It’s interesting to see how territorial some passengers are on flights. We all loathe that person who decides to stick their stinky hooves on the bulkhead, but almost as bad are the those claiming overhead locker space as their own.
Usually it is possible to put your bag above your seat, but frequent flyers will know this is not always possible. Anyone arriving late in the boarding process is at risk of their bag being put somewhere else, which could be above another row, in a wardrobe or, god forbid, in the cargo hold!
Overhead Locker Wars
You’ve probably been there, happily sitting in your seat when someone arrives late in the boarding process, usually sweaty and red faced. They demand someone remove the bags from THEIR overhead space. When no-one replies, they will grab the offending bag and ask, “Who’s bag is this?”
The bag owner usually good naturedly replies, “Mine!” and the huffing passenger will then ask for it to be moved. The question is, should you be moving your bag or not?
Really the only time overhead compartments are reserved is by travel class. Business class passengers put their bags in their section of the plane, premium economy in theirs and so on. That’s pretty much the only rule and carriers like American Airlines even label them as such.
Overall Thoughts
It’s good to know the overhead lockers are for everyone. People generally place their bags above their seat or as close to that as they can get. There is no reason to claim someone’s bag is in your space, because it just isn’t.
For those precious people who are irritated by having their bag placed elsewhere, my advice would be to board earlier. That really is the only way to guarantee to have your bag above your seat.
Have you ever witnessed any shenanigans on board a flight with people fighting about the overhead bin space? What happened? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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I had one very annoying situation where the gate agent was told the overhead lockers were full and so they insisted on gate checking my carry-on. This was annoying because I was arriving home late and just wanted to grab my bag and go home rather than waiting at the carousel for 20min. When I boarded the aircraft I counted at least 10 spots where my carry on could have been stowed in the overhead compartment. To rub salt into the wound, the last person to board was allowed to bring their carry-on onboard and stow it. I vowed never to fly Delta again!
That would have been incredibly frustrating! I’ve seen the same, where they have checked bags due to a “busy flight” and then the flight hasn’t been particularly busy and there’s been plenty of overhead space. I guess they do the best they can, but yeah, it would really have irritated me to be wanting to get home and having to wait for the bag when you really didn’t need to!
This became a lot more of a thing when airlines decided to draw more revenue by charging for checked bags, causing lots more people to carry on.
I’ve read lots of digital ink on the subject but there was one comment that may or may not be true that I particularly enjoyed: the commenter said that they normally fly up front and if they see an economy passenger just dump off their carry on in the first class overhead, the commenter would wait until the person was gone then pull the bag down and tell a FA that he had changed his mind and wanted to gate check the offending bag. The FA would normally take the bag away for gate checking and (almost) everyone was happy. Perhaps it speaks ill of me but I think that’s uproariously funny.
Hahahaha! Think that’s wonderfully devious 🙂 Can’t imagine I’d be happy if I was the passenger who had their bag checked, but it would certainly stop a person from doing that again! Love it!
My biggest pet peeve is when you are sitting on a bulkhead row (even in F), and you board as soon as you can, yet you end up having to put your stuff several rows back because the front few bins in your section are already full. To make matters worse, these bags often belong to the FAs and they rarely offer to put your bag or move their bag into the closet.
Yes, it’s often crew bags or sometimes extra cabin equipment that is stowed there. I have seen on some airlines where the crew bags are at the start of coach and they keep first free. In reality, they should provide a dedicated closet for crew bags, but of course they need to cram in as many seats as possible to keep fares low, so that doesn’t happen anymore. Very good point!
The only objection I have is when people at the back put their bag in the front without even checking the area near their row. The people in front can’t get to the back of the plane to retrieve their bag so the further they have to go back to get their bag the more annoying they are to everyone else when the plane lands. And it can be a matter of five minutes or one boarding group to see this happen so many times that the overhead is full near the front. I have benefited from being either in first or a preferred FF and able to get on early every flight with no issues putting my bag in the overhead, but man what a pain to watch others try to figure out what to do. I also object to people putting their personal item (purse/backpack whatever) in the overhead AND their carryon suitcase. It’s so selfish. Not a rule being broken for either case but another moment where people choose to be horrible.
Absolutely agree. The personal item thing is crazy as small bags fit really easily under the seat in front and if you’re worried about legroom, you can usually move it so that your feet still fit under the seat as well. I feel for the cabin crew at the end of boarding who often have to play baggage Tetris to try to fit people’s stuff in. It must be quite frustrating for them too! Thanks for the comment!
Absolutely not! There is a huge difference between someone putting their bag a row or two away from their actual seat or across the aisle and someone from row 30 deciding to just throw their bag over row 8 so they can just grab it easily on the way out. People at the front of the plane cannot easily retrieve bags from the back of the plane. If you’re using a spot that is not over your row because nothing else is available that’s one thing. But for passengers in the rear to take spaces up front is inexcusable. Just because there are no “rules” does not mean there is not an acceptable practice that should be adhered to.
There are stories of people in row 30 putting their bag over row 8 and then the plane arriving and disembarking from the rear. That is poetic justice in my book. It makes no sense whatsoever to plonk your bag far from where you’re sitting, so I agree with you completely. Human nature generally means that won’t happen, but there’s always one who will dare to be different. A very good point, thank you for that!