What are the airlines going to fleece you for next?

This song sums the situation up nicely. (Very NSFW lyrics.)

Problem is, a lot of hand luggage is cabin sized suitcases and they fill the overhead lockers and take up a lot of space.

I flew to Florida with BA in the summer and there was a family of 6 who ALL had rolling cabin suitcases and they filled up 2 full overhead lockers, including over seats they weren’t sat in. So people were boarding after them with no space to put their bags. And on a long haul flight you want your cabin bag!!!

problem is also in the return Florida flights, people have a lot of hand baggage including droids, BIG soft toys and usually bags full of stuff because BA made several announcements that any suitcase over 23kg would be charge $100 so people frantically started moving stuff round in the check in queue.
then whilst waiting to board announcing that they needed volunteers for putting hand luggage in the hold. When of course no one volunteers they start picking people at random. That £6 ensures you won’t be one of them!!

You are travelling with handluggage only, mainly to avoid queueing at the belt for hours.

We've taken a couple of easyJet flights this year with checked-in luggage - it was on the belt pretty much as soon as we'd cleared passport control. Presumably the extra cost puts off so many people that there's very little to be unloaded.

Don't be giving Ryanair ideas.

I've thought a few times that I would pay a bit to not have them trying to sell me stuff on board. Ryanair's the worst for it and their spiel about perfume can take over 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I usually don't have any choice of carrier as only they do the route.

If everybody took a small wheely case on as hand luggage, there wouldn’t be enough room so some would have to go in the hold.

If you take a bag that’s small enough to fit under the seat in front you’ll be fine.

If you have got hold luggage - use the hand luggage for electronic gadgets (which are forbidden in hold), medications, passports and anything else you need quick access to between home and holiday accommodation. That means you can use a holdall

There are a few things they could add charges for:

Oxygen supply
Toilet (maybe 20p for a wee and £1 for anything else?)
Lifejacket upgrade - siren and flares, not just light and whistle
Basic pleasantries - fiver each if you want “please” and “thank you”, and a maximum of two cheery greetings plus one farewell

jet 2 holidays are very generous on luggage - you get a decent amount of check in included and a good hand luggage allowance. The problem is is that if everyone takes the max hand luggage there isn’t enough space. If your bag fits under the chair it is already guaranteed; it’s the overhead ones that aren’t.

The "included" bag defines the size of the nag you can take at no extra charge, it doesn't guarantee you'll be able to take it in the cabin. On busy shorthaul flights, too many passengers taken cabin sized suitcases so if you want to guarantee yours.notmgking in the hold, pay the extra.

Easyjet and Ryanlair do it by offering priority for more than £6

All these flights are still too cheap to be reasonable or sustainable IMO (although I use them a lot, so not judging anyone?

Like somebody else said the guarantee is intended for those who travel with the big maximum cabin baggage sized cases. Not people with a hold-all.

I would too.Not that I fly with them. They might put the £6 people in a higher boarding category so your bags and you get on earlier? It’s not about big bags. It’s about ensuring you have space for a standard bag. Did you not realise that’s why people are desperate to board? They take bags away from the last in the queue!

Having said that: BA did once try to take my bag away. It fitted the size requirement snd I just had another small handbag. I certainly wasn’t last either but I guess they had virtually nothing checked in. The staff member put my case to one side with several others. She was then looking for more victims. When she engaged another one, having not stopped several people with far more bags than me, I nipped back and took it back, People who stick to the rules should not be penalized but many don’t. With low cost airlines, I’d pay.

I'd pay the £6. We just flew with Ethihad. We were one of the first passengers on the plane, and they wanted to take our hand luggage off us as we were boarding to put in hold as the flight was full. It wasn't oversized. We refused.

I imagine it'll be some form of priority boarding

How will this work? If you are one of the last on the plane and the lockers are full but you've paid they will pick someone who hasn't paid at random and take their luggage? I can see this leading to lots of arguments on board.

That's not new on Jet 2. It's been the case for ages. It simply means you're paying to guarantee it's not put in the hold if the flight is busy. If you don't want to pay it don't - it's part of the low cost model but not compulsory. These days you pay for the seat - anything else is chargeable.

They’re fine short haul as part of a package.

It amazes me that at least one person’s luggage never fits the lockers. On another Jet2 flight 2 years ago a member of the flight crew measured the problematic luggage. It was about 5cm more in all three dimensions. In the hold it went.

Yes this is usually on those flights that people may go for a shortbreak so rather than checking a suitcase and taking just a large handbag or small rucksack on they are taking small suitcases as hand luggage. As another person said it guarantees you don't have to queue for baggage. If you don't want to do that and are checking a suitcase through then they aren't going to make you put your handbag in the hold.

It’s the way they (the low cost airlines). Instantly change their rules to catch you out that annoys me. You have to be a full time consultant to keep up.

If they didn’t fit they shouldn’t go on! It’s like you have to bribe them with £6 to fit them in!

As I understand it;
You are travelling with handluggage only, mainly to avoid queueing at the belt for hours.
On rare occasions, said hand luggage is taken and put in the hold. Paying this levy guarantees yours won't be one of them.

I've flown for business and holidays with hand luggage only loads of times and have only had hand luggage put in hold once!