Are some more equal than others?

[Denali]

"Space War"..... Sounds like a new George Lucas Movie title (LOL)

 

[Pushka]

I had a different experience once with someone else touching my stuff in the overhead bin. I got a last minute flow-forward on QF (in the good old days) and they put me in 4B. Mr and Mrs 4A and 4C rolled their eyes when I arrived, last to board. I put my (small) bag in the overhead bin and I scrunched up my coat and crammed it in on top, in a hurry to sit down and not hold the plane up. Mr 4C jumped up, took out my coat, carefully folded it up and placed it gently back in the locker, then glared at me the whole flight. I assumed this was because I was sitting in a shadow-seat he thought he was somehow entitled to. Then on disembarkation he took out my coat and placed it over his arm. I said 'excuse me that's my coat' - turned out he had a similar one further back in the bin and he had thought I had taken his coat out and stuffed it back into the overhead bin any old how :shock: He didn't apologise.

Now that is priceless. What a tool. Karma. Hope his coat got scrunched.

 

[RooFlyer]

I had a different experience once with someone else touching my stuff in the overhead bin. I got a last minute flow-forward on QF (in the good old days) and they put me in 4B. Mr and Mrs 4A and 4C rolled their eyes when I arrived, last to board. I put my (small) bag in the overhead bin and I scrunched up my coat and crammed it in on top, in a hurry to sit down and not hold the plane up. Mr 4C jumped up, took out my coat, carefully folded it up and placed it gently back in the locker, then glared at me the whole flight. I assumed this was because I was sitting in a shadow-seat he thought he was somehow entitled to. Then on disembarkation he took out my coat and placed it over his arm. I said 'excuse me that's my coat' - turned out he had a similar one further back in the bin and he had thought I had taken his coat out and stuffed it back into the overhead bin any old how :shock: He didn't apologise.

Oh, I wish ...I wish that would happen to me sometime. I would have taken the coat out and scrunched it up again ... and that just for starters.

 

[snabbu]

You let him touch your bag? Why? You were there first.

No one apart from cabin crew can move my bag without permission. Nor will I let them. If I was forced to move his bag I may have accidentally dropped it.

I generally agree with this however I couldn't count how many times I've touched someone else bags (read adjusted) to accommodate mine (as they have been either inconsiderate or unable to understand the signs/announcements that say "wheels to the back").

Definitely have never literally grabbed someone else bags and moved them to a completely different bin space, that's just rude.

 

[tgh]

Sadly , the meek do not inherit the earth , or the locker space I am afraid.
A few moments loudness tends to attract attention.
Finding every nearby bin chockers in row 2 of first on a Delta feeder (lax>sfo), I was not offering to walk the plane seeking a spot.
My strine loudness brought a bustling hostie from the door who did some aggressive re-arrangent nearby and the deed was done.

 

[blackcat20]

Had a hissy fit at a bloke who tried to cram his carry-on on top of my wedding dress, which I had folded and carefully place in the overhead with TV's suit bag stacked with it (no where for it to be hung). Its not like there werent plenty of other overhead spaces available.

 

[Kolo]

Which former? As the immediate 'former' was a she, must have been former former or the former former former? I'm betting on the latter, but surprised he was flying VA.

Lennon flys VA.

 

[strongarmAU]

I guarantee his first name was David and surname Bartlett. Thinks the plane is his.
Failure as a premier and a person.

 

[OzEire]

I had a different experience once with someone else touching my stuff in the overhead bin. I got a last minute flow-forward on QF (in the good old days) and they put me in 4B. Mr and Mrs 4A and 4C rolled their eyes when I arrived, last to board. I put my (small) bag in the overhead bin and I scrunched up my coat and crammed it in on top, in a hurry to sit down and not hold the plane up. Mr 4C jumped up, took out my coat, carefully folded it up and placed it gently back in the locker, then glared at me the whole flight. I assumed this was because I was sitting in a shadow-seat he thought he was somehow entitled to. Then on disembarkation he took out my coat and placed it over his arm. I said 'excuse me that's my coat' - turned out he had a similar one further back in the bin and he had thought I had taken his coat out and stuffed it back into the overhead bin any old how :shock: He didn't apologise.

What a shame that story (which admittedly was ON topic) didn't end differently. I held
out some small hope till the end that the guy was being a gentleman, folding and then holding your coat for you.... alas, apart from being a little inappropriate, if the version of the anecdote happened as I imagined it... it's just not "the done thing" to display chivalry these days.

 

[petercr]

Then on disembarkation he took out my coat and placed it over his arm. I said 'excuse me that's my coat' - turned out he had a similar one further back in the bin and he had thought I had taken his coat out and stuffed it back into the overhead bin any old how :shock: He didn't apologise.

Reminds me of the tale Douglas Adams wrote about in one of the Hitch Hikers book where Arthur Dent had his biscuits eaten by another person in a train station café...

 

[brian_b]

I was flying between islands in Vanuatu on a 'puddle jumper' plane with about 20 passengers. The plane was small enough for the airline staff to have to consider the weight distribution of the passengers. This meant that at check-in, we not only had our bags weighed but all passengers also had to jump on the scales before being given a seat number.

At a 115kg I knew I would be one of the heavier passengers and would be located close to the front of the aircraft. When my boarding pass was issued I was in row 1. The plane had one seat either side of the aisle. When we eventually boarded I found a diminutive elderly gent sitting in my seat, just behind the pilots. We then entered a repetitive conversation where I pointed put he was in the wrong seat, he happily showed me his boarding pass for a seat almost at the back of the plane, and he then flatly refused to move. I became increasingly angry. There was no debate about whether he was in the wrong seat, he just refused to move to his allocated seat.

I might be 115kg but I'm not fat or out of shape. Quite the opposite. I was sorely tempted to pluck the gnome from my seat and throw him down the plane.

The two pilots could hear and see everything that was going on. The plane was small enough for the coughpit to be open to the main cabin and yet they didn't intervene. The lack of action by the pilots surprised me. The reason you want the weight in the plane towards the front is to retain control in the event of engine failure followed by a stall. If the weight is at the front the pilots are able to point the nose of the plane downwards and pickup airspeed and gain control of the aircraft. This idiot in my seat was actually a safety risk.

This increasingly heated debate went on for so long that everyone else was seated, including a another chap equally my size, on the other side of row 1 who also entered the debate by called the seat stealer a variety of names. I eventually called the interloper a few choice words at which point a woman at the back said "that's my father", to which I replied "Is he senile?".

Resolution came in the form of ground staff who entered the plane and told the senile idiot to move. Which he did. Reluctantly.

Air travel brings out some strange behaviour in people. The self entitled and selfish seem to become more obvious in airports and on planes.

 

[kermatu]

I guarantee his first name was David and surname Bartlett. Thinks the plane is his.
Failure as a premier and a person.

While I must admit to no personal experience, two of his former colleagues that I know well do not have a nice word to say. Resignation was a wise move as I gather it would have been a messy end for several people.

I don't use the overhead lockers often but when I do I tend to ask the staff to assist or find space. A bit inconvenient for them but avoids any angst or concern. And I must say my experiences/observations are far more positive than this scenario -- polite requests to move bags, treating things with care, people jumping up to assist others. Even us Row 4 types!

 

[buggsy62]

Today, flying back from Mel to Hba I had an experience that left me flabbergasted.

to which he replied something about needing to put his bag in there.

Astoundingly, from his tone and manner he clearly seemed to believe that he was well within his rights to do this, and seemed genuinely unable to understand what my problem was.

..

I was up the front SYD-ADL waiting while they looked for a missing passenger. He finally bowled his way in, waving his boarding pass at the crew waiting at the door, opened the locker above me and I heard my bag sliding to the back as he placed his two bags and overcoat in while the steward glared at him in disgust asking him to be seated. He squeezed into the business class seat next to mine and I asked "did you just push my bag back to put yours in?" His answer "Yeah, I'm in a hurry and need to get off quick". With that he put his headphones on and I think I spent the flight with a stunned look on my face. :shock:

 

[Tassieoptom]

I was up the front SYD-ADL waiting while they looked for a missing passenger. He finally bowled his way in, waving his boarding pass at the crew waiting at the door, opened the locker above me and I heard my bag sliding to the back as he placed his two bags and overcoat in while the steward glared at him in disgust asking him to be seated. He squeezed into the business class seat next to mine and I asked "did you just push my bag back to put yours in?" His answer "Yeah, I'm in a hurry and need to get off quick". With that he put his headphones on and I think I spent the flight with a stunned look on my face. :shock:

An absolute numnut, and definitely deserving of DYKWIA status.

 

[blackcat20]

I was up the front SYD-ADL waiting while they looked for a missing passenger. He finally bowled his way in, waving his boarding pass at the crew waiting at the door, opened the locker above me and I heard my bag sliding to the back as he placed his two bags and overcoat in while the steward glared at him in disgust asking him to be seated. He squeezed into the business class seat next to mine and I asked "did you just push my bag back to put yours in?" His answer "Yeah, I'm in a hurry and need to get off quick". With that he put his headphones on and I think I spent the flight with a stunned look on my face. :shock:

Had that on our flight from HNL; the lady behind us put her handbag in front of my carry on, so during the flight when I needed stuff from my bag, I had to move hers to get to mine. I was respectful and put it back carefully but as soon as I did, her husband jumped up to check on it. Don't know what he though I might have done to it in the two seconds it was out of the overhead while I pulled my own bag out

 

[suze2000]

At a 115kg I knew I would be one of the heavier passengers and would be located close to the front of the aircraft. When my boarding pass was issued I was in row 1. When we eventually boarded I found a diminutive elderly gent sitting in my seat, just behind the pilots. We then entered a repetitive conversation where I pointed put he was in the wrong seat, he happily showed me his boarding pass for a seat almost at the back of the plane, and he then flatly refused to move.

The two pilots could hear and see everything that was going on. The plane was small enough for the coughpit to be open to the main cabin and yet they didn't intervene. The lack of action by the pilots surprised me.<snip> This idiot in my seat was actually a safety risk.

This same thing happened to me on Air Vanuatu. And the guy in my row 1 seat was half my size too. I actually asked the pilot and he told me just to sit anywhere! There was one seat in row 2 which I took. Then the interloper proceeded to play games on his iPad for the entire flight while the rest of us dutifully turned off our devices!

 

[anat0l]

Had that on our flight from HNL; the lady behind us put her handbag in front of my carry on, so during the flight when I needed stuff from my bag, I had to move hers to get to mine. I was respectful and put it back carefully but as soon as I did, her husband jumped up to check on it. Don't know what he though I might have done to it in the two seconds it was out of the overhead while I pulled my own bag out

With all the tizz these days about theft from bags, one doesn't know from a glance how long you've handled the bag, so it's likely nothing against you but so he sees fit to check nothing was out of place with the bag.


To more directly answer the question in the topic title, well, I'm sure we've all read/seen Animal Farm and while we don't live in a socialist society, yes, the topic seems to hold.

What is also quite apparent as it does get demonstrated in a multitude of threads on several issues is that the propensity for a flight experience to be smooth rests highly on the ability to trust people (dare I say it, adults) to do the right* thing by each other. The fact that this cannot be relied upon all the time is the source of all conflicts and these kinds of rants, however since a lot of it cannot be pinned back to legal requirements, we feel ultimately quite powerless (or at least as equally powerless or powerful as the other party). I don't outright blame the OP for being tight lipped for this reason, because being firm could have ultimately lead to nothing and/or caused the carrier to fold to this idiot pollie's side. If someone being stubborn and unreasonable could be held for breaking the law, they might be tempted to do something, however if there is no legal obligation, then it is very difficult (even for the carrier) to insist on action on their part.

Lucky for me, I've not had overhead locker space disputes ever. In fact, I remember a few times that locker space was getting to a premium, and the negotiation between 2 or 3 other passengers and myself to rearrange our bags to maximise the available space whilst maintaining our belongings near each other was a very cordial exchange, believe it or not. Of course, sometimes I'm not the lucky one and have had to live with my bag being about 8 rows away from where I am; thankfully, retrieving it diplomatically has never been a difficult mission.

* What is "right" could be legal, moral, ethical or honourable

 

[blackcat20]

With all the tizz these days about theft from bags, one doesn't know from a glance how long you've handled the bag, so it's likely nothing against you but so he sees fit to check nothing was out of place with the bag.

I didnt even have time to steal anything as I moved the bag; it was pretty clear that I'd moved it to get to mine. But then, this was a guy who spent a lot of time complaining about lack of alcohol on QFd flights to the CSM....

 

[cutz]

Mrs Cutz and I were entertained by DYKWIA's recently at O'Hare airport when the flight to Toronto was an hour late. They announced it early and it was because of runway work being done in Toronto and the plane was late leaving there, hence going to be late departing. We watched several American DYKWIA's ranting on at the ground staff about how important they were and how they just COUNDNT be late. As we were on vacation and quite relaxed we found this quite entertaining along with the obligatory couple of guys pacing around having loud mobile calls so everyone could hear them.

 

[bigjobs]

Today, flying back from Mel to Hba I had an experience that left me flabbergasted.

I had boarded, one of the first on, placed my bag in the overhead locker, and taken my seat, 4D. The plane (a 737) gradually filled up, and I recognised as one of the last to board a former premier of Tasmania, who saw that both the lockers above 4A-4C and 4D-4F were by this time full. Instead of placing his bag one or two rows back (where there was room) I watched in disbelief as without so much as a please or by your leave, he took my bag out of its locker and moved it to another, putting his bag in its place. When I finally accepted the evidence of what my disbelieving eyes had just seen, I protested about this behaviour, to which he replied something about needing to put his bag in there.

Astoundingly, from his tone and manner he clearly seemed to believe that he was well within his rights to do this, and seemed genuinely unable to understand what my problem was.

Not wanting to cause a scene, I said no more. For me the inconvenience was minor, but I did find this man's arrogance beyond belief. I can't help but harbour a thought that one day he might behave in this way with the wrong person and end up with his eye in a sling!

Anybody had a similar experience? Or any comments on this one ....

If anyone other than myself or a legitimate employee of the airline touches or handles my bag in that kind of manner all hell will break loose (and has in the past). Don't take that **** lying down, it's the thin end of the wedge.