There are a couple of stories currently appearing in the news that make next to no sense. While they are not of wordly importance to many, a very worldly event crept into the picture just today to further the nonsense.
There is a movement afoot to add more and more shopping malls within airports as at the very same time a few of the airlines are finally pushing back on a public that insists on carrying gross amounts of non-essential stuff on board aircraft. Given that what the public already carts around on trips grotesquely fails to fit into that woefully neglected but lovingly chromed measuring device by the boarding gate, why are they being sold more stuff in this cluttered environment?
Into exactly which bag are they going to stuff it, and is it into the bin above my seat that they are going to cram that bag? You know they are, and you know that while I am in row seventeen they are in row forty two and have items stuffed into bins between the two points!
So that begs the question as to just what do these malls expect to sell and are they going to offer on the spot packing and shipping services? Maybe they will have dumbwaiters taking the clearly marked items to the baggage services below and thence to your aircraft? At best a reluctant shopper, I must be missing something here. With people other than the actual traveller being superfluous, if not actually unwelcome, in airports these days, the malls have only the overstuffed traveller as a client.
On recent Lufthansa flights to and from Europe I was happy to see the carry on policy enforced with teutonic efficiency. There were no if, ands, or buts. If it did not meet the guidelines it did not go in the cabin. How easy is life for fellow travellers and the airline employees when the guidelines are adhered to? Let me tell you; let me wax lyrical about it. The result is efficient and expedient boarding for those following the guidelines, ample space for luggage when on board (more so than for people) and likely a one time lesson for the scofflaws! If I had as much as bought another paperback to add to my carry, or heaven forbid a bag of fast food with which to stink up the cabin, I would have been past the limit.
Today’s bad news from London re more terrorist plots involving possible liquid/gel explosives and the immediate impact to the travelling public aside from trepidation, interminable waits and cancellations indicates that carry-on baggage to some extent may be a thing of the past. I really hope this is not so, as the dislocations to the frequent/business flyer are profound. However if the airlines care to be on the ball this is their opportunity to clean up their “carry-on” baggage policy and institute and follow through on, once and for all, the dimensions and number of items to be brought on board.
The caveat being that at the very same time this would necessitate more items being checked into the cargo hold, and the airports and airlines will need to vastly improve on the lost luggage scenario and the baggage carousel waiting times. It really behooves all parties to cooperate here.
So given that the carry-on baggage scenario is going to change, just where does that leave those that would mall the airports and those that would populate them? We only need so many stores to sell books and bubble gum and if the malls become merely food courts then pretty soon it won’t be only the overhead bins that have insufficient capacity, rather the entire aircraft.
Once again I see the good investment being in FedEx, UPS and the USPS who get to carry and deliver all the stuff we might buy at these new malls but can’t carry on. For ever gone will be the days when the bag you carry is bigger than the overhead bin, or worse yet, too heavy for the owner to lift shoulder high and stow.
With baggage and boarding understood and enforced, on time departures are more assured which should result in less time spent in the airport mall.
I agree with you about enforcing carry-on restrictions. I usually fly Japan Airlines, and they usually let people bring practically anything on board. I mean, we’re talking overstuffed bags that should have been checked in! At any rate, I definitely think that enforcing the limitations that are already in place will make boarding go a lot more smoothly. Maybe I should try Lufthansa next!