Two too many at BA!

I have just returned from completing two short haul sectors on BA neither of which was remotely satisfactory.

LHR-ZRH

I moved to the gate when the monitor told me which one to go to straight away. Three members of staff were present and it was obvious the A320 would be full. We waited for a significant amount of time with no information being given. Finally at T-15 one of the ground staff made an announcement saying that it would not be possible to accomodate all the hand luggage on board and he asked for people to check in roller cases. A number came forward and at no cost checked in additional bags. It took an age and boarding finally commenced at T+20.

Too much hand luggage still came aboard and there were harsh words between several passengers. We finally pushed back at T+50 with the pilot explaining we had missed our slot because of the need to check in so many bags. We landed in ZRH 70 minutes late.

The moral of the story is book a hand baggage only fare, take your bag to the gate where it will be put in the hold for nothing as it cannot be accomodated in the cabin anyway. I waited 50 minutes for my prioirity tagged bag at the carousel.

GVA-LHR

I had checked in a hold bag. At the gate nothing was said but again it seemed that the aircraft would be full. Once on board it was obsious that not all the bags brought aboard could be stowed. I refused to have someone else’s bag at my feet. The hold had to be reopened and a significant number of bags put there and again we missed our slot. On arrival at LHR it took 80 minutes for my priority bag to appear on the carousel.

All in all dreadful service born out of complete mismanagement by BA of the carry on baggage arrangements.

When will they implement one in economy and two in business and drop the handbaggage only fares?

Policing the carry on numbers at T5 would be so easy, it would only need a member of staff at the head of north and south security returning people to the counters if they have too much. There really is no excuse for the crazy situation I endured.

I had a similar experience recently. A passenger boarded with 4 fairly large bags. She made a real fuss because there was no cabin crew around to assist her loading in bags into the locker. She barged pass an number of passengers, leaving her bags blocking the aisle and demanded the Cabin Crew stowed her baggage. A member of crew accompanied her to her bags, most of the lockers were full. I was asked if I minded one of her bags going under my feet. When I refused the passenger snarled something at me in arabic. She delayed the push back arguing with the crew about her hand luggage. She said her checked luggage was over the limit and this was the only way she get all her luggage aboard. The CSD came down and and told the woman to allow her bags in the hold or she would be asked to leave the aircraft.

Knowing she has so much luggage why was this not picked at the transfer desk. Hand luggage is becoming a real joke, the lockers simply can not accommadate the volume of carry on bags these days. I think the gate staff should simply tag the excess bags for the hold. I am sure this will be exploited by some passengers, but the honest remaining passengers would not.

This is my rant, I carry on luggage within my limit and stow my bags sensibly. I choose never to put luggage at my feet and so do not carry on excess bags, my choice, my space.

I agree that the level of hand baggage being allowed on BA flights is becoming unmanageable and even laughable in some instances. An example of this was a fairly recent flight from Rome to London where one passenger was wheeling a case down the aisle of a 767 which was so wide it kept on getting stuck and was considerably larger than the bag that I checked in!

Myself and other passengers on the flight did have a laugh about the size of the bag and the complexity/difficulty of the logistical operation that was fitting it in an overhead locker!

I am grateful that BA demonstrates some flexibility in its hand baggage rules and does not take the very strict approach of certain low-cost carriers, but I think common sense checks should be conducted on boarding, in particular, where the flight is known to be more than 80% or so full.

This is so MUCH worse in the USA where absolutely no-one checks roller bags into the hold (self included because most of my North American business involves several one city per night stays so a lost bag is following you around the country always a day behind). Fortunate for me I am top tier with Oneworld & Star A so I’m amongst the first to board.
Some people are so very selfish though, when it comes to ‘carry on’ and insist on putting not only their roller in the overheads but also coats, handbags, laptop cases ad infinitum…. despite the cabin crew requesting that smaller items go under the seat in front of you…

Hi Jeffreydavison
If we all took your stand, the airlines would have to start acting responsibility. Well done.
On other related threads I’ve made my comments well known. Selfish behaviour should be punished. I’m sort of in agreement with KM, yet I’m a great believer in common sense, and common sense = flexibility. Alas when the great travelling public demonstrate a complete lack of common sense I’d expect my airline to invoke the rules.

And sadly that’s when the incongruence between flexibility and rules impacts little ol’ me, who deliberately chooses to travel light.
I wish the airlines that condone this behaviour, would create a camel class cabin where all these “Kitchen Sink “souls can wallow in cabin baggage chaos hell.

Agree this is a problem. I have had two instances recently where I have seen other passengers remove my bags from overhead lockers to fit theirs in and then attempt to stuff mine into a too small space. On a recent flight from Dubai we had passengers coming in from economy to the business section to use the lockers there.
The issue as others have said is that with self check in and online boarding pass printing passengers first meeting with airline staff is at the gate.
Lufthansa deal with this well on their flights to Turkey where nearly everyone of a Turkish background brings a massive amount of hand luggage, The individuals are separated from other passengers and a system of “in the hold or leave it behind” is implemented. The inevitable complaints and arguing are ignored.

@Charles-P and mkcol74 – after 9/11 it was the staff at the point of entry to airside that policed the hand baggage rules. I remember going to Heathrow the night before a flight to check my bag would fit into the metal “cage” and be allowed airside, through security.

If hand baggage was enforced at this point it would have positive effects all the way through the system. For transiting passengers, security staff should direct passengers with oversized or too much hand luggage to the airline counters to check bags in.