New flight Regulations about carry-on

[Doc Harry]

continental airlines Houston, tx bush international

There's your problem. What are you doing flying Continental?

Avoid Continental Airlines. They are getting pretty nasty about everything. Just avoid them altogether.

 

[tridacna]

continental airlines Houston, tx bush international

I travel through there every week. I still call it Intercontinental. They never size bags if they look reasonable. If they passed before, you won't have an issue. Relax.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Checked bags for your BCs. Carry on your Computer & regs.
I have seen people be required to put their bags into the little "carry on sizer" thing at the gate. IF it doesn't fit, the bag is checked. I have seen this happen with most airlines, too. Don't try to take on a carryon that is too big..... it isn't fair to the other travelers who are abiding by the rules!

Not fair to other people is exactly right.

I am currently sitting in MSP on standby as the 77 people on the flight I was supposed to be on 5 hours ago did not go anywhere because the plane was broke. It was not something like an airframe or powerplant problem, it was a broken overhead bin door damaged bya moron trying to stuff an oversized carry on in to the bin and then close the door on the too large bag. I spoke with the airline (Nothwest) and they indicate that very shortly they will not only be checking obviously too large bags at the gate but also charging customers for it. In this case, not doing so cost them $300 per passenger for credit on what amounted to a cancelled flight.

I will get to my destination very late, get little sleep and have to begin conducting an on site evaluation at 0800 with bascially no prep of my team. I am not a happy camper at the moment.

One of the related issues is the charges for checked bags which seem to have resulted in more and larger carry ons that have to get stuffed into the same overhead bins. Once everyone charges for checked bags I prefer that everyone just stop and instead add the charge into the fare so we can go back to people checking more luggage and putting it in the hold where it belongs.

As a diver I understand the desire to keep the dive stuff with you, but either bow to the inevitable or be VERY strategic in what you buy in terms of travel equipment, what you travel with and what you check versus carry on. Computer, reg and a travel wing and plate and maybe your mask all fit nicely in a carry-on and none of those are fun to replace or rent at the destination if they get lost or delayed But wetsuits, fins, etc, should be checked if carrying them on requires an over sized carry on.

 

[NudeDiver]

Sounds like the flight crew were not on top of things. They could have removed the broken door entirely, put any bags in that bin into cargo, and had the plane underway in all of 15 minutes - and deferred repair of the door until later. It's no wonder the airline industry loses money.

 

[ArcticDiver]

Sounds like the flight crew were not on top of things. They could have removed the broken door entirely, put any bags in that bin into cargo, and had the plane underway in all of 15 minutes - and deferred repair of the door until later. It's no wonder the airline industry loses money.

Actually, based on the same kind of accounting you and I use in our daily lives they are making money big time. Reality is that the airlines have found new profit centers and new ways of making money. The new things are introduced piecemeal to see if we will accept them. We do, they become the norm and cash profits go up.

I wouldn't lay this even on the flight crew, or the passengers. I'd lay it on the ground crew and NW management's policies. After all this is the airline that in the not too distant past deliberately didn't hire enough people to fly all their scheduled flights. Then they blamed other things for end of month flight cancellations, or at least that is what the story said they released to the news media, I did't audit their books.

Airlines have been coming and going for more than a generation. There is money to be made while keeping passengers satisfied. But, they don't have to so they operate on the Tolerable Pain Principle (Apply until the customer stops coming back for more).

 

[CWSWine]

If you are using a hog and back plate just attach a back pack to the plate and wear it as a back pack.

 

[mempilot]

Mempilot good info but was wondering about your backpacks as to the size. I know your not talking about an army size pack. To bring on a carry on plus a backpack would solve several issues. My airline experiences are very limited. Thanks for the help.

Sorry for the late reply. This is the pack I'm talking about. It's a medium capacity day patrol size pack with hydration system. (Blackhawk)

It holds quite a bit and fits in the overhead of any non-regional aircraft, and it also fits in the E170/190 overheads (Jet Blue'd today with it).

 

[mempilot]

LOL. Some of the posts about the airlines give me a chuckle. I flew red tail aircraft for 7 years based out of Memphis International (hence the mempilot alias) for one of airlines mentioned above. I'm not a defender of the airlines in general, but passengers do have their wires crossed on many an occassion. Anyone who thinks the airlines are making money right now is dillusional. Passenger tolerance for ticket price coupled with astronomical increases in cost have driven the airlines to get creative and make up some of the lost margin (more like stop the hemorrhaging). And to the poster who describes removing the overhead bin door and deferring it, are you an aircraft mechanic? There is usually a lot more to a story that involves a 5+ hour delay over maintenance than what was posted by DA. Again, airlines don't try to delay and cancel flights so they can lose money. My guess is, a completely ignorant gate agent passed on less than the full truth of the situation either because they were told to or they were ignorant of the real issue. Also, the comment about not hiring enough pilots is a joke. NWA had hundreds of pilots on furlough when that happened. Recalling these pilots takes time due to recurrency training that has to happen before they go back on the line. A spike in travel coupled with a low return rate from furlough due to pilots seeking other employment while layed off caused the shortage. There weren't enough qualified pilots coming out of the greatly reduced number of flight schools to replace the regional pilots that replace the mainline pilots. It's called human resource supply and demand problems.

I'm no lover of NWA, but most people don't understand the complexities of the travel industry. That being said, I do understand why people get upset and make wild accusations. I'm glad to be out of the airline industry and flying for a private government contractor.

 

[NudeDiver]

There is usually a lot more to a story that involves a 5+ hour delay over maintenance than what was posted by DA. ...My guess is, a completely ignorant gate agent passed on less than the full truth of the situation either because they were told to or they were ignorant of the real issue.

Maybe - but I can only go on the info provided. If I have to guess based on complete speculation - then - well, maybe the pilot had a bad case of jock itch and didn't think he could fly a couple of hours without getting some powder and/or cream first - hence the delay.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

We got updates on the mechanical problem about every 5 minutes for nearly an hour before the flight was cancelled.

Being a pilot and having alot of time to think about it, I have some ideas why a broken ovehead bin door became a flight safety issue. It is plausible in two instances:

1. if the door could not be repaired and was required to be accessible in flight due to safety equipment normally stored in one end of the bin. If you remove the door, the equipment is now not secured and if needed for flight safety, you don't go anywhere.

2. The aircraft had not yet been boarded by our flight. So the over sized bag may have jammed something inside the door preventing it from being opened so the bag could be removed. With TSA being what it is they are probably not going to let an aircraft depart with a carry on left stuck in a bin when the owner is no longer aboard and when neither the bag nor the bin can be inspected. After all they make the entire aircraft deplane just for a cabin crew change.