The seats are assigned. People have been standing in line for 15 minutes now. Why on earth would anyone want to stand there, when they could just sit and wait until the line clears?
I understand wanting to get off a plane ASAP, but boarding? You just end up sitting on the plane, waiting for everyone else to get on.
Overhead space. The only upgrade I pay for is boarding group, and I want to maximize my upgrade purchase, so I want to be at the front of group 2.
I only travel with an appropriately sized carry-on but I’m a bit tall so I can NOT have the bag by my feet.
So I want to guarantee I have the overhead right above my seat.
I also generally work on the plane so I can get my laptop and such out easily while standing at my seat, then put my bag up worry free.
Also, when you will likely be sitting for 2+ hours, I like to stretch my legs a bit before then. I don’t need to sit at my gate for an hour before going into a plane to sit for 3 more hours.
This is the answer. Trace it back to the early 2000s when airlines started charging for checked bags. That created an immediate premium for overhead space and kicked off the Boarding Wars we now find ourselves in today, where airlines and passengers alike contort themselves literally and figuratively in an attempt to work around this one massive consequence of corporate greed.
-20 airline professional
I wish there was just seat designations in the overhead. If shit is in my slot, yeet.
I agree. But this would require them to provide adequate space up there for each passenger. They are squeezing seats together so tightly that may no longer be possible.
Bin designs are just now getting to the point where there is something like a 1:1 relationship between passengers and overhead space. Only a small fraction of the flights operating (at least in the US) have these bins, though.
Some of the new Boeing aircraft, as it happens, so it’s a trade off…
I literally chill til the very end of boarding before I get on. Like you said, my seat is assigned, it ain’t changing, and I’m packed light enough to put my backpack under the seat in front of me. Sometimes people don’t show up n I sneak into a better seat 🤫. I’ve only ever been called out for that on Frontier, they know the hustle apparently. I’ve never bothered trying 1st class or anything, but I’ve gotten some middle seats to transform into aisles that way.
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Surprised no one mentioned this, but carry-on bags are no longer free for all - only free for the first ones in line.
Really? I haven’t flown in awhile but I always thought if your carry on doesn’t fit they will check it for you. Has that changed? Could be different for each airline.
Yep, you’re right. If you don’t want your carry on checked, then be in the front of the line.
People who use up more than their third of the locker, forcing others out of their own space are subhuman.
I donno, I think airlines that cram in more seats without increasing overhead storage are subhuman.
why not both?
Because passangers neither have control over locker size nor knowledge of it.
Cause it shouldn’t be the customers responsibility to accommodate other customers, it’s the airline’s responsibility.
Ah yeah I do agree with that. I was partially referencing the meme, but also there’s those kind of people who would inconsiderately take up others’ space until the airline made them move. There’s enough to be annoyed at both! :P
True, agreed!
Both. Both is good.
The gate crew often gets graded on how quickly they complete boarding, so don’t be surprised when your plane’s “full” overhead compartments are half empty. Stupid job metrics strike again.
Lol hadn’t thought of it, but not surprised.
Oh no I’m literally just talking about when I go to stow my suitcase and some goober with 3 suitcases has filled his entire row and is now cramping mine. You’re not special. Check your damn luggage and wait on the carousel like the rest of us!
People are posting a lot of maybe more rational reasons, but I think there’s another answer that’s more in line with just being a human. Airports suck, air travel, generally, sucks and the whole process is riddle with both intentional and also just unavoidable misery. Every time a new step in the sequence of unpleasant and boring steps that is air travel nears, we start to anticipate it and get anxious to move on to that next step in the process. It doesn’t make it faster, it likely only makes the misery arguably worse, but some times people just can’t help trying to mentally hasten things even if in reality nothing is hastened at all.
Standing in line brings me joy
Found the Brit.
Big issue for musicians. Many of us have instruments that are just small enough to be carry-ons but just large enough to be a bit unwieldy compared to other carry-ons, so nabbing primo carry-on storage is a must.
eh, if youre in first class you could potentially start getting served drinks before boarding is complete. i know i have.
that said, ive often waited til the plane was mostly seated/no line before boarding even if seated in first.
The nice thing if you ever fly first class is that you’ll typically get boarding priority and sometimes even your own door on larger planes so that you don’t have to interact with the poors (j/k I’m a poor too, I’ve just booked first/business class before when I have enough points saved up so that it’s worth it).
Anxiety (especially now that planes are oversold and standby passengers are nearby waiting to grab empty seats…), the need for overhead bin space, not wanting to have to climb over people, illogical impatience, etc.
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I don’t have your trust in Boeing planes failing that predictably.
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Yes, in the US, 14 CFR part 250.7 means that they can’t throw you off after you’re checked in and your ticket has been scanned at the gate during the boarding process. It was changed by Congress after that doctor got thrown off a United flight in 2017. The airline can still throw you off if you’re disruptive, and my understanding is that a pilot in command can order you off for pretty much any reason, as they have full command of the aircraft, so if you’re ever in that situation then you better follow the pilot’s instructions. But if the pilot does throw you off due to a bumping situation then the airline is breaking the law.
Airlines can also make their own policies on which passengers have the highest priority to get bumped, which can involve check-in time, and I imagine can involve basically who is at the gate, ready to go. So there are some advantages to being there and queuing early.
Why does it seem like everyone in the comment section takes flights all the time? For me, flying on an airplane is for vacations abroad only, and I maybe get 2 flights a year at most. I assume this is one of those US things I’m too Asian to understand.
I was flying 4-5 times a year when I worked remotely for a tech company. First few times was neat. I got over it fast. A bunch of cities/airports really suck and treat you like cattle.
lots of tech and business people use lemmy, we have to fly often.
Yep.
Used to fly all the time for work.
After that, flying with my wife and kids, or standing in TSA line with the normies who don’t know what to do gets incredibly frustrating.
I remember getting stuck behind one Karen who was pissed off she had to toss out a giant bottle of hair conditioner, in like 2017. Like, lady, yeah, it’s dumb, but the 311 rule isn’t new. Get over yourself.
I live in the US and I consider it unusual to fly more than once every two years.
It really depend on your job.
I know contractors that fly all over the place to get to different jobs and such.
We don’t have cool trains like you do in many parts of Asia.
And the Asian countries that don’t have trains are probably small enough that you still don’t really need to fly to get from one side to the other.
Are you under the impression that the US has a bunch of trains that we use constantly? Because we dont.
I wish we did, maybe someday.
brother you and I are the same
I’m about to sit down for the next six hours. I’m happy to stand for a bit.
I see only one reason, why i would want to be early at the seat. its bcs if i am not, my backpack might be placed above but multiple seats away by the crew, where it is then uneasy for me to have an eye on it whilst easy for theives to take and open them, especially on long flights there would be plenty of opportunity like when everyone is sleeping.
but for this case i use locks on the backpack anyway, so that anyone who wants to open it, either opens it where nothing of value is in it thus no lock, or at least has a much harder time than when trying the very same with other bags…
also on longer flights i usually did not have that problem, but that could also have been just luck
Thieves aren’t buying multiple hundred dollar tickets to bip your laptop from your bag man.
- i am sure you won’t pay for it if my laptop disappears this way (if yes, lets make a contract with a lifetime “fee” of 0$ i pay you whilst you pay for everything that got stolen from me in a plane)
- ppl with kleptomania do travel too
- how could you know? you are not talking about you and your colleagues or such?
- such statistics were made by those who benefit from planes looking more safe.
- “work and travel” vs “steal and travel”, which is more likely be done by a thiev?
- not all theives “need” to steal, some just do so because they can, others maybe because its family tradition.
- sometimes it could be more important that nobody could possibly put something into(!) your bag (and remove it later) to let you get it through customs for them, those arguably “would” buy such tickets to do so, as it’s probably part of their income, but i guess thats only a problem when flying in or out of countries with big illegal drug imports.
- <something i forgot>
I’ve literally never had anything stolen from an overhead bin, and I’ve never given the slightest of fucks about monitoring my bags unless I was traveling to like a 3rd world country, and even then, it’s overkill to worry. It’s a captive audience, and the dumbest place to steal. The airline has everyone’s name/info. It’s certainly possible, for someone to, but definitely not likely.
yeah, that’s why i am happy to avoid the us when travelling, mainly because of reports that electeonics are bricked regulary by them, but this discussion is more about theft. like “never allow hand luggage to be checked, better miss the flight instead”:
it’s not always about travellers that could lay hands on your stuff, maybe staff “needs” a living wage too ;-)
Yeah, but the op was talking about worrying about people on the plane stealing from his bag in the overhead bin, not the TSA stealing from it. But yeah, TSA is grimy AF, I always make sure to count my money before and after I put my wallet through the security line. I also wouldn’t trust valuables in a checked bag as well.
until planes have some magic build-in that turns cleptomans into normal people and hinders underpayd in-flight staff from ensuring their already due income upgrade by other means, i’ld say every unobserved bag is prone to theft, everywhere.
if you know such a theft-preventing magic, pls tell, so we can also build it into regular streets in big touristic cities and into all buildings in the wallstreet, that would help the world a lot.
I saw in a flight that the airline mistakenly sold the same seat twice, two persons were fighting for the same seat, and when the stewardess came to review, she saw the error, the flight was oversold and the second man needed to leave the plane.
They don’t do that mistakenly. They just realized most of the time a few passengers don’t show up so overselling makes sense to keep the plane full.
If that happens to you in the EU, you are entitled to compensation, regardless of what the airline says. Know your rights!
I think it’s the same in america. But yeah, the airlines will of course try to wriggle out of this
This happened to me once, on a flight from JFK to Columbus OH. I was pissed because I had traveled the last 22 hours to get out of southern France back to the states, and then got kicked from my final little flight home. They gave me $200 to their airline (Delta) that had an expiration date, and a room at DoubleTree to take me back to the airport next day.
I couldn’t afford another trip after that so they canceled my $200 coupon after a year. So, yeah, you get compensated, I guess
You were scammed. You were owed cash.
Yes, the rule for involuntary bumping is:
1-2hr delay: 2x ticket price up to $775
2+hr delay: 4x ticket price up to $1550
It must be paid out at the airport, or within 24hr at the latest.
They are required to give you a written statement of your rights, though in my experience they usually “forget” and you have to go and assert your rights.
Airlines are well aware of these rules, and unfortunately there is no compensation if they involuntarily bump you onto an earlier flight, so I’ve had to take some flights before at the asscrack of dawn due to bumping.
How do they bump you to an earlier flight? You turn up for the flight you have a ticket for and they tell you your plane left 2 hours ago?
This is in the US? I had a few friends get fucked with last moment cancellations for my birthday trip to Vegas and the airlines didn’t do shit. One, Frontier, had to be strong armed to get them on another flight and still charged them the premium for the new flight.
I remember a scandal in Germany some years back, where it was reported that people on the airline call centres were instructed to wrongly tell customers that they weren’t entitled to compensation, and to only pay out when they where under threat of being sued. Dunno whether that improved.
I heard people complaining a lot about Wizz Air.
I usually fly with KLM, and they have been always fast and good with this.
I don’t want to look for my seat with 20 people in front and 20 people behind me, touching my ass cos there is no space . If I have a window seat, then I have to also deal with the people sitting next to me, they get up, walk out, I sit down, they get in blah blah blah
