Carry on Baggage - allowances abused to save!

[straitman]

Domestically all QF jet passengers are entitled to 2 x 7kg carryon bags.

So waiting for luggage generally does not affect me, especially as I rarely use it (unless planning on playing golf).

... or unless travelling with SWMBO :!:

 

[serfty]

... or unless travelling with SWMBO :!:

Actually on Domestic trips we have this covered ... she gets 3 x 7kg, I get 1

 

[straitman]

Actually on Domestic trips we have this covered ... she gets 3 x 7kg, I get 1

I resemble that remark :!:

 

[nlagalle]

Actually on Domestic trips we have this covered ... she gets 3 x 7kg, I get 1

I trained my ex well. I managed to get her on her last 2 Sydney trips to have carry on only.. she has seen the light!!

 

[JohnK]

You are very lucky then. I cannot recall the last time I got "fast" checked luggage

There have been times where I have counted 50+ bags, and sometimes close to 100 bags, before mine comes out. That may add another 5 or so minutes to the wait.

I don't know much about MEL or other airports but have been commuting SYD-BNE the last couple of years and have travelled at various times on a Friday and Sunday and my experiences are consistent with what I have posted. If that means that I am lucky then so be it as I do not consider myself a lucky person by any stretch of the imagination.

Hmmm ... I note the JohnK does not use NGCI ...

Quite happy to keep using the service counters.

I trained my ex well. I managed to get her on her last 2 Sydney trips to have carry on only.. she has seen the light!!

Is that why she is your ex?

 

[RB]

John I read it that Serfty is of the belief that your fast baggage retrieval may be because you do not use NGCI

 

[JohnK]

John I read it that Serfty is of the belief that your fast baggage retrieval may be because you do not use NGCI

Yes I understood it that way as well.

That may well affect the order in which the luggage comes out but in theory not cause delays of 20 or 30 minutes for luggage to arrive onto carousel. As with both of my examples on the weekend the luggage was on the carousel within 10 minutes of arriving at the gate.

 

[samiam]

I trained my ex well. I managed to get her on her last 2 Sydney trips to have carry on only.. she has seen the light!!

My bolding

 

[serfty]

John I read it that Serfty is of the belief that your fast baggage retrieval may be because you do not use NGCI

Yep, a data sample of 2!

Personally, I do not have a great deal of experience with domestic checked luggage - aside from golf clubs every year or three it does not happen.:idea:

 

[JohnK]

Yep, a data sample of 2!

If you are referring to my recent baggage retrieval experiences (with or without NGCI) the data sample is much larger than 2.

 

[serfty]

If you are referring to my recent baggage retrieval experiences (with or without NGCI) the data sample is much larger than 2.

Well ... do tell ... maybe even data from both before NGCI and after ....

 

[Friends of None]

There's an easy fix. Enforcement.

People's bodyweight should count.

It's ludicrous that body weight isn't.

Airlines have woken up to the fact there is money in freight.

They're no longer making money on flying people, it's flying our luggage.

 

[VirginiaF]

And don't forget the people who spring out of their seats as soon as the wheels hit the ground just so they can stand in the aisle for 5 minutes while the plane taxis to the terminal and they open the doors

Apologies for getting off topic, but I was on an NZ flight once, and the FA, on landing, ad libbed, "And please remain seated until the aircraft has stopped. No passenger has ever been known to arrive at the gate before the aircraft has."

 

[VirginiaF]

A friend was stopped at security the other day because he had a small guitar. The security guard told him it could be used as a guillotine and even acted it out with a downward chop of his hand. I think he meant garrote. He told him to remove the strings which to my mind made them easier to use as "weapons"

And, of course, the other security threat, whereby the pax, with strings, bursts into a few Willie Nelson (or even worse, Brian Mcfadden/Westlife) numbers, resulting in general rioting and other mutinous behaviour ...

 

[KateMayo]

...No passenger has ever been known to arrive at the gate before the aircraft has."

But some would try if they thought they could get away with it :shock:

 

[RobJ]

It's at least as important that legacy airlines also apply the rules, especially Qantas - I once got a nasty cut on my head from someone's overlarge baggage falling out at the end of a flight from HKG. And the luggage taken on-board domestic flights is absurd and annoying for someone like me who often takes a bag that can go under the seat in front.

can't say I've ever experienced a particularly long wait at LHR carousels; most of the time is taken up getting to them.

 

[VirginiaF]

I think the carry on baggage issue is exacerbated by the airlines themselves. Firstly, exit and bulkhead row pax have no room to stow hand luggage beneath the seat in front, so take up more space in the overheads than otherwise normally taken by pax in other rows. Secondly, of all the available space in overhead bins, some of this is taken up with airline safety equipment and extra pillows/blankets etc. So assuming all pax take two pieces each, there is no way it is all going to fit in the overheads. Even once piece each is going to be a challenge.

Flying MEL-SYD last Friday, I was allocated 35J. On reaching my seat, I discovered that there was no room in the overhead locker at all. The FA kindly indicated for me to stow my luggage above row 32 (empty at that time). On arriving, the reason for all this unfolded.

A couple occupying 35E and 35F (exit row seats) had between them, one soft sided bag that was at least 70 x 40 x 20 cm (I have a good idea because I use a similar bag for my sports equipment). The other had a wheelie which was too big to fit in the overhead above row 35, so was moved back into an overhead locker further behind me (apparently side overheads are bigger than middle ones). The soft sided one was already stowed in another overhead behind me (on landing, the owning pax actually asked the pax below his bag to kindly pass it to him!).

So I have to deduce that all the other pax who had their overhead locker space taken up by these two, were forced to use overhead locker space not necessarily above their seat. Thus general mayhem, not only when boarding, but also on arrival.

Not on this flight, but I have also witnessed a few pax who take on two bags and place both into over heads bins (probably to give themselves extra, precious, admittedly, leg room) - and often not the bins above their seats. I find this really irritating, because it just adds further to the overhead bin shuffle.

So, I guess a pedantic pax would insist on airlines ensuring compliance (and I admit that once, I have had my carry on sent to check in on a DJ flight), and also, that overhead space should be allocated to the pax below it, as a first principle. I don't know what the increased cost to the airlines would be to follow this, but it would surely eliminate some of this farcical behaviour. Maybe there will be a day when there are no overhead bins available at all or a carry on luggage surcharge introduced (although this latter proposal would not necessarily eliminate overhead bin shuffle).

 

[serfty]

...

Not on this flight, but I have also witnessed a few pax who take on two bags and place both into over heads bins (probably to give themselves extra, precious, admittedly, leg room) - and often not the bins above their seats. I find this really irritating, because it just adds further to the overhead bin shuffle.
...

Note this is quite permissible on Qantas Domestic Jet services as long as each bag both fits the 105cm 'sizer' and weighs less than 7kg.

 

[Archphoto]

I remember flying AA a couple of years ago and the FA announcing "For those of you with two pieces of hand luggage, it would be appreciated by your fellow passengers, if you would stow the second under the seat in front of you."

And they also asked for the shades to be drawn before disembarking "to help keep the cabin cool for passengers on the next flight." (Which makes sense with the sun blazing and was undertaken by most of the window seated passengers I could see around me and upon disembarkation along the aisle.)

 

[JohnK]

Note this is quite permissible on Qantas Domestic Jet services as long as each bag both fits the 105cm 'sizer' and weighs less than 7kg.

Can someone do the calculations?

Is it possible for every person on a 738 (168 passengers) to have a maximum sized wheelie carry-on bag and able to store it in the overhead bins provided? I think the airlines would struggle to cope if everyone had 2 carry-on items.

Some of the wheelie carry-on bags I have seen are as big as my luggage and take up at least 1/3 of the overhead bin space allocated for ~6 people. :shock: