The seats are assigned. People have been standing in line for 15 minutes now. Why on earth would anyone want to stand there, when they could just sit and wait until the line clears?
I understand wanting to get off a plane ASAP, but boarding? You just end up sitting on the plane, waiting for everyone else to get on.
Yup, exactly what I think. So I used to sit in the gate area until the last possible moment until I found out that if you wait too long, they’ll give away your seat. Plus since they are charging people for checking luggage through, you have to get that overhead bin before it’s gone, unless your carry-on fits in front of you, which it doesn’t if you’re on a bulkhead. So, now I stand in line, frustrated by that and all the other crap we have to go through when traveling by plane these days. Looking at you TSA.
I was a flight attendant with TWA, so take this as what it is: advice from 20+ years ago.
If all the overhead bins are full they will gate check your bag; tag it, send it down the external stairs of the jetway, and it will go in the belly with the other checked luggage.
Yes, this is also true if you board the plane and your luggage doesn’t fit (for example, regional flights on a CRJ or ERJ). As long as it’s within the airline’s policy for carry-ons, they’ll gate check it for free.
Yeah, I thought about that, but I once saw someone bring something too large on the plane and the flight attendant told the person it would have to be checked(at cost). Maybe the guy pissed her off, I don’t know.
If their “carry on” does not meet the size restrictions they absolutely will gate check it at cost. That’s their fault not listening or reading bag size restrictions orbwillfully ignoring them in hopes of forcing an oversize bag into the overhead.