Long story short: United Airlines is cracking down on people who abuse the lax enforcement of carry-on belongings, and will eventually begin sending people back to the ticket counter to check excessive luggage for a fee.
I support this fully. When’s Delta going to get in on this?
Seriously though, I fly more frequently than the average person does, so I’ve witnessed beyond my share of inconsiderate people who bring a U-Haul’s worth of crap onto aircrafts, and stuff the overhead bins full before the second two-thirds of passengers can even set foot onto the plane. It makes me feel ecstatic to see that there’s an airline that’s willing to finally push back at these greedy assholes who think that it’s perfectly acceptable for them to stuff their non-regulation size roll-aboard horizontally, along with their meticulously folded coat, as well as their purse/satchel/messenger bag, so that they can have the floor in front of them completely clear and spacious for their feet for when they inevitably lean back and sleep while snoring; in the seat right in front of yours, naturally.
Their initial selfishness is what causes a chain reaction that leads to everyone being miserable and hate the flying experience as a whole. They get on the aircraft first, stuff all of their crap into the overhead bins, and sit back smugly and watch as the rest of the people clamor for remaining space, even if it’s nowhere near where their actual seat is, because they’re so desperate to get any space at all, so they don’t have to check their crap, and add 30 minutes to their post-flight experience having to wait at the carousels for their bag to be returned to them. Then the people afterward clog up the remaining boarding passengers, because they’re now the ones sniffing out the “it might just fit” spaces in the overhead bins, and then they plant themselves in place and try to play luggage Tetris with not just their crap, but the crap of other people, whom are often times nervously watching from their own seats, but not getting up, because they either can’t, because they’re middle or window and the 400 lb. fat motherfucker is clogging them from getting back in the aisle, or that they’re simply lazy, and don’t want to actually help anyone else out.
So good on United to try and snuff out the issue at its initial point, and cracking down on overhead bin abusers. I enjoy in the article that the obvious outcry is the accusation that United is trying to just make more money; of course they’re trying to make more money, that’s what any smart business is always trying to do. But at the same time, they’re making an effort to try and re-train people who fly, into adhering into more reasonable packing habits, so that if they really want to avoid having to pay extra money, maybe they should invest in more reasonable luggage, or pack more intelligently, so that things aren’t bursting at the seams, or necessitating a gigantic tote on top of your roll-aboard. If it they make a little bit of coin while people are re-learning, so be it.
There’s a reason I seldom use my roll-aboard in the first place, and that I stick to a duffle bag, or a backpack. By the time I get onto flights, there’s rarely any room for a roll-aboard anyway, so even if I can’t cram my duffel in somewhere, I can make it fit underneath my seat usually. Even when I have a roll-aboard, so many times I just check it at the gate anyway, just because I simply don’t want to deal with the arduous task of looking for space, unless I know the flight is lightly occupied, and I could probably find a spot.
