You’re allowed to carry bags onto the plane – but only if there’s enough space on board. Frequently if you don’t board early, there’s no bin space left. The airline makes you give up your carry-on and check it.
Airlines have been installing larger overhead bins, not so much for customer convenience (people hate having to check a carry-on bag when they’ve chosen to bring it on) but for their own – gate-checking bags takes time in the precious minutes prior to departure, and risks causing a flight to leave a few minutes late.
That’s also why airlines force passengers to start checking their carry-on bags too early, when there’s plenty of bin space left.
@united your gate agent is making everyone check their bags and this is the situation pic.twitter.com/k9tvQC8ulD
— Jonathan Kennell (@jonathankennell) November 15, 2024
This was not that. pic.twitter.com/X1UP3tab0I
— Jonathan Kennell (@jonathankennell) November 15, 2024
This is one of the two biggest complaints across airlines on social media (along with damaged bags). It is less of a problem on Southwest Airlines, since they don’t charge for up to two checked bags and passengers therefore try to bring less into the cabin.
Unfortunately larger bins aren’t a panacea. Even where bins are in theory large enough to accommodate a full sized carry on bag per passenger, that requires turning carry on bags on their side, and too many passengers don’t know to do this.
Now, United Airlines has a solution. They’re trying to teach passengers how to use overhead bins properly, to get the most bags in.
New (to me) today in the text message announcing boarding – how to use the new bins.
byu/doc_ocho inunitedairlines
United has actually been doing this for awhile – at least a year – but customers are seeing this much more often now. That’s because they send this boarding message to passengers on planes with their new ‘United NEXT’ interior that have these larger bins and it’s only recently that there’s a critical mass of these planes in the fleet.
There’s another trick to know, that airlines don’t tell you. These bins get heavy, since they’re stuffed with twice as many bags! However, with many of the newer bins you can actually pull down the bin rather than just pushing it straight up. It will help you raise it up with an assist mechanism. Although apparently that mechanism sometimes does break.
Remove the bins and allow the pax to check in their heavy suitcases and big trunks at the ticket counter .
Everyone will be happier .
Are those larger bins available on domestic flights? I’ve seen them on flights to Europe.
Good use of tech, especially only sending this to flyers on the planes with these bins. UA is usually ahead in this space.
United does a very good job at this. “Place your bag in the overhead like you would place a book in a bookshelf.”
Even when my cabin baggage allowance is 2 bags for the overhead bin and a somewhat smaller under-seat bag as a J class customer in the forward cabin, SAS has been informing me before I get to the airport that due to a full flight they will freely check in the bags for my convenience. In such cases I already usually have a free checked baggage allowance of four 70-lbs bags for just myself that I chose not to use for various reasons. Gate checking the cabin baggage only addresses part of the reasons why I go cabin-baggage-only when I do with them. Maybe others take them up on such offers, but I usually have no incentive to check-in bags that I can otherwise have as cabin baggage. Baggage mishandling issues and wait times for baggage delivery to the baggage belt are usually reasons enough for me to avoid checking in bags when I can.
The airlines have basically trained too many passengers to avoid checking in bags. This is the consequence, and it has been reinforced by fees for checking in luggage.
About book-case type placement of wheeled cabin baggage into the bin, that’s more difficult for short people to do, especially when such people have cabin baggage on the heavy side for them.
This can’t be emphasized enough. Limiting passengers to a single under-seat carry-on item will not only speed up boarding, but security-screening lines. And, if we’re lucky, might finally create a market for “door-to-door” baggage delivery services so we don’t have to lug our bags through the airport to begin with.
Passengers simply carry too much baggage and are too cheap to pay for their excessive baggage. Everyone wants a premium seat but they insist on carrying baggage like they have no class at all. I worked at a major airline for decades and you wouldn’t believe what people wanted to carry on or check in as baggage. I had a passenger try to carry a 32 gallon Rubbermaid trash can as a carry on. I had a passenger try to check in a small herd of live goats.
And you think carry on baggage is the airline’s fault?
Southwest frequently runs out of bin space with flight attendants yanking smaller items out and making people cram them under seats (even if it’s the only thing you’ve brought). “If it doesn’t have wheels, it can’t go in the overhead.”
United has been doing this for quite some time… I remember seeing texts about bins like this maybe close to two years ago?
I love the added capacity of the new bins, but my bag still has to go flat (the ‘old’ way) because that’s the only way to keep my travel liquids upright so the bottles don’t explode with the pressure changes! I now have to actually keep an eye on it during boarding to make sure the flight attendants don’t turn it sideways…
I can tell you we could fit more in our overhead bins to accommodate most people.
You have a plane that takes 179 people and ohb space to take 115 bags IF PLACED PROPERLY.
But, people like to cram everything they’ve got right above them and sticks it to the people around them. I see this all the time.
Last 4 rows don’t get space above them because that’s where safety/emergency equipment and our crap goes.
Seats are assigned, overhead bins are not.
But, there is also a stigma of placing your belongings over someone else’s head when you don’t even sit there.
I understand that. Those people don’t own the over head bins, though. And again, they are not assigned like seats are.
Deadheading flight crew are also the worst offenders, too! They shove everything over their heads while sitting in seats that are wings forward.
Unfortunately, my announcements are blunt and place blame in your hands if there isn’t enough space. We didn’t bring this stuff on, nor did we hog the bin space.
With that, I mention we prioritize that space for larger items. At the end of boarding, I will be pulling smaller items out to accommodate larger ones if they still make it onboard. I’m not going to inconvenience someone when it is not necessary.
And also not picking on anyone if I pull you backpack, purse, jacket, or gift bag out. Unless you would like to tell the passenger to check their bag instead of me.
Be reasonable. Be courteous. I reward those things onboard. Especially if someone moves for a family.
We can do this together. Or not give a fk and it’s someone else’s job.
I’m just not one that is having that as an option too much anymore.
Also. Gate agents have a running figure of space available. One they hit that number, bags are automatically checked.
My number is generally higher, and if I work the isle position, I’m giving agents a countdown of anything I see going up. And if 20 spaces are estimated left? Check bags. We likely have that number in the jetbridge already.
I have a suspicion the goats were better behaved than most passengers.
The new overhead bins will help more flight attendants climb into the bins to pose for stunning Facebook, Instagram, and X photos.
@tory you are a horrible person and a complete idiot at the same time. Im sure the FA just laughs in your face and is thinking you are a moron. You can only carry liquids the size of 3oz or less in your carry on, if you think they will “explode” from being on its side you are literally at DA or you should check your bag. Hope i am on your next flight and wilo smile while you scream as i turn your bag to the side #DA!
For all the people saying the airlines should get rid of carry on luggage, what’s the point? You might reduce boarding time, but you’d increase tjme for checking in and baggage claim.
The better solution would be more rigorous enforcement of existing carry-on rules. A passenger that brings an oversized carry-on should be fined $100. In fact, this should be an FAA rule, so it would be uniform across all airlines.
Don’t be a troll @Your daddy – I’m sure you’re capable of being better than that. Try to elevate the online discourse, not drag it down into the mud 😉 FAs have always been respectful of my request. And I’ve had plenty of different half-empty bottles explode on planes if they’re sideways, from contact solutions to lotions (not to mention ink pens, ugh). I think some of my bottles are over 3oz, but the TSA has never given me any trouble.
I only fly United once a year at most from Houston to LAX to position for a flight to Asia with American.
This exact thing happened to me. I paid for main cabin instead of basic economy so I could board with my carry on. So group 5 here we go. The passengers in front of me and behind me are African American. I am white. An African American United employee down the jet bridge chirps at me to check the carry on bag in. I walk on to a plane full of empty over head bins. Now I take Delta or spirit if I have to.
United should teach gate agents and FAs to identify bags that don’t meet cabin baggage requirements and require those bags to be checked. .
Good idea. So much overhead space is wasted due to improper stowage.
I also hope that AA expands that experimental warning signal method when passengers try to board before their group number is called.
@Tory
Tory, think of how a plastic bottle of water behaves during a flight, depending on how much you drink it. Once it has air in it, the bottle will balloon or collapse depending on the altitude. Your packed liquids behave the same. To keep your bottles/tubes from leaking/exploding in whatever position they may find themselves, before packing, unscrew the caps, squeeze as much air out as possible so that the bottles are indented to create a vacuum and the tubes have no air, then screw the caps back on. It’s the air inside the bottle or tube, and not the liquids or gels, that expands at altitude and forces a leak. At altitude, the air will expand and so will the bottle/tube, but only back to its normal shape and ground level packing pressure. A full bottle/tube of liquid or gel is highly unlikely to leak. You can also buy a set of nalgene plastic bottles on Amazon and transfer your liquids to them. They seal very tightly and I have never experienced a leak. I still squeeze out some air if possible. And I always place the bottles inside a zip lock plastic bag for extra safety. I do this for both checked and cabin luggage. I fly a lot and haven’t had a leak in many years. I hope this helps.
We have now come to a point in which people need instructions on how to put a bag in an overhead bin.
Thanks @InLA. Yes, I understand the physics. I squeeze out air when I can as well as keep them topped off, but some of my travel bottles are fairly rigid and just don’t have that tight a seal (I definitely prefer strong screw caps when I can get them). The main issues tend to be travel size saline and clear care contact solution bottles. I’ve used the zip lock protection sometimes for bottles outside my dopp kit, but using it inside the dopp kit is super-inconvenient, and you still lose the liquid – it just doesn’t mess up anything else. My main issues are when I have to check luggage and I can’t control the orientation they put it in the hold. When I carry on and control the orientation, I have a good success rate. I haven’t been on too many flights with the new bins, but if it becomes more common and the FAs insist on sideways, I’ll just figure a new way to orient the dopp kit inside my bag or I’ll pull it out to put under the seat in front of me. I mostly fly SWA (or end up on older UA planes), so it just hasn’t been an issue.