Bin space and the airline boarding debacle – CNN Out of the Office
This week, it’s time to take a look at boarding and the race for bin space.
In the Trenches: Hiring an Intern – Intuit Small Business Blog
Cranky Concierge now has an intern. (Welcome, Dave!) Looking for an intern was a good plan for us.
Cranky,
Smart move on paying your intern. I realize you need some free labor to keep costs down, but it pretty much comes down to “if he’s actually doing work you need him to do, you have to pay him.”
Well bin space requirements are exacerbated by the criminally inadequate seat pitch freqently 30″ or even less, and the fact that there often literally is NO SPACE Under the seat in front of you which often is filled with Life vests, entertainment system components and wifi black (most often actually orange) boxes. At least Alaska has the good sense to placard the first section of bins as being reserved for bulkhead row pax. Finally in 737’s the first 2 bins on the a/C are noticably smaller than further aft. Fuselage cross section? Checked baggage fees of course encourage more carryons, duh.
I’ve taken four UA flights in the past 6 days – two international, two domestic. The slightly revised boarding arrangements (‘no zones’) worked fine for international, but were a load of toss for the internal flights. I am only Premier, so lowest of the elites, and even though I was probably one of the first 30 people to board the 757 (LAX-BOS), I still ended up having to check my modest sized carry-on, as a combination of the First and upper-tier elites had managed to 2/3rds fill the plane already. To my irritation, unlike when you do this on an Embraer flight, my bag wasn’t at the door when I got off, but I had to go to baggage claim. There is some serious pisstaking going on in terms of the size of carry-on being permitted, with many people’s ‘personal item’ being as big as a rollaboard bag.
I still find it amazing, the pilot brakes and hasn’t even turned the engines off and people are standing in the narrow aisle holding their bags, a few minutes later and they are stamping their feet and complaining, and the airbridge isn’t even connected yet!…
Me I sit, I wait five minutes, i get up unload my bag, cruise down the empty aisle and smile at the sweet hostie (steward) and walk straight off, no pushing, no cursing and I walk sweetly off the aircraft, the rest, well they are mad as hell and pushing each other…..
….five minutes folks, just five minutes….i don’t get it.
@Stephen Dutton
I’m with you, my friend. I’m convinced it wouldn’t take nearly as long to clear a plane if all the yahoos would just stay in their seats until it was their time to get up. And don’t get me started on the idiots who sit in the back of the plane but left their carry-ons in the front bins.