The considerate traveller's guide to overhead bin etiquette
Josh Martin is a London-based journalist who writes across business and travel topics.
OPINION: There was huffing and puffing and sacré bleu bafflement from the passenger in seat 2D on my recent flight out of Grenoble, France.
He was perplexed and bug-eyed as to why the cabin crew had insisted he find another home for his carry-on luggage, as the airline's policy was that only passengers seated in row 1 were allowed to use the plane's first overhead luggage compartment.
He insisted that having paid extra for both a wheelie carry-on bag, and a backpack, it should be allowed to go in whatever overhead bin was free. She insisted it was [budget airline Easyjet] policy. Just look at the bright orange sign on said bin, our grumbling Gallic gallivanter was told.
Airlines have different policies when it comes to carry on baggage. Getty
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He huffed and puffed and then – perhaps seeing the growing queue of people waiting to board – gave in. Turns out there was room just nearby him, but that rogue laptop bag will need to go under the seat.
This is what the post-golden age of flying as an endurance stress test has come to: ever-diminishing allowances for bags, backpacks and coats, ever-rising costs for both checked luggage and increasingly carry-on luggage means the overhead locker Tetris game is increasingly difficult. And tetchy.
An etiquette minefield has been ratcheted up to create ideal conditions for tarmac tantrums. Think people were funny about wearing masks on flights? Think it was just the seat recline wars or the battle for the middle armrests that could set your cattle-class cabin neighbours off? Well, just wait til you ask Karen to store one of her three carry-on items under the seat in front.
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Who owns the overhead space. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Because we all think the world revolves around us there is an assumption that your stuff must be easily accessible, secure and in sight and right above when you're on board.
Your miscellaneous extras should also be up there too, others' bags be damned. Of course, this assumption is incorrect. And physically impossible for a full flight to also fit one standard wheelie-bag per person in the space available on a single-aisle Boeing or Airbus.
Nine/Graphic: Polly Hanning
It's why the budget airlines now charge you for the privilege in the hope that it puts more people off overpacking or diverts their bag to the hold. The airline is contractually obliged to carry your luggage to your destination, but that's about it (and even then…). So that overhead bin space isn't anymore yours than the person's sitting in front of you. Best to think of it instead as a shared space.
With that in mind, be wary of being an overhead locker hog: your carry-on stuff shouldn't sprawl from rows 32-36: smaller items, jackets and duty-free should be further down the priority list and kept on you at least until others around you have also stored their larger carry-on bag.
Given the fairly dire state of on-board behaviour (maybe it's just the headlines I read) but if you do need to move smaller items or backpacks in order to fit your wheelie bag, it's the most basic step in good etiquette to at least ask 'if it's OK' to move somebody's things slightly so your luggage can fit (which it definitely is!).
Plenty of people travel with wheelie-suitcases on board to avoid checking luggage. Getty
If you're one of the last to board, arrive at your seat and find all the overhead compartments are full, it's better for all of us if you can find space and do a little friendly rearranging of bin space in the rows in front of – rather than behind – you. This alleviates the need for you to try and swim against the current of disembarking passengers once we land and makes for a faster deplaning.
It shouldn't warrant even saying, but having seen some overly confident attempts to get some massive bags past the departure gate staff as carry-on, do brush up on what the carry-on baggage weight allowance and dimension specifications actually are.
Even if you manage to sneak it past the airport staff, if the overhead bins can't be closed because of your bulging baggage, that'll add to boarding delays if it needs to eventually be gate-checked into the hold.
A boarding etiquette crime worse than using row 1 baggage space when you're an angry French budget airline customer sitting in row 2.
This story was originally published by Stuff and has been repurposed here with permission.
