Sometimes passengers bring on more carry-on bags than they’re allowed to. Here’s one in the gate area of a Delta flight headed to Detroit, where a woman is bringing with her large dog and four carry-on items onboard.
Not only is it against the rules, overhead bin space can be scarce enough as it is. Boarding with four bags is taking up space that belongs to another passenger, and probably means someone getting on the plane later than you is going to have their bag confiscated and checked to their final destination.
Something that passengers find even more maddening was shared with me by reader Paul H, who offers this photo of a Delta flight attendant bringing more bags on than the two passengers are permitted. They were part of a group of 5 that weren’t working the New York JFK to Atlanta flight, but may have been deadheading to their next assignment.
Five [flight attendants] boarded ahead of ‘needs special assistance’, and this one was actually dragging what I regarded as a fifth bag. …I pity the folks in later boarding groups, as the bins back there are going to be legitimately full.
This is not a good look when passengers are denied access to bin space for the carry-on they’re allowed to bring with them, because bins are full. Like pilots getting upgrades ahead of passengers, it perpetuates the idea that the airline is run for the benefit of employees, rather than as a commercial enterprise.
However, let’s be clear:
- 14 CFR § 121.589 limits passenger carry‑ons – not crew carry-ons.
- Each airline has an FAA-approved carry-on program that separately covers crew.
- Crew may be able to stow duty bags in certified compartments – although planes have been squeezed of those for space in order to cram in more seats, excess crew items may flow into passenger bin areas.
No U.S. carrier allows 5 items per flight attendant. United Airlines, for instance, allows deadheading flight attendants to pre‑board with “2 carry‑on bags and one personal item.”
American Airlines provides in its flight attendant contract the same thing – and guarantees valet bag check and aircraft door return of any crew bag if bins are full. (This applies to both deadheading and commuting flight attendants.)
Flight attendants have grueling multi-day trips, and they can’t wait for their bags at baggage claim between flights or they’d risk delaying other flights (and passengers!). On the other hand, if nothing happens to change their trip sequence they could check their bag to that night’s destination! The airline might lose their bags… just like with a passenger.
If you look more carefully at the photo, she is carrying some fellow crew members bags, in addition to hers, likely helping that colleague because they went to do something prior to boarding the flight. Y’all don’t know the facts……….move along nothing to see.
Cry harder.
She’s in uniform and she has her regulated three items plus a food bag. Y’all are grabbing at straws here and it seems to be we have the blind leading the blind.
In the pic you have of the DL flight attendant, I see three. The top bag is her purse. Next bag is her tote. Last bag is her rollerboard. Crewmembers actively working, deadheading and commuting are allowed three bags while in uniform which she is.
The white plastic bag looks like it contains food for her flight.
None of that is really a consumer or passengers problem. If Delta after all these years can’t figure it out so sad to bad. They need to check that luggage in when they board to a space down below. Delta sucks as bad as any company does nowadays. Its a joke as their CEO is.
Its absurd they do this and have the gall to charge you for luggage. Waste of a company, waste of a human working for them. Unemployment would be preferable.
Disgusting. Some of us inconvenient passengers have laptops. We’re told not to put the laptop into a seatback pocket. They don’t fit with our feet under the seat in front of us. The bulkhead seat has no storage space. The hatrack is filled with half the personal belongings of some FA wage slave moving house.
I know, I know. If only we inconvenient passengers would shut up and get out of the way so FAs can transport half their wordly possessions, consume our food and beverages, and scroll their phones in peace, and the C-Suite colllect their pandemic taxpayer funding.
Being a crew member and reading the comment from MW about their flight from DFW-CLT is VERY concerning about the drinking of alcohol on duty if they were in fact deadheading back to base. They are in fact still considered a working crew member per FAR.
That statement from MW has serious consequences and it should be investigated if that did factually take place.
What’s really rude is when the overhead bins over row 1 are filled with flight attendant bags. I’ve had a flight attendant explain that this space is theirs and they need access to their bag during the flight. That flight attendant was working in the rear during flight. Pretty sure it’s not company policy.
you continue to be an absolute idiot, @gary.
Perhaps you need to learn what FA’s carry.
As an airline pilot myself, I am no stranger to the sights and sound you so frequently get turned on over… HOWEVER, you are missing the trees within the forest here.
1) Female DL FA’s have to change their shoes between the gate and airplane. So, to make it easy, carry an additional bag which also contains your company requried iphone etc…
2) FA’s are people, too, and have to eat. So thinking her bag of food is somehow ‘taking up such precious overhead bin space’ is a damn joke. get real.
3) female FA’s tend to have a purse, so, there’s one bag.
4) they also need their suitcase for the trip.
So…. what exactly is the problem here?
This is like someone saying to you “oh gary.. do you really need that collapsible stroller onboard that the agent in SAN denied you over?”
grow the hell up.
This is an absolutely horrible, disgusting, and downright selfish post. Flights attendants are away from home FOR DAYS!!! We spend more time on the plane than in our own beds. Crew members cannot check their bags because we have to literally GO TO WORK WHEN WE LAND. So would you rather have to spend an extra five minutes looking for a spot for your bag or just heading to baggage claiming when you land, or would you rather miss your next flight/connection because the flight attendants had to go to baggage claim before their working flight???? Like do you not understand that we have to be on the plane before any passengers come on board?!!! I’m just in disbelief that this is even an issue. I swear air travel makes humans have the absolute worst behaviors and entitlement I’ve ever seen!!! All of you supporting any of the nonsense in this article, I hope one day you get to see how much work flight attendants actually do, I hope you need their help one day, or that they need to save your life at 30,000ft BECAUSE THATS WHAT WE ARE THERE FOR and we will do it EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!! Because flight attendants are not evil little monsters out to ruin your day. Where the hell is anyone’s compassion or flexibility??? When flight attendants literally give up so much of their lives to serve YOU?????? Oh and also STOP TAKING PICTURES IF CREW MEMBERS!!! It’s predatory, rude, disrespectful, and just gross. I hope one of the FAs you stalked sues you.
Wow!
Really Carl? Or is it Karen? Row 1 is the only one that counts? That whole point is a joke.
And BigTee, seriously, your ignorance is shocking.
First of all, they could charge for carry on luggage like other airlines, but they don’t. If their passengers were not so cheap, or lazy, they could check a bag and not whine on here. The funny thing is, they check your carry on for free if they run out of space, so why do you care? Are you too lazy to walk your butt to baggage claim? You are probably the moron standing on the moving walkway in the airport as well.
As far as “your drinks, and snacks”, I was not aware they were assigned to anyone. So the drinks and snacks I consume on an aircraft, do I need to venmo you or what? I was not aware that flight attendants were banned from consuming drinks, or snacks on the aircraft, and if they are, shame on the Airline. As far as the phone they scroll onboard….it is a company issued iPhone with ALL the company and FAA apps. They also have an app to write reports about a-hole customers like you, so please, by all means, have the guts to speak up during the flight. They get all flight updates, changes, delays, etc., on that iPhone. So, everything you whined about is ridiculous. Sorry if they ran out of snack mix before they got to you. As far as the bag of food, that, nor the purse are going in an overhead bin. If a FA is in uniform, they generally have 3 days of clothes changes, makeup and hair items, and extra uniforms and shoes so they can look their best while perv’s like you lean out and stare as they walk up the aisle. They do not have time between connections, even while deadheading, to be looking for luggage in a compartment under the plane, and definitely don’t have time to go to baggage claim.
I am very close with several flight attendants for Delta. I know what their rigorous training entails, and I am so thankful that they went through it to be the best. The fact that you are so concerned about their baggage proves you miss the point of them being there. They are there for your safety, not as your personal snack suppliers. That is just an added perk you get. Wait till you have an emergency on board and see them in action saving someone’s life. And lastly, what is a wage slave you entitled POC? As someone who has been flying Delta for 30 years, I am grateful for the FA’s, their 3 bags, and will happily check my carry on if I am late to the gate.