HAND BAGGAGE HASSLE

On a recent British Airways flight back from Copenhagen, there was a virtual scrum at the gate. Passengers jockeying for position just to make sure they could get their elephantine wheelie suitcases in the overhead lockers – plus, of course, a laptop bag and anything else they could get away with. Not a single bag was checked by BA staff for weight or size. The overhead lockers were full long before half the passengers had boarded. The cabin crew were stressed; the passengers were stressed; the pilot must also have been stressed. It was not a pleasant start to the flight.

Don’t get me started on the preferential treatment hand baggage-only (HBO) passengers get with BA. Apparently my wife is not allowed a few cubic inches in the overhead lockers for her handbag. She has to keep it on her feet for the whole flight, despite the fact that we’ve paid more for our ticket than HBO passengers. Their hippo hand baggage takes precedence for some obscure reason.

The introduction of HBO fares by BA, while a good idea in itself, has a very unfortunate by-product. As BA refuses to regulate the size and weight of hand baggage carried on board, it makes flying short-haul a really unpleasant experience. If passengers are prepared to accept buy-on-board catering then surely they’ll accept some sensible checks on the size and weight of their bags?

Once passengers realise that they can’t take the entire contents of their house into the cabin, everyone on board will enjoy a less stressful flight experience.