Except it seems that until lately our bags marked “priority” came quickly.
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We waited over an hour for our bags at London Heathrow and it was a direct flight. We had Apple AirTags in our bags so we could track where they were and they were just sitting for a long time. We think the luggage cart coming from the airplane was left somewhere until an airport worker finally went to find it. People were not happy after the 9 hour flight especially if they were making connections.
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The co-pilot was authorized to have a gun….ok, how much continued mental health screening goes on in connection with that authorization? 
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We often use a driver to take us to/from the airport. He likes to get us there painfully early. When we have luggage to check, they put the yellow priority tag on it, but rarely does it do any good. In fact, we are guessing that since we get there so early our bags are some of th first to get loaded on, because the are often some of the last to come off 
Usually it is the opposite. If you get there early, your bags are on the carts first, in the back, so they then load the ones on the front of the carts first, and yours should be last.
Of course, they could go to a staging area first, then be in the back, get loaded onto carts and be in the front so then go on the plane first.
There is no way to game that system.
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Wish ours was the first off but it just doesn’t seem to happen.
Just flew on Tuesday. Husband and I each checked a bag. Mine was the 5th one off. Didn’t count what his was but there weren’t many folks left waiting when it finally came down. It feels very random sometimes.
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Flew on AA a couple times within the past few weeks. Full flights and the flight attendants were enforcing a rule that you could put one carry-on bag in the overhead bin and your personal item went under the seat. People were trying to put both their carry-on bag and personal items in the overhead bin, and there wasn’t enough room.
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That seems fair to me.
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How did they enforce? Was it just an announcement, or did they actually watch each person load their luggage? If the latter, would that not significantly slow the boarding process?
During boarding, the flight attendants started pulling things like small backpacks and shopping bags from the overhead bin. Then they’d loudly ask who they belonged to and would hand the items to the owners, telling them they needed to be stored under the seats. The FAs were yelling out that people were only allowed to put one carry-on item in the overhead bin because there wasn’t enough room for more than that.
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Terrible. My carryon is usually a small tote bag
that can be mistaken for a purse. I also have a personal item that I put under the seat in front of me. If the FA insisted I put all of that under the seat, I would have been very unhappy.
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I’ve had that happen to me and I just politely tell the FA that my personal item is already under my seat (and will show my purse if pressed). I’ve never had an FA insist after that.
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I’m sure the people who were handed items to be put under their seat were unhappy, but the people who found there was no room left in the overhead bin for their carry-on item would have been unhappy, too. It doesn’t seem fair that someone can put two or more items in an overhead bin, while others can’t put anything there.
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I think the issue is why should someone who JUST has a backpack or shopping bag be forced to stuff it under the seat and have even less legroom when someone else has a big rolling suitcase and a backpack.
They were doing this on our flights the other month. ONLY rolling suitcases were allowed in the overhead bins.
Everyone should have space for 1 item, but unfortunately there isn’t space for that if most have suitcases
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Bcos dems da rules. (not saying I agree with them, but they are what they are.)
Two bags allowed: small bag underneath your seat, and large bag in overhead bin. If you only bring one small bag, it goes underneath the seat.
The alternative is to pay for first class, where there is more overhead bin space.
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I agree, you should be allowed to put something up top. I just think it’s OK to not allow 2 things there for same passenger, if space is a problem.
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When we flew from US to and from Heathrow last month, we saw people putting a full size carry on AND a stuffed backpack that was definitely too big to be a personal item in the overhead bins. I had a stuffed backpack that was my carryon, with no personal item. I could see where folks putting TWO good-sized items in the overhead could be a problem.
Being an overnight flight to Europe, I would imagine everyone had a checked bag for free (we did, and we paid as little as possible for the tickets). Having to wait at the baggage carousel I guess is too much to expect from people.
That’s a bit snarky. I wouldn’t mind waiting at the baggage carousel if I was 100% sure my bags would be coming out. But too often, in my experience, they haven’t. I hate having to wait days until the airlines locates and delivers my luggage. Maybe I am exceptionally unlucky but this has happened to me multiple times. I only check bags if I absolutely have to.
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I have the same bad luck with lost bags. As such, I haven’t checked a bag in over a decade. My carryon roller bag goes in the over head bin and my person item under the seat.
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