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3 Carry on items now?

Scooter30
Explorer B

July 27, flight 1377 A15 or A16 passenger walks on with backpack and two large bags in each hand.  After I pass the flight attendant (who I see looking at the passenger and his carry on items as he passes the front door) I say to her, “three carry on items per person now, this is great”. Yes, that was sarcasm - I am an awful person.

after I happily help the person in the window seat in my aisle place her very heavy bag in the upper storage, I look back to see if flight attendant is pursuing 3 bag passenger.  Nope.  

I do not understand why Southwest does not enforce its own policies.  

 

6 REPLIES 6

Re: 3 Carry on items now?

Passenger1C
Aviator C

Just a quick question... how do you know that the passenger wasn’t helping out a travel companion by carrying their bags?  My experience with SWA is that they do follow and enforce their policies (quick turn arounds). I wasn’t onboard your flight, and I did not witness this, but when I see something that frustrates me, I try to always remind myself that there could be more to the story besides my perception. Perception isn’t always reality. 


SWA Passenger, Community Champion

Re: 3 Carry on items now?

Scooter30
Explorer B

Absolutely a possibility the passenger was assisting another passenger with only one carry on item.  How would the flight crew make this determination without communicating with the passenger? 

It is highly unlikely there was any communication as I was directly behind the passenger and the crew didn't deplane.  In any case, allowing this practice would make for a headache for the flight crew as their job is difficult enough dealing with people who aren't intelligent enough to follow rules or believe that the rules are for everyone and they are special.  Flight crews don't need to be keeping track of which passengers are with who and net baggage counts.  Example:  If Passenger B18 with three bags is asked about three items, then claims passenger A19 is traveling with B18, should we expect the crew to remember that A19 only had one carry on item?  Do we want them to have a spreadsheet and keep a tally of everyone while boarding?  

Re: 3 Carry on items now?

rtbarron
Frequent Flyer A

I believe the Operation Agent (the agent who scans the boarding passes) is responsible for policing the number of carry on bags per passenger. If a passenger gets past the Ops Agent with too many bags, I'm not sure the flight attendants are authorized to do anything about it other than bring it to the attention of the Ops Agent.

Re: 3 Carry on items now?

Scooter30
Explorer B

I have no reason to doubt that is true.  This simply changes the burden of tracking who is with who and how many bags the "group" is allowed from the crew to the Ops Agent. 

Regardless, it is an unwise practice and undue burden to place on both the Agent who is often in a hurry to board passengers, and the rest of the passengers as the Agent takes additional time to count group members and baggage numbers. 

Let's make an attempt at empathy for the Ops Agent and imagine a flight to Orlando during holiday and 20-25 families with children.

 

 

Re: 3 Carry on items now?

rtbarron
Frequent Flyer A

Trust me, I have empathy for the Ops Agent and any other front-line airline employee. I was just offering a possible explanation for why the flight attendant didn't do anything about the issue.

I'm totally on board with making sure that the carry-on limit is enforced.

Re: 3 Carry on items now?

Scooter30
Explorer B

Yes, it is very possible that he was carrying for someone else and completely legitimate.

It is those instances when some people think to themselves, "well if it is just me doing this it won't be an issue" that tend to boil the blood.  A) thinking they are special & above everyone else and B) if everyone thought that way, things don't work.

Unfortunately, it seems more and more people are thinking they are entitled to "special treatment".  I blame the Kardashians : )

Anyway, this is a minor infraction compared with the "I'm saving this seat" SWA passengers.