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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand easyJet's obsession with putting hand luggage in the hold.

207 replies

NameChangedForTheDay · 28/09/2019 11:11

Something that's been puzzling me for a while is what is easyJet's (and possibly other airlines?) obsession with trying to put cabin bags in the hold?

Last few flights I've been on, they've cited not enough space in the cabin, fair enough, even though we were probably half way down the queue, so not even the last to board.

Last weekend when we flew, we booked seats up front / speedy boarding and were one of the first 20 to board, and they were saying to leave bags by the steps to go into the hold. Yet there was plenty of space on the overhead lockers.

Then yesterday, we are at airport and the app was giving me notifications encouraging me to do a bag drop and "go hands free"!

I don't get it!

After all these years of being encouraged to travel light, I've gone from being that person with the heavy label stuck on my huge case that's going in the hold, to being able to holiday for a week with just a cabin bag and I've enjoyed the freedom of not having to wait at baggage reclaim.

Yet, they now seem intent to to back to the 'old ways'.

Anyone here work for easyJet that can enlighten me? Other opinions obviously most welcome. 😁

OP posts:
mumwon · 28/09/2019 13:25

just before we entered cabin we were told that all luggage had to go in hold. Problem was that included all my husbands medication & our camera (with lithium batteries). Issue is - as I tried to explain to the crew - my dh drugs would be affected by the cold & lack of air pressure in the hold (diabetes drugs & some heart drugs you should never put in hold ditto special eye drops) but the steward kept repeating "do you need them on journey" I found space & made sure we got it back before they put it in hold. dh medication is bulky & we split between us for safety sake anyway. We already had hold luggage &our bags weren't that big either.

Sallhall01 · 28/09/2019 13:30

I work for easyjet, so if your speedy boarding you should definitely have not had your bag put into the hold, especially if you were the first 20 people
Also, what people don't understand is that we have 3 different types of aircrafts... Which hold different amounts of bags, so a 319 for example only holds 55 cabin bags... If we have 30 speedy (for example) and they all have a trolley case... That only leaves 20 for other passengers. These whole bag issues is something we have to deal with daily and we can board anything from 4-10 flights a day so we always thank people for their cooperation

myolivetree · 28/09/2019 13:44

I don't want to pay for luggage as it can add a couple of £100 to our family hols. We've all learnt to pack light and can't imagine needing a big case now anyway. Also enjoy not waiting for luggage.

I'd say the airlines have fuelled these changes by charging for hold luggage and now everyone seems like us, to take the biggest case allowed into the cabin. What goes round comes round. And so frustrating when now when the cabin bags get put into the hold.

westcountrychicken · 28/09/2019 13:50

Because budget flights are full of people who try and fit two weeks worth of stuff in an overhead bag and it leaves no bloody room for anything. I think they should limit it to a small rucksack and a handbag. You shouldn't need anything more on a flight.

Sgtmajormummy · 28/09/2019 14:00

Easyjet make it clear when you book that there are more seats than overhead luggage locker spaces (IIRC about 75%).
So if you’re traveling with only hand luggage you can be pretty sure that they’ll start asking you to put it in the hold from about half way along the queue (50% suitcases and 25% small handbags of people with large luggage already in the hold).
Personally I just wait at the end of the queue and surrender my cabin bag quite happily, keep my phone and documents close at hand, and saunter up to my seat when the eager beavers have already found theirs.
At least Easyjet give you a guaranteed seat number.

Roussette · 28/09/2019 14:03

"I hate waiting at baggage reclaim

I think that’s a really strong reaction to what is a first world problem. I hate being chronically ill and disabled. But to hate waiting for bags, that 99999 times out of 100000 arrive is rather strong. Maybe change your field of reference"

What in god's name has that got to do with the price of fish? There's lots of things I hate but it really does not relate to someone being chronically ill and disabled (for which I have every sympathy in context)

I cannot get over the size of bags some people take on board. Even though there are restrictions in size, I've seen what I would call a suitcase that is what I would call a size suitable for at least a week. Somehow they get away with it.

I nearly always take a soft bag and then if they do come down the line wanting passengers to put bags in the hold, they 99% ignore your bag because it can be squashed under the seat and I want to arrive and be away and not wait at the carousel.

NeedAnExpert · 28/09/2019 14:10

You can take up to 10 small items and they all have to fit inside one clear re-sealable bag up to a certain size.... all easily googleable

You can have far more than 10 items. You can have as many as you like so long as none is more than 100ml and the bag seals.

19lottie82 · 28/09/2019 14:13

why does it matter?

One of my friends got encouraged to put her hand luggage in the hold on a flight to Prague and had her cash and digital camera stolen from her bag by baggage handlers Angry

DaisyDreaming · 28/09/2019 14:14

It amazes me how long it takes passengers to get their cabin bags in the over head storage and I have seen it over flow several times!

KatharinaRosalie · 28/09/2019 14:16

30 years ago we somehow all managed with a satchel sized bag.
30 years ago, hold luggage was included and not charged extra. Why would I pay the extra fee if I can fit what I need in a free carry on?

some say up to 10 individual 100ml containers and some say it must all fit inside just 1 of the airline plastic bags.

Those rules have nothing to do with airlines, but airport security. 1 litre ziploc bag, no item more than 100ml.

Straycatstrut · 28/09/2019 14:24

It amazes me how long it takes passengers to get their cabin bags in the over head storage and I have seen it over flow several times!

Exactly and they will take the same amount of time trying to get them out again, even in an emergency, consequently blocking the escape exits. It's really dangerous.

Aragog · 28/09/2019 14:34

If airlines don't want people to take the maximum cabin bag as they are allowed then they shouldn't charge for,hold luggage. Whilst it can cost an extra couple of hundred pound extra to take a hold case of course passengers are going to take as much cabin luggage as they are allowed to do so. Why wouldn't or shouldn't they?

Original poster
NameChangedForTheDay · 28/09/2019 14:34

@Sallhall01 Thank you. That's really insightful. 👌🏻

OP posts:
GlamGiraffe · 28/09/2019 14:43

When I travel for work I carry highly confidential papers in my small wheelie case. I was on an easy jet flight last week and they thought putting it in the hold was a good idea...quite simply I would have had to go with it. I wouldn't mind if it was huge,but it was only a wheelie briefcase, there were people on there with huge bags.

BlingADingDing · 28/09/2019 14:50

@NeedAnExpert because of where I was sitting

Remoteisland · 28/09/2019 14:58

I am the opposite to most people on here. I pack all the valuables, passports, meds and books/entertainment stuff for kids in a handbag. Everything else goes into small wheelies that can come on board (so I don’t have to pay for hold) but I’m always delighted when they put them in the hold so I don’t have to faff about on the plane with them. I put my address, phone number and flight details on them, just in case, and sometimes ask the staff if they’d be happy to put them in the hold. The time taken to get them back on baggage reclaim at the other end seems to be much, much faster than it was years ago.

LolaSmiles · 28/09/2019 15:23

Remoteisland
As long as that's on airlines who allow a cabin bag AND a handbag then that's cool.

If you do that where airlines stipulate ONE bag and you rock up with two because it suits then you're part of the problem.

Aridane · 28/09/2019 15:27

It makes turn around time quicker if passengers aren't putting things in the overhead lockers. Things going into and out of the hold don't impact on the cabin plus it's not the crew doing it

I think that’s spot on

Next revenue maker will probably be to charge to take hand luggage on!

LadyLindaT · 28/09/2019 15:35

The overhead locker situation has definitely got far, far worse in recent years, which, I presume, is due to airlines charging extra for hold luggage.
I do wish airlines would police it better.
Some of the things allowed on as hand luggage look like you could camp out for a week in them!
Hand luggage was never meant for everyone to take on a hard-shell wheeled case.
I loved the freedom of taking just hand luggage and walking out of the airport at the other end, but everyone is now pressured into checking hand luggage into the hold because the overhead cabins are so overloaded with these massive cases and rucksacks.

TSSDNCOP · 28/09/2019 15:58

Conversely I cannot understand why anyone wouldn’t put their bag in the hold.

You trip everyone up in departures wheeling the twats about. You decapitate people trying to get it in and out of the bin.

You slow yourself and everyone else down.

You have the faff of miniaturising everything and endless threads about whether a bag will fit in the ever decreasing bin at check in.

Just to “save” 15 minutes at the collection belt.

JennyBlueWren · 28/09/2019 16:00

I can pack for a week with "hand luggage" and will check the different airlines' regulations to make sure I'm within that. Since I have a rucksack carrier for my toddler which I have to collect from the carousel anyway I don't mind my (small suitcase) handluggage going in there too. If hold luggage was free it would all go in there.

Remoteisland · 28/09/2019 16:37

@LolaSmiles
Nope, I don’t turn up with extra ‘because it suits’. I’m ultra-organised and check precise allowances on size and weight and number of bags allowed on every flight I take. Handbag goes under the seat in front and, as I said, cabin bag (sometimes paid for eg Ryanair) I will then volunteer for hold.

RufusthebewiIderedreindeer · 28/09/2019 17:04

This happened on a foight we were on

Dh argued the toss and then when others were waiting for their bags to go in the hold he snuck ours on board

Just overhead bins were virtually empty...no idea why we had been told they were full

Of course now he thinks he was right Hmm

RufusthebewiIderedreindeer · 28/09/2019 17:05

Oh my god...that should obviously be flight!!

maddiemookins16mum · 28/09/2019 17:05

It’s also to do with the move away from ‘traditional packages’. ‘Back in the day’, everything was included (including your hold luggage).
Hence this is why Jet2 are doing well, their holidays include the luggage.