British airways and carry on bagage

I have a habit of checking under my seat to feel and make sure my lifejacket is there.

A couple of weeks ago, the bag under my seat (i.e. belonging to the passenger in the row behind) was wedged / shoved in so tight that it had moved or blocked my access to the lifejacket.

I pointed this out to cabin crew and the case was moved.

I willingly join your rant Jefferydavidson

Board early, get your bag where you want it to be, then refuse to move it.

A simple, yet effective strategy for a world where first come truly is first served.

If you get bored easily whilst waiting for the other passengers to board, do what I do – enjoy a game of ‘kill, sh*g, marry’ with the other passengers as they pass by you. This is even more fun if you’re travelling with a like-minded colleague who can share your giggles.

Surely the easy thing to do with these yellow tags is take them off again as soon as the staff member leaves?

I laughed one day last week walking down a jetty at IST to board a flight back to ECN, BA had been on the jetty immediately before my flight and I counted at least twenty yellow tags on the ground.

I can’t help but feel it would have been more sensible to issue everyone with a yellow tag to allow a bag to go in the overhead lockers and then say anything that didn’t have one would have to be placed under the seat in front of you allowing two tags to people who have front and exit row seats.

I still think the BEST solution as mentioned by a poster (sorry, cant remember who) when this subject was previously discussed, is to charge for cabin / hand luggage… I bet this will reduce the amount being carried on board.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/discussion/topic/BA-hand-luggage?page=1

I’m not aware that BA has a policy of restricting any bag to any particular area on short haul, unlike some airlines who mark a certain amount of bins ‘business class only.’

Swiss is a data point.

Of course, one might hope for some common courtesy and consideration amongst passengers.

@ Jefferydavison – 03/02/2016 08:14 GMT

You didn’t explicitly state that you were flying out of LHR. It may be that, after the advent of HBO fares, and the resulting scrum, ground handling companies elsewhere are being made to feel the heat of BA’s “new approach” to the inevitable consequence of people trying it on in order to save a tenner.

There is also the old adage about paying peanuts and getting…

IAG Capital Markets Day presentations may provide the background to your experiences. With IAG’s primary objectives of a 15% RoIC, an operating margin of 12-15%, obtaining an investment grade debt rating, raising the 2015 operating profit target from €1.8 Bn to €2.3Bn (see CMD 06Nov15 pp. 15-20), the stated intention is to generate and return cash to shareholders (and lots of it….!)

BA’s retention of “carrier imposed surcharges” has been widely commented upon – featuring on various meedjah outlets recently – and the CMD2015 stated IAG’s intention of retaining as much as possible of the “windfall gain” with reduced fuel prices.

Much has been made of cutting staff costs, and not just with the introduction of Mixed Fleet cabin crew. There is a new, and considerably cheaper, contract for LHR ground services personnel which is being rolled out as existing staff on the old (and much more generous) T&Cs leave the company. Back in 2014, and in return for a circa 25 hours/week (overwhelmingly on early shifts), BA was offering (and in very expensive west London) in the region of £11,000 pa plus about £3,500 pa shift allowance. So, around £14,500 pa. Assuming 48 weeks/1,200 hours annually, that equates to about £12/hour.

Walsh has recently made clear that, with fuel costs no longer the issue they were, management focus is shifting back onto staff costs. With the advent of the so-called National Living Wage (sic), it is clear that some employers are now doing things such as making meal breaks unpaid and scrapping sick pay over and above the statutory scheme. In this particular race to the bottom, there is the example, from Ryanair, of staff having to pay for their own uniforms and cabin crew for their training costs. Perhaps this is where BA will be heading next.

The annual IAG CMD provides an outsider with a substantial insight into IAG management thinking, focus and targets. Out of curiosity, can anyone point out any other airline that does anything comparable?

Maybe the solution to this on-going issue with too much cabin baggage is for BA to invest in the type of bins Alaska Airlines is fitting……

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-airline-to-offer-bigger-overhead-bins-20140711-story.html

Then again, could this development encourage even more selfishness !!