiss, the flight attendants stop Y class passengers from using business class bins. (politely, asking to see boarding card, and assisting) Although on one Jumbolino flight I took ZRH-GVA there were only two rows of C and NO overhead bins (O2 and other stuff for the crew up there) at all for C passengers.

Slightly off topic but this has been seen in Lanzarote Airport:

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...e/272f6e21.jpg

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...e/2a0ca971.jpg

Ryanair problems?

What out for sneaky b******s
 

It irks me when I see people putting their bag in an O/L several rows in front of them, so they can try and barge their way off a few rows early on landing.

I had the good fortune to get downgraded from C class to an equivalent row on an all-economy aircraft (only a quick hop over the Gulf), only to find all the bins full.

It's a tribute to Qatar's respect for their frequent flyers and business passengers that the CC simply removed a bag that wasn't meant to be there to make space for mine.

Furthermore, the chancer five or six rows back that had tried it was dismayed to see his bag go all the way to the back of the plane.

Oh how I laughed.

:)

LCC problem I would say. The problem with this is that the LCCs will permit this only where they have been pressured by law, or that particular airport. Take GVA-BRS, for example. At BRS 'somebody' has pressured the LCCs to accept the extra Duty Free bag, so they do - with lots of notices to that effect in the DF shops. But in GVA this isn't the case. One bag only, no exceptions.

This really irks my wife who travels with old DF bags, so she can put her handbag into one before boarding. In BRS she gets away with it. In GVA she doesn't.

For another thread perhaps, by why do LCCs never carry enough small change? I'm referring specifically to squeezy-UK and UK pounds!

ExXB,

In response to your last question: at ezy, each Cabin Manager is given £60 when promoted to carry as their float, half of this is carried in euros. Now multiply that £60 by the approximate number of Cabin Managers employed, say 2000, that gives the airline £180,000.00 out of circulation, losing value by the day. If you were an airline maager, trying to squeeze every penny of profit, would you give more float, say double the amount, £360,000.00?

This amount of change, further, doesn't go very far if the first three pax pays with a £20 note, hence the crew tend to not have enough change on their first flight.

Let's see if I understand this. On the first flight out the Cabin Manager has £30 and €30~40. There are two trolleys - one from the front, one from the back. So each has £15. No (expletive deleted) wonder they never have any change.

With interest rates (much) less than 1% I don't buy your argument. The number of lost sales (I once abandoned my order when they didn't have change - and I didn't trust them to give me a reasonable exchange rate on my Swiss credit card) would well exceed any loss.

Sounds (again) like somebody putting the airline first, and the customer second.

That's an interesting perspective. History is littered with the corpses of companies who gave great customer service but didn't do their sums properly.

If the cabin crew make their budgeted amount of sales to passengers who offer the correct money, I can't imagine the airline losing sleep over passengers who don't get to spend their high-denomination banknotes.

Have you ever carried that amount of coinage?

If £60 isn't sufficient. what amount is? £100? £150?

£2,304.27p is sufficient. I have spent 5 years and £1,235,648.02p on my research and this will ensure all change can be given correctly. Thank you to the government changing money and coinage research agency.
Luckily they paid me £25.03 for the research so I think I got a good deal.:\

But the biggest unit of UK currency would be the £2 coin.:zzz:

I have been ezy cabin crew for nearly 7 years and I struggle to recount any instances at all where an order was abandoned because of insufficient change. If this was an issue, the airline would certainly do something about it; onboard sales are a very important revenue source.

Besides, we almost always manage to get all the change due by the end of the service. If that is not the case, a PA is made to pax to help out (I don't personally like the need for this intrusion, it definitely doesn't sound good and is less than great service). But as for lost sales, I doubt that's an issue.

By the way, I'm not defending any sides here, merely offering the explanation to ExXB's question.

OK, two questions so here's two more.

Why should a passenger need to carry that much coinage?
If £60 isn't sufficient shouldn't the airline(s) decide what is?

He doesn't. A snack and a coffee or soft drink will set you back less than ten quid. A five pound note and five in pound coins should do the trick. Where's the big deal?

I'm an Easyjet CM. We do very occasionally run short of change but more often than not it is £5 notes. Actual coinage is usually fine.

Abandoning an order on the grounds that the crew are short on change has never happened to me and to be brutally honest it seems like you cut your nose off to spite your face. You'd have got your change, the crew weren't going anywhere lets face it. Also, on your card you could surely have gained an idea of the rate you was getting. Plus, with a drinks/snacks order which is typically low value, the exchange rate wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Making a mountain out of a mole hill if you ask me. Yes occasionally crews run short of change but for 99.9% of passengers it doesn't bother them at all provided they get there change by the end of the flight.

There's a lesson in this for me - I wasn't clear enough. May I rephrase?

Have you ever carried that amount of coinage? Do you know how much it weighs?

The airline has decided - It's £60. Apparently there is a belief that this isn't sufficient. It seems reasonable to ask what might be considered sufficient if that is the case.

Maybe I misunderstood Bodim. I thought s/he meant that the trolleys had a total of £15 in notes and coins, not just in coins.

I apologise if I was making a mountain out of a molehill, but on many squeezy flights I have taken the crew makes various attempts to address the issue - requesting exact change where possible, making announcements requesting change, promising to return with your change (and making a note on a handy napkin), etc.

Because this is such a frequent occurrence, at least on flights I have taken, I thought squeezy might have seen this as a hassle for their staff and an inconvenience to their customers. From responses it appears I was mistaken.

In my particular case I was at the point where the trolleys met in the middle of the cabin, I only had a £20 in UK currency, (which I had gotten from the ATM at Geneva airport, no other notes dispensed there) they would not take Swiss coins only notes, and I only wanted a beer. Neither trolly had enough change. They would take my Credit Card but would bill me in pounds not francs meaning high transaction fees. So I said, thank you but no thanks.

ExXB - I do not think EZY management will be losing much sleep over the lost profit on your beer.
In my experience [only 10 or so sectors per year] I have never experienced any problems with lack of change on EZY flights - occasionally there may have been a slight delay in getting the correct change, but never a lost sale.
However, on my less frequent flights with a certain Irish lcc, it seems to be the norm to run out of change quite early in the flight: I always get the impression that there is no such thing as a £5 'float' let alone one of £60.

Will Ryanair's new order for 737-800's have larger overhead bins?

Given the generous 10kg allowance and dimensions per person the present Ryanair fleet seem to have difficulty accommodating cabin baggage on a full aircraft. When the overhead bins are full the baggage under the seat doesn't seem to work as most people have maxed on their dimensions and weight and there just isn't enough room under the seat in front of you without it jutting out and creating a tripping hazard.

Speedy Boarding
 

May be but not, in my experience, at LGW or AMS.

For those expecting the pax to have adequate coins for their purchases, bear in mind they have just come through security, where one of the nuisances is coins on you. Therefore many, myself included, will dump most of their coinage before leaving the house, knowing the issues at security. For those airports where the security tell you to put your keys and coins etc in the side of your laptop bag rather than use the little tray, that's generally where they still are, up in the overhead (with you in a window seat) when the sale items come around.

Aviation. Joined-up thinking ..... ?

Spicejetter, did you see the date of my posts? Curious why you feel it necessary to insult me a year later.