United Flight Attendant Pulls Business Class Bags From Overhead To Accommodate Coach Customers

A United Airlines business class passenger reports having just one small backpack on board for an 11-hour international flight, since they checked their bags. A flight attendant removed it from the overhead bin, put it on the floor, and told them to keep it at their seat so a coach passenger’s carry-on could take its place. The MileagePlus 1K member describes chaotic boarding during groups 5 and 6, with flight attendants from economy directing into the business cabin to find overhead bin space. They estimate 50 to 70 people came into the cabin looking for room.Predeparture drinks stopped as people opened bins and pushed bags inside. Someone placed a full-size carry-on in the bin above their seat. Then, according to the passenger, a flight attendant working economy removed their backpack to fit a second large bag. When they objected that the flight attendant should have asked before removing it, the response was: Overhead bins are for large bags only. Take your backpack and put it under the seat in front of you. They complain that they never received their drink or an apology. Replies largely sympathize, but with several different takes: Some passengers object to having their belongings handled this way in any cabin. Others say unused bins should be shared. A number report similar boarding scrambles on other flights. Skeptics question both the estimate of over 50 passengers and the instruction to put a bag at a Polaris seat. One reply says they actually bought a rollaboard just to put their backpack inside, because flight attendants stopped questioning whehter it belonged in a bin. That’s insane but sort of genius. Can A Backpack Go In The Overhead Bin? There’s no published United rule that says overhead bins are exclusively for larger bags. Getting the most passenger bags in the cabin means maximizing use of space, so where small bags fit under a seat that means more total bags onboard (but less personal space for the person utilizing the seat in front of them, or the ottoman in business class). A common disagreement, then, is whether each passenger is entitled to space for one bag in the overhead whether they’re using the space in front of them or not. United’s bag rules don’t speak to this. Their contract of carriage gives the airline broad discretion over where in-cabin items are stored and whether a carry-on must be checked. Crew can rearrange luggage, but the rules don’t say whether they will or must. I’ve covered this exact backpack-versus-roller-bag argument on United before. On a Denver–Houston flight, a passenger pulled someone else’s backpack out of the bin to make room for their suitcase. Other passengers sided with the person moving it—until it turned out the backpack owner already had a briefcase under the seat. The backpack was their larger bag. The Polaris Ottoman Question Is Complicated Several commenters insist that bags are never allowed anywhere at your feet in Polaris, and therefore the flight attendant was directing the passenger to break the rules or create a safety issue. There’s a difference between placing something on the ottoman, on the shelf below the screen, and fully beneath the ottoman. Storage is prohibited on the ottoman during takeoff and landing. It’s generally permitted on the floor underneath, subject to United’s approved baggage plan for size. Sharing Empty Bins Doesn’t Mean Displacing Someone’s Bag I’ve long argued that premium cabin passengers should get first use of the bins in their cabin. Once they’re seated and their bags are put away, the airline shouldn’t leave usable space empty while forcing someone else to gate check. And the bin directly above your seat isn’t your personal property. You do have usufructuary rights, however. Once your bags are there the space is presumed yours for the duration of the flight. Taken together, there’s a difference between using available space and creating space by removing someone’s bag that’s already there. Passengers should never take it on themselves to evict someone else’s luggage. I criticized a business class passenger who did exactly that, and the American Airlines dispute involving JT Genter where moving a bag really escalated. United has been teaching passengers how to load its larger bins. Better use of space can help everyone leave sooner. Sending a crowd forward to hunt through occupied business class bins creates a boarding problem. Scott Kirby Is Selling A Different Experience In United’s October 20 earnings release, CEO Scott Kirby said customers are trying United for Starlink and “staying with us for the industry-leading app, great service, on-board product and technology.” United also reported its best third-quarter customer satisfaction score since 2022. Comparing United service today with 2022 seems like the soft bigotry of low expectations even if people were especially forgiving coming out of the pandemic. Their app, Starlink and route network are impressive but United’s service doesn’t come close to the what Kirby talks about. United has improved parts of its product while Delta has let parts of its experience slip. It’s now competitive with Delta, though not as operationally reliable (even if Delta itself isn’t as reliable as it once was). And while Delta’s CEO compares the carrier to Singapore Airlines, it is… not comparable. A Union Contract Doesn’t Prevent Better Service Southwest built its service reputation with unionized flight attendants. Delta’s flight attendants aren’t unionized, but flight attendants at Singapore Airlines are. And Delta’s service can be far from exemplary. Indeed a Delta flight attendant removed passenger backpacks, insulted a customer and had them ejected. Management selects employees to hire, decides how to train and staff them, and bargains over work rules and discipline. I’ve written about what changing the culture requires at American. United need could follow a similar script, although one area where they do well is usually de-escalating conflict. Coming out of the David Dao passenger dragging incident nearly a decade ago, they did real de-escalation training (I was skeptical at the time) that had payoffs during the pandemic – United was far less likely than some other airlines to wind up with diversions and passengers removed from aircraft by law enforcement over mask compliance. They’d tell passengers to comply, write them up and ban them when they didn’t. I’ve been told by the FBI that United is far more resistant to having agents on their aircraft than other carriers. Topics on this page