<p>“it just takes time to try and leverage an almost full overhead bin compartment to accept one more bag.”</p>
<p>Only because people are stuffing the bin incorrectly. It’s extremely easy to slide the third rollaboard in when two rollaboards are already loaded properly.</p>
<p>I don’t assume that the clueless and inconsiderate are infrequent flyers. Doofuses and jerks don’t change their spots just because they fly a lot. I use the priority security lane at O’Hare (elite frequent flyers plus first class), and there are still plenty of people who seemed shocked to learn they have to take off their shoes.</p>
<p>Not if I’m in the aisle seat. I’m 6’1" and when seated in coach cabins my knees are already hard against the seat in front of me (which can be very painful when that person suddenly decides to take a nap and flings the seat back; but that’s another story), so there is no such thing as “squeezing by.”</p>
Well, S1 is connecting at O’Hare tonight around 5:30pm. We lucked out on the weather this year, at least. And since it’s a three day trip home, I’m guessing that he’ll just have a carry-on.</p>
<p>They take 3 if they are big enough for the wheels-in pack. We just went to FL on US Airways and they had the old overhead bins that cannot take bags that way. So only 2 fit in the overhead. What a mess.</p>
<p>I don’t do carry on anymore because of the darn liquid rule. I have luckily never had a problem with bags arriving. I try to avoid connecting flights if at all possible, thankfully it helps flying out of LAX. The best was when I had to fly standby from Newark to LA because the incompetence of Continental somehow managing to cancel my boarding pass. I didn’t make the flight got rerouted through Houston and I just knew my bag wouldn’t make it. My bag made it to LA before I did. It was a fitting end to that travel nightmare.</p>
<p>As for the OP, my best guess is that the airline is selling cargo space to things other than checked bags, which means not every bag will fit.</p>
<p>The airlines have to manage this situation. People put their coats, and small packages and bags in the overheads. The airlines do nothing about it. People stop and fill the bins … rows and rows before their seats. I also there was a rule after 9-11 that passengers had to fly with their bags - for safety reasons.</p>
<p>The airlines have also made the seats smaller, and added rows - and the overhead bin space was not designed to accommodate all of those people. Add to it - the folks who don’t want to pay for the checked baggage fee - and you have a problem waiting to happen. Next - you will be charged for carry on baggage …just wait and see.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that O’Hare would be all that bad as a destination. I think you might take off or get home late a lot, but you’d probably make it more or less okay. You’d know about that a lot better than me.</p>
<p>Where O’Hare really comes up short is as a connection hub. There are so many hundreds of flights that everything has to run like clockwork or there is a huge cascade of delayed flights, missed connections, and cancelled flights. The set-up is a fragile house of cards. And between frequent summer thunderstorms and winter snow storms it comes crashing down with depressing regularity. O"Hare is the only airport where I’ve personally seen them breaking out cots and blankets for people stranded overnight, and I’ve seen it there several times. Who knows how many countless times it has happened when I’m not there to see it.</p>
<p>You and I definitely have different theories of airport hygiene and efficiency. I put my shoes in the bin LAST - to minimize the distance I have to walk on the dirty airport floor in my socks. And it takes the same amount of time to take off my shoes and put them in the bin last as it does to do that first.</p>
<p>As long as I have my shoes in the bin and ready to go before the x-ray machine is ready to take in the bin, there is no extra delay. And even if there were a delay, if the 10 or so seconds it takes me to slip off my shoes and put them in the bin is going to make someone miss their flight, they are cutting it too close.</p>
<p>No - I mean the back end after the bins are through the x-ray machine. If your shoes come out first, then you can slip them on while the rest of your stuff is coming through, so you can grab and go. If your other stuff comes out first, you grab that, and then you have to put on your shoes and can’t get out of the way for the next passenger whose belongings are coming down the pike.</p>
<p>Yup. Shoes on first. And always in a bin. I don’t want the laces getting caught in the belt and getting mangled. Coat goes on with shoes, then carryon, then messenger bag, then laptop. Messenger bag and laptop are valuables (it normally has my wallet in it) so they go on last and I retrieve off the belt first to minimize the chances of pilferage. TSA workers have been known to steal your things and I have absolutely zero trust in them. They want to secondary my bags, don’t even THINK about even laying your hands on them before I’m there to supervise my belongings.</p>
<p>I put my shoes in the first of my two bins so they come out first - again to minimize the time I’m not wearing them, but when loading the bins they get put into the bin the last of everything. Shoes = last thing taken off and first thing put back on.</p>
<p>And again, even if there were a delay, if the 10 or so seconds it takes me to pull my shoes out of the bin and slip them on is going to make someone miss their flight, they are cutting it too close.</p>
<p>put my shoes in the first of my two bins so they come out first - again to minimize the time I’m not wearing them, but when loading the bins they get put into the bin the last of everything. Shoes = last thing taken off and first thing put back on."</p>
<p>RIght - and what I’m saying is that I see people put their shoes in their LAST bin going in. So all their stuff comes out, and then they are standing there waiting for their shoes, then they bend down and put on their shoes while standing at the back end of the x-ray while all their stuff piles up, and meanwhile it causes a backload because the passenger following them can’t get to his / her stuff which has already cleared the x-ray. It sounds like it’s only 10 seconds, but multiply it by all the people going through, and it really does cause backup to the system. Same thing for the people who decide just as they are going through to go search for their baggie with liquids. Where have you people been?? Argh! :-)</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about the OP’s unpleasant luggage situation. The overhead bins on aircraft were not designed to hold a rollaboard for every passenger so it would be impossible to enforce a rule to only put your bags in the bin above you. I’m betting the cargo hold had some kind of cargo that took up one of the cargo bays and made it impossible to carry every bag. </p>
<p>In response to the other poster about an aircraft not being able to carry a full load of passengers, this is correct. Aircraft have minimum and maximum takeoff and landing weights along with balancing requirements that sometimes lead to denied boardings and people having to switch seats. Since regional aircraft are smaller, there is less leeway as to what the acceptable weights and balance specifications are. I had a similar thing happen on a 216-passenger 753 (757-300) that was only carrying 70 passengers. All passengers in coach were required to stay in their assigned seats for takeoff and landing due to weight and balance restrictions, but could stretch out during flight. I had an operational upgrade to first class (it pays to understand airline operations), so I didn’t have to deal with this.</p>
<p>As a semi-frequent flier who wants to be a very frequent flier, I don’t check luggage and carry on a backpack and small rollaboard. Unless one is an elite passenger and looking for upgrades, I suggest flying between business destinations rather than leisure ones like Orlando or Las Vegas were you have a lot of infrequent fliers. Back when United had TED, it was real easy to see what the leisure destinations were, not so much nowadays.</p>
:</p>