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

[blackcat20]

And Easy Jet allow one carry on bag with no weight limit....

Really, weighing bags isn't going to change much in terms of overhead space. I'd much rather pax have one bag at 10kg rather than two bags at 5kg....if overhead space is the issue then one heavier bag takes up far less room.

 

[Pushka]

Well I’d really like it if people had to remove backpacks and carry them when they come onboard. I’m betting each of us has been hit in the head when people with backpacks turn around and talk to their companions blindly unaware they’ve just swung their bag into a seated passenger.

 

[nutwood]

Well I’d really like it if people had to remove backpacks and carry them when they come onboard. I’m betting each of us has been hit in the head when people with backpacks turn around and talk to their companions blindly unaware they’ve just swung their bag into a seated passenger.

I've discovered the downside to carrying backpacks is that the shoulder strap can slip over the armrest of a seat you are passing. You don't realise until you are brought to an abrupt halt. By then there's several people hard behind you and reversing up against the log jam is challenging!

 

[Pushka]

I've discovered the downside to carrying backpacks is that the shoulder strap can slip over the armrest of a seat you are passing. You don't realise until you are brought to an abrupt halt. By then there's several people hard behind you and reversing up against the log jam is challenging!

That can happen with handbags too. Pulls you up very quickly. But at least peoples heads aren’t in the way.

 

[justinbrett]

And Easy Jet allow one carry on bag with no weight limit....

Really, weighing bags isn't going to change much in terms of overhead space. I'd much rather pax have one bag at 10kg rather than two bags at 5kg....if overhead space is the issue then one heavier bag takes up far less room.

And that’s it. The qantas allowance allows you 14Kg spread over two bags.

 

[nutwood]

That can happen with handbags too. Pulls you up very quickly. But at least peoples heads aren’t in the way.

I suspect the difference is that those who carry handbags are competent at doing so, whereas I'm really inexperienced at carrying a backpack!
Mind you, I'm quite experienced at carrying one on my back and am very aware of wiping people out with my travelling library.

 

[Pushka]

I suspect the difference is that those who carry handbags are competent at doing so, whereas I'm really inexperienced at carrying a backpack!
Mind you, I'm quite experienced at carrying one on my back and am very aware of wiping people out with my travelling library.

Oh you’d be surprised how “inventive” I can be with my handbag.

 

[tdimdad]

Totally agree! All should adopt 23kg imo.
Yes that's true. But I'm a rather stout male, so flinging a 23 or even 32 kg bag around isnt a huge problem. Just dont do it every day.

And here comes the little difference: if someone had their 23kg placed "suboptimally" in the bin and I'd like to make more room, there'd be no way I could get that to move an inch in any direction without injuring myself - and even then the bag would be right where it's been all the time.

I agree that 7 kg is low but 23 or unlimited is ridiculous. Given the carry-on has been thought to give enough for you to go about for a day or two (if your checked-in luggage makes a tour around the world while you wait at the destination), for many that would be around 10'ish kg in spare clothes, toiletries and a hint of entertainment (book, laptop/tablet, etc). Give a little extra but all in one standard-measured item overhead (plus something small under the seat) to keep 90% of the crows moving and we'd be all sorted.

 

[fifo]

I agree that 7 kg is low but 23 or unlimited is ridiculous. Given the carry-on has been thought to give enough for you to go about for a day or two (if your checked-in luggage makes a tour around the world while you wait at the destination), for many that would be around 10'ish kg in spare clothes, toiletries and a hint of entertainment (book, laptop/tablet, etc). Give a little extra but all in one standard-measured item overhead (plus something small under the seat) to keep 90% of the crows moving and we'd be all sorted.

Is it really ridiculous though? Seems to work perfectly well in multiple other countries.
Maybe thats how you use your carryon luggage, the world isnt made up solely of tdimdads.
Many items legally can't be carried as checked in luggage? Or risk of damage is too high.
This thread has well established that weight does not equal size and everyone is in favour of policing size restrictions.

 

[Austman]

The reason why fa’s are insisting on bags being weighed so I’m told is that there is a huge spike in injuries caused by having to push up the lockers on new generation 737’s. Apparently this is a major cause of workplace injuries

But a full locker bin is a full locker bin, regardless of the mix of items (size and weight) placed in them. On full 737 flights, pax will fill up the locker bins one way or another. According to the safety studies, it's pretty much impossible for pax to overload a locker bin. So, if true, it seems there's something wrong with the 737 locker bin design that's particularly affecting Qantas?

The other reason is the lack of locker space and the constant struggle to find space on those constantly full flights

Which depends on quantity and volume, not weight...

 

[JohnK]

So you want to stop the guy with the small 10Kg laptop bag but are fine with massive half empty bags taking up all the room?

Weight does not equal volume.

If space is the issue, use the sizer at the gate. Weighing bags won't help.

No. I want people to proactively check their luggage instead of trying to take everything on board.

Rollaboard + laptop bag + handbag or some other bag is quite common. The rollaboard I mentioned was huge, almost as big as my luggage.

I don't want to board first and boarding last there should still be room above my seat not somewhere behind me where I have to wait to retrieve my carry-on.

 

[Comoman]

Sunday afternoon in Perth there was a half hearted attempt at policing cabin bags going onto a 737. If they "looked big" they may be weighed. You could see quite clearly the ground staff didn't want to be doing it.

 

[justinbrett]

No. I want people to proactively check their luggage instead of trying to take everything on board.

Rollaboard + laptop bag + handbag or some other bag is quite common. The rollaboard I mentioned was huge, almost as big as my luggage.

I don't want to board first and boarding last there should still be room above my seat not somewhere behind me where I have to wait to retrieve my carry-on.

None of that is about weight. Weighing bags won't help this (you can take a large roller and a large backpack if both are under 7Kgs and one fits under the seat).

Why not devote this effort into checking sizes and number of bags - rather than weighing them?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Many of us (me included) have said the weight is not about a safety concern. Now I'm reading comments like "it's not about weight". There is a slight difference in those two statements. It's very very much about weight because that's what the airlines have stated they are targeting. On another note, when waiting for disembarkation from a 738 BSI the other day, I asked an FA if the drop down bins cause her any concern. Her reply was "it's torture". she went to say that she had recently undergone shoulder surgery because of them and that tests had been undertaken and pushing the bins up was the same as lifting 40kg above their heads. Now please don't flame me. I have no idea whether that is true or not, but the FA was not whining at me, I asked her the question and she answered fairly truthfully from what i could tell.

 

[Austman]

Her reply was "it's torture". she went to say that she had recently undergone shoulder surgery because of them and that tests had been undertaken and pushing the bins up was the same as lifting 40kg above their heads. Now please don't flame me. I have no idea whether that is true or not, but the FA was not whining at me, I asked her the question and she answered fairly truthfully from what i could tell.

It does seem odd. A bin will fill up on a full 737 flight and when full it might well weigh eg 40kg.

But how does limiting bags to less than 7kg solve that situation? The bin will still fill up. And if lighter bags are generally smaller, it will fill up with more bags than before. So when full it will probably still weigh the same as before? So just as heavy to lift?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

It does seem odd. A bin will fill up on a full 737 flight and when full it might well weigh eg 40kg.

But how does limiting bags to less than 7kg solve that situation? The bin will still fill up. And if lighter bags are generally smaller, it will fill up with more bags than before. So when full it will probably still weigh the same as before? So just as heavy to lift?

A bin would have a lot more than 40kg in it, I would imagine. They are actually very large. I construed the comment to mean that with the fulcrum and strut assistance, it bought the effect back to 40kg. I asked whether they had tried adjusting or replacing the struts and she didn't know. Worst case scenario may mean they may have to retrofit electric struts. I guess by limiting weights in individual bags will have an overall net decrease in storage weight. The problem as seen by the airlines, were many (most?) pax grossly overloading the HL allowance and still carrying on 2 (or more) pieces, so what may have been 30kg across 2 pieces of hand luggage (and let's face it, we did see that sort of scenario many, many times), may now only be 14kg. They're trying to force people to stow the rest so perhaps it may not be about size so much as weight. The anomalies appear to be the aircraft they are imposing the weighing on, sometimes non-BSI get the weighing treatment whilst sometimes BSI are not. I would have thought if the drop down bins are the sole issue, why not target the BSI all the time?

 

[MickC32]

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!

That's what I did......no sign of scales at the gate at either end!

 

[oz_mark]

A bin would have a lot more than 40kg in it, I would imagine. They are actually very large. I construed the comment to mean that with the fulcrum and strut assistance, it bought the effect back to 40kg.

They're usually rated between 40 and 50 kg. Have a look, they have a placard. Looks like the following

 

[pagingjoan]

MEL-PER on Wednesday, the scales were in action. But only one person weighing while two others covered boarding.

When a heavy bag was identified, the person on “scale duty” took the bag plus pax to the counter to process and, as far as I could see, during her absence, nobody was pulled up by the staff doing boarding.

When the third staff member returned, she resumed her weighing duty.

Probably not quite how it is intended to work.

We had checked one small bag and were virtuously under weight with carry on bags, so it was all of academic interest to us - this time.

 

[pauly7]

BNE - SYD, VA were policing at Premium Entry again, my carry on was 5.5

On the return, with exactly same bag and contents was weighed by QF in SYD. My bag lost 400g and came in at 5.1

Scale calibrations much... (unsure who was right / closer to being right!)