[mkcol74]

@MartynSinclair – I recall & agree. I think one issue/problem with that is the different airlines’ approach & allowance to what can be carried on, leading to confusion by a 3rd party enforcement person.

Either way the airport &/or the airline need to be more proactive.

[BelperFlyer]

Simple answer for over sized bags place a frame in front of scanner and if bag don’t fit it doesn’t get to the plane. Simple at T5

[PhilipHart]

@Jefferydavison

I think the acronym stands for “Anyone But British Airways”.

[JeffD]

@PhilipHart

I thought I was thick, makes sense now.

The problem is BA eats up all its true comptitors. BCal, BMI etc. So we are really stuck for choice, but at least know I understand ABBA, amny thanks and Happy new year.

[WillieWelsh]

It’s not so difficult to avoid BA except on UK domestic services. From EDI I use LH, TK, QR, KL and AF for my travel out of the UK, I only get stuck with BA when I have to go via LHR for some reason but that doesn’t happen too often. All the competitors I use are light years ahead of BA in terms of organisation and service.

After my recent experience if I had to transit T5 every time I fly I would look for another job.

[TCSH11]

Maybe if everyone did not carry the kitchen sink with them, it would be easy.
Have you ever tried to part someone from their bags, so ” policing ” is not as easy as said.

If passengers were to follow ” simple ” instructions by putting small bags under the seat in from and the other bags in locker, then this would help. But the 1st people on fill lockers with all the bags they bring on, meaning that when people who board later have no space. To late then to go around the aircraft moving small bags to under seats.

The easy thing is if people checked in a bag,, and just brought on a laptop or similar to the aircraft. ” SIMPLES “

[TCSH11]

I think you will find that the bottle of water ” issue ” is the CAA and Government not the airport who implement it.

I am sure you would prefer your aircraft to be in one piece and not blown out of the sky…

[Flightlevel]

This is an evolving situation that requires strict enforcement of the hand baggage size requirements at all check in and transfer points and at initial check in overseas. There are conflicts with pax who travel business & transfer to economy on short haul. There’s always room in the hold for hand luggage exceeding limits in number or size though taking time to load. Pax must be educated of requirements, ensure valuable documents are kept in their priority correct size hand baggage & to use the under seat area for laptops & handbags. New aircraft have increased overhead storage space so in a window seat mind your head!

[MartinJ]

I remember being stopped at Melbourne Airport in the 1990s when I was travelling back from a year of study in Australia with two carry-on backpacks the size of a cow. There was a man stood at the security entrance whose sole purpose seemed to be to scan the queue for oversize bags. When I attempted to barge through he said “Haff a read of zis young man” in a thick German accent and pointed at the oversize printout of hand luggage rules. He then sent me back to the Alitalia check-in where I managed to trade in two Whiskey bottles for an extra 20 kg of luggage allowance (but that’s another story). Back then I was extremely annoyed that Hhand luggage was so strictly policed but now I wish they had a compliance watchdog at every airport!

[Chiantikid]

As crew on BA short haul this is now our number 1,2 and 3 problem. Over the years I’ve seen handbaggage get slowly out of control so now,especially in winter, you pretty much have no chance on any full Airbus flight. We’ve have literally begged those at the top to help sort this out, the main answer being it seems is one bag only in economy. But for the airline it’s a massive marketing plus to allow two bags in economy. IF the criteria for the limits be adhered to I would suggest it wouldn’t be too much of a problem but they’re not. The 2nd bag limit is basically a laptop bag but this is constantly ignored. Large 2nd bags and rucksacks in particular, the size of which you’d normally take up the Matterhorn are now the norm in lots of cases. The regulars here will know that generally the idea is to put a yellow tag on the 2nd bag with the proviso that this goes under the seat in front of you. But, especially at the outstations, 2nd bags are tagged that simply wouldn’t fit under the seat. This has been exasabated by BA putting more seats on the aircraft meaning a smaller pitch resulting in more of a reluctance to put the 2nd bag there if even fits. Then on top of this we have the shoppers who come on at LHR with their huge high end shopping bags which normally equates to a 3rd/4th bag.
BA have instigated ‘hit’ squads on certain known bad flights at LHR which helps but it’s a thankless task. On top of this there’s the cultural problem whereby certain countries bring on larger or more than their allowance. -Americans being the worst.
All in all a mess.

[ImissConcorde]

Comfort is one thing but what is really worrying is peoples attachment to thier bags in an emergency. The article below shows people who left the Asiana crash at LAX.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2358629/The-passengers-grabbed-bags-despite-roaring-crashed-Asiana-jetliner.html

[MartynSinclair]

It really isn’t rocket science to solve this problem…

Stop passengers going airside with more baggage than they are entitled to…

If security can sniff out and confiscate banned items… it cant be too difficult for security at the airside entry door, to point passengers back to check in as they would do if a passenger turns up too late to catch a flight!!..

I find it strange the airports / airlines don’t want to solve this issue…

[LuganoPirate]

They don’t want to solve it Martyn as they’d lose to much money. Imagine no one bought anything at the LHR shopping center – airport fees would have to rise considerably.

[openfly]

BA don’t want to restrict hand baggage and turn a blind eye because the likes of Easyjet are now allowing two pieces. It’s called competition. You only have to look around the First lounge to see connecting passengers who have come from the USA to see the most enormous amounts of hand baggage. I am surprised that the UK CAA haven’t become involved. The lockers have quite low total weight limits. Some passengers can’t even lift the bags into the locker.
I am also surprised that BA accept delays to departures while the crew try to accommodate all the hand baggage. BA quantifies delays by cost per minute and directs the cost to the appropriate managers budget….no bonus for him then!!
Of course, there is no problem on the domestics with hand baggage if you fly Little Red….lots of space….while they are still operating!

[Gin&Tonic]

This drives me insane, and there has been many other contributions to the subject over the years on various threads, and I can’t see it ever changing to be honest.
I only ever have 1 small laptop bag, and mostly bite my lip when I see what the others bring onboard.

One occasion I had stowed my small laptop bag in the overhead on a Lhr-Man BA flight, the bins got full and then more full as they do, eventually a cabin crew member holding my bag aloft asks “who does this bag belong to” mine I reply, “well you will have to put it under the seat in front of you, there is no room in the overhead bin”

Well finally after years of witnessing this farce week in week out the red mist came down, I stood up and told the crew, “well there was room before you took it out, so I suggest you find the space again for it, British Airways should replace its cabin crew for baggage handlers “

[Author]

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