Airlines could easily solve the overhead delay issue by adopting their carry-on price structure for checked bags, they simply don't want to.
Either way I'd still do carry-on even with a bag fee. Every time I've trusted an airline to handle bags they manage to violate that trust in new and exciting ways.
On a majority of flights that I'm on, someone always happens to sit in the wrong seat. Inevitably, a flight attendant then has to come over, usually against the flow of boarding passengers to sort out the situation.
I don't know how to improve upon the existing signage. Maybe have a personalized interactive experience? When your ticket is scanned, lights in the floor guide you to your exact seat.
All the seatback screens could display the seat number in large writing during boarding. Those without screens could have a simple placard with the seat number.
Not on an airline, but in a movie theater: I was sitting in a pre-purchased, assigned aisle seat in an auditorium with about 4 other souls present. I had commandeered the seat next to me and laid down my hat, phone, food and drink.
Well an old lady on her own comes right up to me, a little before the film starts, and she indicates that's her seat. So I thought, okay weird, she purchased a seat right next to an occupied one? Whatever. So I bail out all my stuff and I just lay it on the ground. She seems apologetic.
Then like 10 minutes later, her husband shows up, sits two seats away, and tells her she sat in the wrong seat. LOL! ... I did not return my belongings to the cursed seat. Also, it turned out to be a cursed and blasphemous film, one of the worst I've ever seen.
I completely disagree about this one. I'm not checking all my essentials, because there's a good chance the luggage will get lost (esp. if it's an American airline).
The solution for your problem here is that passengers need to get a test and a license: they need to demonstrate that they can very quickly stick their luggage into the overhead compartment and sit down when boarding, and very quickly get up, grab their bag, and start walking down the aisle when disembarking ("deplaning"... ugh). Half the passengers would fail this test every time, so those people should be kept in a separate part of the plane and charged extra for wasting everyone's time.
No, you can't: that's for your "personal item". It's big enough for a small backpack with a laptop and a few other things, and that's about it. Certainly not for a couple days worth of clothes and toiletries.
I'm going to disagree with you there. I took a lot of trips on Ryanair recently, and since they charge for overhead bin use, I kept everything under the seat in front of me. I was able to fit everything I needed (toiletries, clothes, laptop) for four days in a backpack under the seat in front of me.
Ok fine, I suppose you can somehow make it fit if you pack only the bare essentials. I don't feel like it though: why should I? I don't fly RyanAir and I can use the overhead bin for free, so that's what I'm going to do. I can usually bring all the luggage I need for my entire trip carry-on and fit it in the overhead bin and under the seat (two bags, one large, one small), so that's what I do.
Also board from back to front. Yes first class has to wait, but it would save so much time. Even if they boarded first class then did the rest of the plane back to front it would speed up loading by like a good 10 minutes most likely.
As a parent, I'd be interested in family friendly long haul flights. Book rows together like what Air New Zealand has, have a designated play area where all the kids can get together and go nuts.
I forget which airline it is, Emirates maybe?, you can hand your kid over to the flight attendant for 20 or 30 minutes so you can go to the toilet, have a quick meal, etc. which is very handy if you're travelling as a single parent.
Yeah actually, that’s much better. Adults have consequences, feel shame when people glare at them, and can be kicked off the flight before take off.
I sit down on a flight, I roll with anything that goes wrong, and just focus on getting to where I’m going, like 80% of most adults on a plane. Babies on the other hand, I’m pretty sure that’s 0% of them with that sort of attitude.
Well, unless you can afford to fly private, you’re just going to have to deal with the annoying babies. Because families need to get to places and the human race isn’t going to go extinct, at least not anytime soon.
In the meantime, I’d recommend investing in a good pair of earbuds and/or headphones.
That's optimistic: you're commenting under an article which suggests they might not have to deal with the annoying babies for long.
Families should not take their ability to "get to places" for granted. If the people who don't want "annoying babies" on their planes accumulate enough disposable income that catering to their desires becomes more profitable than catering to families, the latter may find themselves out of luck when they "need to get to places", unless they themselves can afford to fly private.
Of course, that's an extreme extrapolation; but on the margin, the introduction of child-free zones will certainly make air travel for families less affordable. If it turns out profitable, potentially by a lot.
Yeah, hilarious, but in reality they just won't go.
Just like e.g. most Indians never fly to the U.S. even if they have relatives living there. Or more fittingly, how most Hungarians used to be able to afford to go on a holiday near Lake Balaton until they were priced out by wealthier Germans, or middle-class families in Canberra used to be able to afford daycare but now only the top 3% by income do.
I would not hold my breath about the state subsidizing cross-Atlantic trips for families.
Sounds like a beautiful dream! Emergencies happen. Grandparents & relatives exist. Parents will still want to show their kids how vast & beautiful the world is.
Could it get more expensive to travel? Sure. But families will continue to travel, and annoyed passengers will continue to deal with it. C'est la vie.
Again, you're commenting under an article which shows that some airlines are betting the annoyed passengers will not continue to deal with it.
If you claim to believe that "families are able to travel by air in a. case of emergency", "grandparents can afford to see their grandchildren" and "most children get to see how vast and beautiful the world is" somehow follow from Newton's laws, even though we just had a two-year period with major loss of access to air travel, well... I'll leave you to your beautiful dream.
And I hope you find a little optimism in your life! You’re saying that in your experience, greater than 20% of adults on a flight are more problematic and annoying than a crying kid?
I like to think I’m pretty realistic about things but I don’t ever think it’s been that bad for me! I might even go as far as to say that most of my flights have had no issues.
Yeah. I mean I am of two minds here. We flew to Mexico City a while ago with two young children, not complete babies but the youngest was still in diapers. We were THOSE parents with THOSE kid. No running around or kicking but they just could not stop crying. Small ear canals. Change of pressure. Too painful.
On the other hand when we have traveled in heavily Spanish areas I’ve noticed most everyone was completely cool with the sounds of children. It’s just life and life is good. People would offer to have them sit with them and feed them so you can get a break. Complete strangers.
I’d rather be the latter culture than the former. But we’ve no real unified cultural expectations in the US. A major problem. A great strength. I dunno anymore
A crying child right next to me is difficult, but I've never blamed the parents. A crying child a couple rows away? Somehow relaxing to know someone else is having a worse flight than I am. (Either the kid or the parent.) It's just not the end of the world, and its temporary for both of us. Easier (for me) to accept than an adult playing a video without headphones.
Oh, I would love if they charge a lot for this and subsidize the price of my ticket in economy. I wear noise cancellation headphones on flights anyway.
The last flight I was on I saw two infants in first class not having a good day. I can imagine those who paid for first class were not happy. I thought about asking the flight attendant if anyone wanted to trade for my economy seat but decided against it. I didn’t want to annoy the flight attendant mostly.
I’ve more frequently encountered adults who are too large encroaching into my seat, which irritates me more. My last experience was sitting between two extremely large body builders on a red eye.
But sure, if that happens that could be annoying too.
Noise canceling headphones can solve so many problems on an airplane. The noise canceling in AirPods Max made the price worth it... even after Apple reduced the effectiveness because they got sued for patent infringement. Far better spend than whatever elevated ticket price they'll be charging.
One click of a button and your crying baby becomes solely _your_ problem. :P
- Flights where no one is a first-time traveller, in fact you must have flown at least 20 times.
- Flights with no overhead bins at all.