How to make enemies...! [by weighing carry-on]

[anabolism]

Weighing the premium security queue at SYD again this morning.

No line and no enforcement at the adjacent regular queue so I just ducked through there.

Was this international or domestic? I wonder what they'd have done if someone said "I'm not flying, just popping into the lounge."

 

[anabolism]

He was J and entitled to two @ 7 kg but he had one @ 10 kg. Had he discussed, they would have given him a plastic bag to off load 3 kg but he took an alternative approach and had had to surrender his 10 kg bag as checked luggage or not fly.

What possible logic can there be for allowing 10kg in two adjacent bags but not in one bag?

 

[anabolism]

I've come to the conclusion that I'm in favour of the weighing. No enemy here! Recently, I'm finding it much easier to put my humble backpack in the lockers. Possibly coincidence?
Now they just have to sort out premium boarding...

If bin space is the concern, wouldn't enforcing the size limit make far more sense than a weight limit?

 

[anabolism]

Yes, I've been gate checked. They just hand write a quick tag and drop it down the chute.

There's no "priority" tag or anything, but because it's one of the last loaded it does tend to come out reasonably quickly.

My experience has been mixed. In SYD, FA demanded my partner and I weigh our rolling bags, then took quite a long time to fill out the cards, key things in on the computer, have us sign the cards, and so forth. Bags came out in the middle of the checked bags. In ADL, filling out and signing the cards took only a minute. One bag came out in the middle of the checked bags, the other of ours' came out quite late, near the end. Not sure how one of the last on comes out near last.

 

[anabolism]

Just put your 8.5 kg wheelie into luggage, where it belongs, and take a basic bit of hand luggage on board. If everyone did this it'd make the whole boarding process way easier!

How is allowing a larger wheeled carry-on filled with light stuff while prohibiting a smaller wheeled carry-on filled with heavy stuff helpful? If you want to make space in the bin and speed up boarding, enforce a size limit. Weight and size are two different things.

 

[anabolism]

Mmmm. It's seems to happen to me at ADL and CBR. I've personally not had a problem a SYD, MEL, BNE or anywhere international. I did look up the rule and it seems that it's at the discretion of airport security.

I don't care if they want umbrellas outside the bag to be easier to see in the X-ray. What baffles me is why the security person would think having an umbrella in an external holder attached to the side, where it's quite distinct from the bag, is bad, but putting the umbrella under the bag, where it's not separate and not distinct, is good.

 

[anabolism]

Flew ADL-PER last week, and then mid-week PER-SYD. Both 737s. Both times, one FA was an enforcer who weighed bags, while the other wasn't. ADL-PER, the enforcer FA walked around the gate area before boarding started and asked to weigh my partner and I'd bags. We each had a regulation wheeled carry-on and a backpack. Not seeing any point in the public weight-shaming ceremony, we both admitted our wheeled bags were over 7kg. FA pointed to our backpacks and asked "How about those? Are they alright?" but was satisfied when we said they were (they were much heavier than our wheeled bags). On board, passenger in row in front of us had a massive camping backpack that he was allowed to carry on. It took up the space of three wheeled bags in the bin.

 

[justinbrett]

The weight issue is bogus. It’s about volume.

I’d be happy for them to go down the path of Americans airlines - if it’s full, offer people the chance to check their carryon for free. After that, once the space is full, check all bags.

It has got to be more effective than weighing every single bag.

 

[Austman]

But until QF officially change their company policy, the only thing that staff can strictly enforce is the current policy.

Many agree that it's not so much about about the weight. 7kg or 10kg probably doesn't matter from a safety perspective. Lots of airlines allow even more.

It's more about volume.

QF will have to officially change their policy eg to a 10kg limit but perhaps only one carry-on. Even Jetstar allows that.

 

[justinbrett]

But until QF officially change their company policy, the only thing that staff can strictly enforce is the current policy.

Many agree that it's not so much about about the weight. 7kg or 10kg probably doesn't matter from a safety perspective. Lots of airlines allow even more.

It's more about volume.

QF will have to officially change their policy eg to a 10kg limit but perhaps only one carry-on. Even Jetstar allows that.

Jetstar decreased theirs to 7Kg, but then added to option to buy back those 3Kg for an extra charge.

 

[anabolism]

But until QF officially change their company policy, the only thing that staff can strictly enforce is the current policy.

QF, as do other airlines, has a size limit for carryons. Enforce that if they must enforce something, as at least there's some logic to it.

 

[Pleb Status]

The safe operation of the aircraft does not depend on how much volume you bring on board.

The safe operation of the aircraft does depend on the weight brought on board....

 

[justinbrett]

The safe operation of the aircraft does not depend on how much volume you bring on board.

The safe operation of the aircraft does depend on the weight brought on board....

This has nothing to do with the safe operation of aircraft- if they were worried about 7Kg vs 15kg they’d also be weighing every single passenger. (Hint - they’re not, and they don’t). Their margins account for this, for obvious reasons.

At best, this is about speeding up boarding. At worst (in the case of LCC at least), it’s about making money.

 

[Austman]

Jetstar decreased theirs to 7Kg, but then added to option to buy back those 3Kg for an extra charge.

Right - so it's now 10kg again. Forget the extra charge - that has nothing to do with safety.

The safe operation of the aircraft does depend on the weight brought on board....

Not for carry-ons that can fit in the overhead bins or under the seat. Safety studies have concluded this. Apparently over many airlines and many configurations. There's just not much actual evidence otherwise. The carry-ons that actually do cause most injuries are the smaller, odd-shaped carry-ons. They are more likely to fly around/move/fall out of bins etc.

 

[Pleb Status]

This has nothing to do with the safe operation of aircraft- if they were worried about 7Kg vs 15kg they’d also be weighing every single passenger. (Hint - they’re not, and they don’t). Their margins account for this, for obvious reasons.

At best, this is about speeding up boarding. At worst (in the case of LCC at least), it’s about making money.

If the (almost exclusive) QF weighing of hand baggage has nothing to do with the safe operation of their aircraft, then I agree that they are just doing it to annoy the Qcult parishioners....

 

[anabolism]

This has nothing to do with the safe operation of aircraft- if they were worried about 7Kg vs 15kg they’d also be weighing every single passenger. (Hint - they’re not, and they don’t). Their margins account for this, for obvious reasons.

Exactly. It's nonsense to suggest that a few kg per bag would have any safety impact whatsoever.

At best, this is about speeding up boarding.

In my experience, it slows down boarding. Weighing bags during boarding makes it take three times longer. If it's about passengers fitting bags into bins during boarding, then enforce the size or number limits. Weight has nothing to do with it.

 

[Pleb Status]

The carry-ons that actually do cause most injuries are the smaller, odd-shaped carry-ons.

If this statement is correct, weighing hand baggage would be the only way to reduce these injuries.

I doubt too many very light, small, odd shaped items are the ones causing injuries. it would be the heavy, small, odd shaped items...

 

[justinbrett]

Not for carry-ons that can fit in the overhead bins or under the seat. Safety studies have concluded this. Apparently over many airlines and many configurations. There's just not much actual evidence otherwise. The carry-ons that actually do cause most injuries are the smaller, odd-shaped carry-ons. They are more likely to fly around/move/fall out of bins etc.

That’s WHS, not safe operations of aircraft. As long as the pilots aren’t packing 20Kg we should be fine.

What next - Woolworths enforcing a 7Kg limit for hand baskets so you don’t injure yourself? I have that thing bowing - surprised I haven’t broken one yet.

 

[Austman]

If the (almost exclusive) QF weighing of hand baggage has nothing to do with the safe operation of their aircraft, then I agree that they are just doing it to annoy the Qcult parishioners....

They have decided to set it a 7kg. But there's not much that supports that as a airline safety decision. As a company policy decision it's fair enough.

The latest crack-down seems to be more for staff OH&S safety, not for passenger or aircraft safety. I still find it hard to see how staff get injured from a 7.1 kg bag when even Jetstar allows a 10kg bag.

 

[anabolism]

Not for carry-ons that can fit in the overhead bins or under the seat. Safety studies have concluded this. Apparently over many airlines and many configurations. There's just not much actual evidence otherwise. The carry-ons that actually do cause most injuries are the smaller, odd-shaped carry-ons.

If this statement is correct, weighing hand baggage would be the only way to reduce these injuries.

If carry-ons that fit in bins or under seats are not a problem, then why weigh them?

A better approach would be to perhaps pay better attention to bins that are left open during flight or bins that are not properly latched.