Tag Archives for overhead bins.
Europe is now much closer to banning airlines from charging extra for a standard carry-on bag, with a decisive round of negotiations starting Monday Supporters say this would stop confusing bag rules and protect passengers, but the real effect would be to force airlines to bundle more into the base fare and price-sensitive leisure travelers subsidize everyone else.
A passenger on a Ryanair flight from Malta to Naples crawled into the overhead bin and shouted “Napoli,” apparently joking that it was a way to avoid paying for the return trip. Ryanair has trained passengers to think of overhead bin space as so tightly monetized that even climbing into it should come with fees.
Airlines keep telling passengers the overhead bins are full, then sending them onto planes where empty space is still sitting open above the seats.
It is one of the fastest ways to make customers furious, and it happens for a simple reason: gate agents are under pressure to avoid even minor delays, so they often start forcing carry-ons into the hold before the bins are actually full.
Southwest Airlines flight attendants are furious after the airline decided to relocate their reserved overhead bin space from the front to the back of the aircraft—sparking fears their belongings could be stolen. The change, meant to solve chaotic boarding issues following the airline’s switch to assigned seating, has triggered immediate backlash from crew members concerned about security and convenience.
Southwest Airlines is now forcing passengers to gate-check their carry-on bags early, claiming overhead bins are full even when plenty of space remains available.
This controversial practice, long associated with American, Delta, and United, marks a real shift triggered by Southwest’s recent adoption of assigned seating and checked bag fees, undermining their historical advantage in efficient boarding and angering customers.
Southwest has given up its advantages over competitors, its unique selling proposition. They’re becoming much more like less financially successful peers like American and JetBlue. But they’re worse.
American’s new Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden offhandedly mentions that “we’ve seen a 10% reduction in gate checked bags just within the first few weeks” of the carrier’s new boarding process.
If they’ve made changes to consciously drive down the number of bags they’re gate checking, that’s actually a huge win for customers and they should be shouting it from the rooftops! I just can’t figure out why they’re seeing this result.
Confiscating carry-ons unnecessarily is one of the things that outrages passengers most. Their bag has been taken and it didn’t even need to be! There was plenty of overhead space left! Stop the madness. And stop it, especially, at United Airlines where you have to pay a higher fare to bring on the carry-on bag in the first place.
Airlines should charge for guaranteed overhead bin space. Most tickets come with a ‘license to hunt’ for space, rather than overhead bin space proper. And customers who believe they are entitled to bring a carry-on bag on board get stuck gate checking their bag and wasting time at baggage claim at the end of their flight.
I experienced the most interesting gate agent strategy I’ve ever seen – a passenger threat that helps align incentives with passengers to get the plane out on this, but that seems like the last thing the airline would want to be telling its customers: if you don’t do what I say, we’re going to lose your bags.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
