Just had message to say our hand/cabin luggage is now going into hold as flight is busy.Trouble is....

[bizzey]

..Our cabin luggage is not hold friendly !

Short city break.
The DC's planned(and packed!) luggage are small holdalls.

Will they treat this type of luggage differently to the big hold suitcases that you see th chuck around ?

Thanks.

So many ignorant, selfish people.

Some of the cabin type suitcases are actually quite bulky. There is only X amount of space available on the plane.
And why shouldn't someone keep their normal sized backpack & coat in the overhead locker instead of the dirty floor under the seat? Maybe we all need to learn to travel lighter?
Often the airline has no choice but to put exess luggage into the hold. With that note, Ryanair is really onto something with their charges. At least they know what is coming their way!

I don’t understand why they ask they though.

surely even if busy all the cabin overhead lockers are still there to be used?

If the invitation is to check the bags in at check-in then I don’t think you’ll be taking them to the gate, they’ll be taken off you straight away to go through the checked bag process.

If you take them airside and they are tagged at the gate then I wouldn’t rely 100% on then being able to then rip the tag off..depending on circumstances/location but sometimes one of the loading team/gate staff takes then off you at the gate check.

Finally, FWIW if it becomes obvious on boarding that cabin bag space is really tight there will probably be another filtering out of cabin bags at the aircraft door itself, selected bags get tagged and handed over to one of the loading team to take down to the ramp for hold loading.

Oh so it’s just the standard email. You’ll be fine OP. I fly multiple times each month and I almost always get these emails. Just get to the gate early and make sure to be at the front of the queue, they won’t take them off you. A bit more difficult if your seats are group 5 though, as that means you’ll be boarding last…

Are you being 'invited' to do this in both directions? You don't want to have toiletries issues on the way back!

I would probably try and take one bag between you on board, with pants etc for all, just in case.

Ah you get invited all the time on multiple airlines. I always ignore- I pack carefully and buy toiletries on landing for the convenience of knowing where my bags are and not having to sit around for them to be unloaded and hoping they make it at the other end - no thanks!

So you were just invited to do it which means it is optional. If you have concerns just don’t do it

I don't understand why this happens? I thought everyone was allowed one bit of hand luggage so it should be easy for them to allocate space for this.

It’s becayse if everyone takes the max size there is not enough room in the over head bins.

im surprised the agent didn’t know ththat s happens it’s very very common

op you can just turn up and take it on board if you prefer they may take it at rhe gate. At least then you know ts defo on the plane. Remember to take valuables and medication out. So a bag within a bag is good.

If the flight is full, there just is not enough room in the overhead lockers if every passenger was to bring a wheelie bag/large holdall on board. They would then have to take bags at the gate so it makes sense to ask customers in advance. Offering free hold luggage is tempting to some people who do not want to have to carry hand luggage.

OP, just ignore it and check in with hand luggage as planned. You should be fine. Hope all goes well!

The obvious solution would be to line everyone up and take the bulky things off, instead of selecting random people.
Or give people an incentive to check in.
DP travels with a hard aluminum wheelie thing. I have a sports bag, often with delicate jewelry etc. I'm not letting mine go in the hold, to be returned damaged!

Then can't they just reduce the allowance? So the available space is divided by the maximum number of passengers.

Tell them youve medication/medical suppliea in it and your not prepared for that to go missing...

I fly regularly on internal US flights and we often get told when boarding that everyone will have to check their hand luggage as the planes on some routes just don't have space in the overhead lockers for anything other than small handbags.
But they take them at the gate and give them back at the gate at the other end, we don't have to go to baggage claim and wait hours for them thankfully, so maybe it'll be the same set up for you.
Word of warning though, I've watched the baggage handlers just throwing the bags from the jet bridge down to a colleague on the ground to load in the hold so definitely do not have any breakables in there!!!

Maybe because they won't know how much space is needed, until people actually turn up?
A fully booked flight doesn't mean everyone turns up with huge holdalls. If it's holiday season I'd imagine most people have larger luggage that they might check in anyway.
Short city break flights? Probably more travelling light, with hold sized suitcases.

Are you able to take a small handbag as well ?
I like it when we can check in carry on cases - saves hauling them round the airport.

Why wouldn't they tell people in advance though? Surely they know the planes and routes.

As we were boarding the cabin crew stated that the plane was full and most people had a large piece of hand luggage and a handbag, small backpack...there was not enough room so all bags were going in the hold. I was allowed to keep mine as it had medication that couldn't go to that temperature but they had a look to check.

I had an email reminding me that it's possible that cabin rolling bags may be required to go into the hold on busy flights so to pack all essentials meds into a hand bag (or smaller bag) than can fit under the seat in front. I never take a rolling cabin bag anyway, I prefer one that clips onto my big suitcase

@OooErr no idea why, they don't even tell you at check in which would at least give you chance to remove any valuables and documents rather than having everybody scrambling around as they try to start boarding!
I always have a small crossbody bag too so I can at least put my most important things in there and it tends to happen on the same routes so I have a pretty good idea and can try to pack appropriately but I still hate watching my bags get thrown around!

Then can't they just reduce the allowance? So the available space is divided by the maximum number of passengers.

This is what Ryanair do. People call them cheeky fuckers because of it.

Oh. It seems the fairest way to do it to me.

The thing is, if you’re flying short haul it’s very easy for them to predict that the overhead lockers will be full, because they can obviously see how many people have booked checked luggage. If it’s a typical city break destination, most people will just go cabin luggage and save some money, especially in summer. So they’ll be able to predict how busy the lockers will get with wheelie bags.

On long haul routes, or flights where a high % of passengers have also booked checked luggage, it’s easier. They’ll simply check all your suitcases in when you go to baggage drop, thus reducing the number of bags that make it to the boarding gate.

During Covid they never had to send those emails as everyone had to visit the check in desk to get a boarding pass. Before handing you the piece of paper, they made you put your suitcase on the belt! But then, the wait on landing was 10 minutes max…

Any airline that reduces carry on allowance loses customers verses the airline(s) that doesn't if passengers have a choice on the route..seen that happen, and I certainly won't fly with one airline that has a very tight allowance if I can possibly help it.

The theory generally is that not everybody carries a big wheelie, so on most flight you'll have enough room in the overhead lockers as long as people are prepared to use the footwell for smaller items...problem is a lot of people won't and as a result you often see the early borders/priority borders putting wheelie, handbag, duty free and coats into the overhead.

@OooErr

" The obvious solution would be to line everyone up and take the bulky things off, instead of selecting random people. Or give people an incentive to check in."

At some BA stations (usually not LHR/LGW) where the gate staff are at the gate well ahead of departure they often have a walk around the waiting passengers and "invite" anyone they see with large bags to check them in....the incentive offered is usually priority boarding.

At some stations the turnround time for the gate staff from a previous departure doesn't give them time to do a pre-check, they have to try and do a sort as part of the boarding process.

One of my most frequent business routes is operated exclusively by Ryanair, and I fly with them quite often on other routes too. I can honestly say that they’re the most organised airline when it comes to the boarding process, because of this. All suitcases fit on board, there’s no arguing or people trying to rip tags off and take stuff on board and exceeding the limit (which I do too, on other airlines). It’s all very civilised, and I really don’t get why people bash them so much.

EasyJet have adopted a similar system recently, and it seems to be working well.