Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Stow Your Carry On Bags


It's the time of year when the number of carry on bags increase substantially. Students traveling home from college, gifts for a variety of holidays are packed, and coats and heavier clothes for colder weather just take up more room.

By quickly getting settled in your row and properly stowing your carryons, it helps speed along the boarding process, which in turn helps facilitate an on-time departure.

Unfortunately, there's only a finite amount of space in the cabin. Most airplanes do not have a secret little space somewhere in the galley. And if we do, trust me here, our crew bags have already been stowed there to free up a little more cabin space for you.

Before the airplane door can be closed, the flight attendants must verify that all carry on bags have been stowed. This means that they need to be in the overhead bins or pushed forward beneath the seat in front of you.

If your bag is sticking out of the bin in such a way that it cannot be closed, it is not properly stowed. Ditto if you bag sticks out from the seat in front of you so far that you can't stand up. If they are on your lap, not stowed. On the seat next to you, not stowed. In the aisle, not stowed.

Get the picture? There are usually only two options: overhead or beneath. Repeat, overhead or beneath.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought it was acceptable to buy an extra seat to stow some carry-on itens

Fly Girl said...

Most airlines have a policy that will allow you to buy a seat for certain large items that must be transported in the cabin. This is usually a musical instrument, like a cello or something.

In this situation, the item is not considered carry on baggage. It is treated more like a passenger. It must be strapped securely into a seat, and it cannot obstruct anyone's egress in the event of an emergency.

This is a fairly unusual occurrence. In my many years of flying, I can recall a music instrument in a seat only one time.

Anonymous said...

Well said!! I want that on t-shirts, for the girls to wear in the cabin "Overhead or beneath, lap is not an option". :p

And sometimes I really wanna tell em, "carry on" is just that, if you gotta roll it on wheels, it's probably too big, hehe :p

Anonymous said...

This announcement was needed on my flights yesterday. Why can people not follow simple boarding directions? Why?

Anonymous said...

Are you sure there is no secret little space fot those of us who have "extra" essentials????

Anonymous said...

I wish you'd been around when I flew for the first time in my life a couple of months ago :-)

Well, I suppose you were around.

Fly Girl said...

profgrrrrl: I've ruminated on this questions for quite some time. Here's my current take on it: When people hear announcmenents on the airplane, they assume we are talking to everyone on the plane BUT them. The rules apply to everyone else --but certainly NOT to me. It's just a variation on the world revolves around me theme.

Most unfortunate.

Anonymous said...

profgrrrl, it's also due to the fact that most people check their brain instead of their bag when they travel (no offence intended, but they do!!)

and no one listents to anything after "Ladies and gentlemen....."