Another Airline mini rant

[Devils Advocate]

Just booked flights, same old add ons which you have to make sure you click or delete..........no problem with that as at the end of the process you do have the full price stated and it's up to you if you want to pay.

We opted to pay an extra £7 each x 4 =£28 to put luggage in hold (was £4 in July)..again no problem it was our choice and as people point out at £260 for both of us to get to Malaga and back it is still bloody cheap in reality.


However here's my problem which is becoming an issue. Cabin bags have a 10kg limit and a size of 56x45x25mm. So How come people are now opting out/skimping of paying for the hold as we do and taking pull along bags on to the plane which are obviously larger than the size stated?.
We could get away with 10kg to be honest but checking our smallest pull along cases (the ones you never use out of the sets of three) all are bigger than this
A couple of years back before hold charges there would be 4 or 5 trailers of bags loaded on to the plane........now you see the buggy pull up with just 2 as a lot of people take over size bags aboard instead of paying, hence you have to be on the plane sharpish as the overhead locker space just vanishes with these big bags and leaves nowhere for people who play the game to put their conventional flight bag.
At Manchester last time they even had the boxes to see if your bag fits yet it wasn't used..............we've had to shuffle stuff around in the past to make our normal flight bags fit
What's going on here? Soon with this levy on hold luggage the hold will be empty due to the cheats and skrimpers and stowage on board will become a joke.

Anyone else notice this or can shed some light as it is becoming silly and the airlines are creating a problem with this ill thought out and poorly policed policy. Don't mind rules and regs if both sides stick to it.
DA

[katy]

Was the same at Gatwick last week. Most seemed to have oversized bags. Worrying thing is that all this baggage is not weighed...how can they calculate the load!

[Laslomas]

I always worry about the cabin bags that look huge and never get weighed. Several years ago I read that one of the reasons for the weight limit for the cabin bags was that the overhead lockers were built to take a certain weight - that makes sense. So surely the lockers will become worn and start to deteriorate. We all sit underneath them. And they are attached to the main structure of the plane. I hope this is an area that is included in maintenance checks.
And I agree with Katy - how can the weight of the plane be calculated for fuelling?

[mirandamac]

That's been one of my gripes for ages even though recently I could understand why people were doing it.
Re weighing the load - often wondered how they do that anyway as they don't know the total weight of the passengers. I've assumed they go on a kind of average but they could have a plane full of 'larger' people. if so, would this cause any problems?

[julian]

the overhead luggage rack falling on my head is not my main worry when flying, the thought of the plane falling out of the sky worries me slightly more !
I don´t think the airlines are totally daft, I´m sure if they can get the plane off the ground then they can manage to work out the maximum possible weight of hand luggage.

[peteroldracer]

It is probably down to the airport authorities - they charge for every bag they handle, so the airlines will naturally try to minimise this. They (the airports) also charge for services to disabled people, like Ambulifts.
This leaves the airlines with the dichotomy of wanting to look like they are high on customer service (like pretending that they are encouraging only carry-on luggage to speed passengers through the arrivals), but trying to satisfy the desperation of travellers to pay as little as possible. If they tighten up on the flight bag size allowance, they lose out on the service aspect (and if all their check-in facilities are managed by nasty little poofs like the one at Málaga Jet2, there will be check-in rage to contend with!).
If you are flying through Málaga, you are in any case taking a grave risk with anything you put in the hold that it will either disappear without trace, or that some of its contents will go missing - IMHO AGP has overtaken even Heathrow as a thieves' paradise.

[Devils Advocate]

1) Why weigh paid for hold luggage and penalise overweight bags,and yet not weigh cabin luggage with the 10kg limit, crazy, the people who flaunt the bag size rule will without doubt flaunt weight regs..

2)Not long back cabin bags were limited to 3kg...now 10 kg, that's over 3 times the weight in o/head lockers and makes above comments re. overstressing them valid I would have thought.

3) Remember just before take-off a few years back when cabin crew would say "Please don't put bottles or heavy objects in the overhead lockers" They can't really say that now with 10kg cases (at least) perched above your head

4) Again why don't they strictly administer the ruling of your hold luggage fitting into the regulation sized box as you go through screening?

DA

[Paula]

I was on a flight about 4 years ago in a very scary storm, the plane suddenly dropped quite a few thousand feet in seconds. Thought we were doomed A large number of the overhead lockers opened and alsorts flew out, quite a few people in aisle seats got bumped on the head.
I wouldn't fancy getting pelted by 10kg bags from above!!
I couldn't travel with just carryon, whilst this no liquids rule is in place. Also you have to have space to put your handbag in the carryon until you get through security.
I have found with Monarch that on the few ocassions that I have travelled with hand luggage only that they do ask me to put it on the weigh belt. Only from UK, seems you can do anything from Malaga.

[Jool]

Our hand luggage has been measured for size at various airports but it seems to be hit and miss......

Alicante, Stansted, East Midlands, Almeria all measure hand luggage.......but apparently only on an intermittent basis (maybe to do with time constraints)...

I agree overweight and over sized hand luggage is potentially dangerous in terms of being possible flying objects

[bunty]

I was once hit on the head by an item which fell from an overhead locker!!!!!!!!!
That is why now I try to sit by the window!!!

[Lyric]

Manchester T2 today was checking the size of suspect bags but at Security NOT check in. Bit late really. My cabin bag was not weighed and was I suspect a touch overweight.
Re overhead lockers, years ago I used to take great delight in putting she who became my wife up into the lockers, they are strong enough !
(she cabin staff me engineer) oh what fun we had !

[karandjon]

Flying back to Sevilla from Stansted, my hand luggage wouldnt fit in the "checker". the woman told me to empty a few of my books into my sisters half empty bag (who was flying back to Cork), so my bag fitted, then once past her, she said i could put them back into my own bag again
I didnt realise my bag was too big and since then, bought myself one of these wheelie ones that do comply with the measurements!

What i have noticed is that the wheelie case that does comply with the set measurements...is still really quite big!! It weighs 3 or 4kg empty so thank goodness you´re allowed 10kg or more in it!!

[peteroldracer]

Sorry to disappoint, but the weight allowance is for the bag and its contents - or they would empty everything out of the bags and cases onto the scales wouldn't they!

[Devils Advocate]

It's irrelevent though as they don't weigh hand luggage , leaving it wide open for the bums who like to fiddle that bit extra. As I said, with both hand luggage and hold luggage both having weight limits, why weigh one and not the other?
DA

[karandjon]

Exactly DA! That was what i was getting at! She made me empty my books as the bag wouldn´t fit...then allowed me to put them back in again after i had gone through. She wasn´t interested in the weight, only whether the bag fitted in the "checker"!!

[oliveview01]

When I flew back to Sevilla from Stansted a couple of months ago, I had just hand luggage, in a small bag, with my tiny handbag inside the handluggage bag. The lady in front of me had a small case on wheels as hand luggage, a holdall type bag strapped to the case and then over her shoulder a large sparkly holdall type handbag............. nothing was said to her, and this was supposedly very fussy Ryanair
They asked hubby for his handluggage to check at Sevilla, when she saw the size of the bag she laughed............. hubby travels very light! He has a lap top bag as his hand luggage bag. When I bought it he moaned at me for wasting money (3€ - well he is Scottish ) He uses it all the time now when he flies and has just hand luggage.

[anewlife]

We had our hand luggage weighed only once when we flew from Liverpool to Granada with Ryanair, and the only reason they weighed it is because when you could 'pool' your checked baggage allowance, ours weighed 29kg and they put a sticker on it saying HEAVY. What gets me is how airlines are trying to encourage passengers to take only hand luggage - how would a family of 4 cope going on holiday for 2 weeks???? And what do they do with their toiletries like toothpaste etc. when you can't take them through in your hand luggage? My mum had shower gels and toothpaste confiscated as she had forgotten that liquids weren't allowed. HOWEVER, they had 'missed' 1 tube of toothpaste in her hand luggage which slipped through .......

Last year when flying back, again from Liverpool, we wanted a coffee before we boarded and the coffee bar just so happened to be near security. Some smart, obnoxious security guard told us that 'only 1 piece of hand luggage allowed' (as we had handbags as well), when we chirped up that we were only going for a ****** coffee before we went through! Security staff at Liverpool airport must be the worst than any other airport and definitely need customer service training!

Never had a problem going through security at Granada airport - hand luggage, handbag and butty bag!!

[julian]

re "butty bags"..I´ve always found it a bit odd on UK flights when as soon as the plane starts trundling down the runway for takeoff sudddenly everyone starts getting out their plastic bags and unwrapping their butties, chocolates, crisps and drinks and don´t seem to stop eating till just before landing..is it really that difficult to have a 2.5 period during the day without eating?seems to be such a performance!

[Don]

IMO, butty bags simply pass the time of the flight after spending time, driving to airport, waiting in check-in queues (where on-line check in is not available), waiting in security queue, waiting to go through passport control and waiting for take-off. Of course it is quite possible to go without food and drink for such a short flight but often when you land you want to "get" somewhere as soon as possible which means getting through airport again, getting car out of car park or car from rental desk and driving off to destination. Typically a 2.5 hrs flight can mean a 7 to 8 hour door to door journey and many people cannot go without food and drinks for such time without blood sugar problems so the flight time is the obvious time to eat and drink.

As for hand luggage, toothpaste at typically 75 ml is well below the 100 ml limit and many toiletries too. You can always re-pack your favourite shampoo into the small hotel type bottles for a week or so away. Over recent years the whole flying experience has changed from one of customer service to "take it or leave it" attitude from the airlines and airports. You now have to satisfy the ground handling agent at check in, the airport security staff at screening, the airline gate staff at boarding and each seems to have different rules and inconsistent application thereof. Such is the "progress" when a lot of the short haul industry is becoming ruled by "low cost business models" and the flying passenger is not at the top of the "look after" list. Flight schedules are deliberately timed to allow small delays in boarding and taxiing so they appear to be on time on arrival. Pilots dont have much spare to catch up if they are truly late departing. To make up 10 minutes in 2 hours is possible but not much more unless they have favourable tail winds. But then the trains are also managed in a similar way in respect of timetables. The other night the Madrid to Sevilla AVE made the trip in 2 hrs 12 mins, well under schedule and all because the earlier train had not run on time and was actually behind the later train so we had a clear track and no stops. And yes, everybody on the "earlier" train which was delayed by at least 40 minutes, got their money back.

[Trigger]

It's irrelevent though as they don't weigh hand luggage , leaving it wide open for the bums who like to fiddle that bit extra. As I said, with both hand luggage and hold luggage both having weight limits, why weigh one and not the other?
DA

Easyjet DON'T have a weight limit on hand luggage, except you must be able to put it in the overhead locker unaided.