they are only charging for oversize baggage
, Ryanair ,Easy jet and jet2 do that anyway so i t only brings them in line.. the only other diffrence is the weight in the bag [easyjet dont have a max weight only the stipulation you must be able to lift it into the locker]

But by golly the size of the bag allowed is TINY compared to all the others ...

so its a tad smaller but i can never fill a ryan air bag unless i went doubble the weight allowed

There is a view that getting passengers ot checkin hand luggage at the checkin desk allow this to be loaded in the hold prior to / during passenger loading and therefore speeds up and simplifies the loading process at the gate.

Some American airlines encourage this by discounting hand luggage checkin fees and enforce higher carryon luggage fees. Downside is that the airlines pay airports to the hand luggage, of course they pass this cost onto passengers and you have to wait for luggage to be unloaded.

I like the Easyjet option I have heard they use, not sure how widespread it is, but they ask those who are ok to place hand luggage in the hold to 'step forward' and they then get early boarding but of course cant access their hand luggage.

Clearly no direct financial gain for Easyjet and not sure if everyone stepped forward what they would do !

Chris

they are only charging for oversize baggage

Start of a rant - I haven't had one for a while
Yes, make them bloody pay if the hand luggage is more than 45 x 35 x 25 and then maybe they will charge me less for my suitcase going in the hold.

For years we've taken an 'Antler' bag that's not much bigger than a laptop bag and on the flight back from Malaga yesterday my OH had to sit with the bag between his legs because of people bringing mini suitcases on board, some of which were 'hard bodied' and there's no 'give' in them - some were so heavy that the women had difficulty lifting them, so they stood there blocking the aisle looking for assistance or hoping some silly 70 year old fool like my OH would hoist the case above his head- well, he wasn't - which made boarding a long drawn out procedure.

Whilst we were in the gate area watching the planes take-off and land, I glanced back to gate 36 and said to my OH, “why are they queuing when there’s at least another 30 mins before boarding and they all have an allocated seat”?
Well, now I know why – it was to get on the plane first and get the space in the overhead lockers.

It’s supposed to be hand luggage, not week-end luggage, not mini suitcases and my OH shouldn’t have to sit with our bag between his feet….and the next bright spark who thinks they can move things around to ram their case up there, when there obviously isn’t any room, they had better hope it’s not my bag they are taking out to put their suitcase in, and then try and ram my bag back in the space.
End of rant.

Sanji

Who were you flying with Sanji?

We were on a flight to Vegas, all seated with our hand luggage in the overhead locker in the middle of the plane, as there wasn't room at our side. Then this guy proceeds to take it out to put his in. Now where he was intending putting ours hubby didn't wait to find out.

luci

Hi Luci
We flew with Bmibaby.
The flight out 2 weeks ago was 'tight' finding a space because there were quite a few groups of hens and stags on the flight going to Marbella for a few days, but yesterday landing back at tea-time, it seemed like every beggar, their mother and their dog had a suitcase, and some were definately over the dimensions.
Sanji

Their hand baggage allowance is similar to that of Ryanair at 55 x 40 x 20cm.

The problem is that many people who are only going for a few days or even up to a week will take hand baggage only rather than pay for checked baggage. Personally I'd rather pay than have the hassle and worry that it was oversize or weight.

Even when we went to Girona for 3 nights, we paid to check in one suitcase in addition to our hand baggage allowance as we knew we would need it coming home. The saving on cigs more than paid for the checked baggage.

luci

Their hand baggage allowance is similar to that of Ryanair at 55 x 40 x 20cm.

Hi Luci
TBH, I didn't know the dimensions for Bmibaby's hand luggage because it would never apply to me with the size of our bag, but I've just had a look and it is the same as Ryanair at 55 x40 x 20cms, and I thought it would be 'similiar' to all the other low-cost airlines allowance - I was going on the label attached to our bag and my handbag by the check-in staff at Malaga - a green label by 'flight care españa' which says max dimensiones 45 x 35 x 25 cms, but obviously each airline has its own rules - and if Bmibaby had, had a cage at Malaga, some of those mini suitcases wouldn't have fitted into it yesterday.

They pee me right off, and I don't care if this upsets some people or not, but imo, it should be stopped. Hand luggage for the things you need during your flight, such as medication and things like books to keep the kiddies occupied or to pack delicate electrical items like my camcorder, not a bloody weeks clothing in a suitcase and then have my OH sat like a sardine in a can.!

Sanji

I mostly have to use Ryanair for flights, and it has been very difficult to find a hand luggage bag with that 20cm dimension! I refuse to pay for a Ryanair suitcase because of their prices, but I have probably spent that much over the past year trying to find other suitable suitcases

I have at last found one, but still got abused by another flier last time I used it, as he insisted that mine was bigger than the one he had got, but which Ryanair had made him put in the hold!!! As I said to him, if it had fitted the cage, then his would have got on!!! He was still giving me grief when I got on the plane

I did buy a CabinMax soft back pack, the exact dimensions for Ryanair, which weighs I think 750g. But it has no wheels, and 10kg of luggage to carry on my back weighs heavy! Also the contents tend to group at the bottom, making it bulge way past the 20cms allowed.

Just wish that airlines would standardise their hand baggage dimensions, then the suitcase makers can get on with making the "correct" size cases
And then the airlines who only want us to take hand luggage should make sure there are enough lockers to hold the ruddy things!!!

I got my soft wheeled cases for use on Ryan air from one of the garages last year,ok they were a bit dearer than the town but they were clearly labelled suitable for Ryan-air and other low cost carriers.
we use the same ones on Easy-jet, BUT if you cram them full [EJ do not have a bag weight limit] then they wont fit the cage

we got use to flying schedule and charter where hand baggage was around 14"x12"x8" and you got one free in the hold [no size limit only weight] it was a lot easier to board/disembark in them days

I think that is quite a legitimate rant Sanji, i am also sick of people taking on oversized hand luggage, and then just barging the hand luggage of those of us who take on a more reasonable amount out of the way.

Just got back from using Alicante airport and there seemed to be a lot of this going on there. I also hope they start charging those that push it to the limit and then some.

I have actually given in and got a hand luggage bag now that is really soft so that I can put it under the seart in front of me, to save all the grief, but t'other half has a small antler hand luggage bag that is more ridge and really needs to go in the overheads. I dread to think what would happen to anyone who handled his luggage without permission though.

Sanji, I feel exactly the same as you. I'm fed up with people who carry everything bar the kitchen sink with them and expect to hog all the locker space. I keep saying that the next time someone uses the space above my seat with oversized bags, then it's their luggage I'll be moving!!!

doe wrote:

t t'other half has a small antler hand luggage bag that is more ridge and really needs to go in the overheads.

:sun2

Hubby's hand luggage sounds exactly like the one Sanji has

Sanji wrote:

They pee me right off, and I don't care if this upsets some people or not, but imo, it should be stopped. Hand luggage for the things you need during your flight, such as medication and things like books to keep the kiddies occupied or to pack delicate electrical items like my camcorder, not a bloody weeks clothing in a suitcase and then have my OH sat like a sardine in a can.!

Sanji

There is another issue to this to consider , if people who take through fully packed cases just as hand luggage and there is an oversized liquid in there or something that security want to double check then the bag has to be pulled and checked and it can take a fair time to do this , and you guessed it , IT'S YOU who is waiting behind and being delayed because they are carrying more than what is just needed for the flight and delicate/ expensive valuables . It's one of the main reasons why queues are sometimes long.