I boarded a Delta Airlines flight from San Diego to Atlanta a few hours ago. I don’t hate Delta like I hate American Airlines, but both of them are relentless with their announcements about lack of overhead bin space, and the need for passengers to surrender their carryon luggage. Today the bleating began almost an hour before boarding, and it progressively gets more coercive: some agents decry that it will delay the boarding process and make the plane late in taking off, others announce that carry-on luggage with be forcibly checked and make a no subtle insinuation that they’re not talking about the last 10 people to board but the last 40 or 50; and one agent announced recently, and I quote: “we’re not going anywhere until I get another 15 people to check their carryon luggage.”
I find this phenomenon infuriating, foremost because in most cases it simply isn’t true they can’t accommodate all the luggage. Southwest Airlines routinely does so with little to no fuss, and airlines such as United typically make a weak plea at the beginning of the boarding process and then let it be, and they still accommodate nearly everyone’s luggage. Secondly, it brings out the worst in people, as if people weren’t terrible enough without any prompting: the last two boarding groups begin to mob the boarding area well before their group is called, jockeying for position so that they aren’t one of the unfortunate people who has to give up their luggage. Even as often as I fly, I can feel my body tense up as this drama unfolds.
The airlines (and some uninformed travelers) will say well, passengers should just check their luggage in the first place. They feign ignorance as to why so many people insist upon schlepping everything along with them into the cabin. But they know, and the people (like me) who have had their luggage lost, and have had to spend the first two or three days of a business trip or family vacation without most of their clothes and spending frustrating hours on the phone attempting to track down their luggage with grossly uncaring and powerless airline employees—we know. So give it a break, Delta and AA, and maybe learn from those airlines that have figured it out.