Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[focusondisney]

Arrived at MCO this morning on a flight out of BWI. About 45 minutes before boarding time they made an announcement that plane would be full and asked for volunteers to bring their larger carryons up to counter to be gate checked at no charge. The same announcement Was made several times more forcefully each time saying that they still needed more bags brought up or boarding would be delayed while passengers holding higher B and C boarding passes would be required to bring their bags. Finally when it was time to board a few luggage handlers actually came up to boarding entrance to take a few more bags. So obviously there are consequences to SWA decision to end “free bags” and way more people bringing carry-ons. A passenger mentioned this to the SWA representative who was scanning boarding passes and she said that there was talk of SWA considering charging for carry ons. She said people know they can just bring their bags to the gate and get them checked for free. It didn’t look like many people were that anxious to check their bags at gate even for free today…. I certainly hope SWA doesn’t go further and start charging for carry ons.

We flew on JetBlue Monday & had the same scenario. They announced several times that there wasn’t going to be enough room for everyone’s carry ons. They finally announced anyone in the last boarding group could expect to have their bag gate checked. So it’s an industry wide issue, not just SW.

 

[eticketplease]

I would actually like to see them charge for carryons and give a free checked bag. This way, us frequent travelers who don’t need a checked bag can have a place for our happily paid for carryon when a connection is tight so we are the last on the plane.

Even with a paid carry-on, it doesn’t guarantee that your carry-on won’t have to be checked. There is only so much overhead space so if everybody purchases a paid carry-on, you’re in the same situation. Of course the likelihood of everybody buying a paid carry-on is not very high but it’s still a possibility.

 

[FreeTime]

Even with a paid carry-on, it doesn’t guarantee that your carry-on won’t have to be checked. There is only so much overhead space so if everybody purchases a paid carry-on, you’re in the same situation. Of course the likelihood of everybody buying a paid carry-on is not very high but it’s still a possibility.

I understand the limit on space. There are airlines that charge for carryons now. They know the in cabin capacity. Sales for carryons are cut once the capacity has been met. In the event someone has paid and there will not be room, compensation occurs.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I would actually like to see them charge for carryons and give a free checked bag. This way, us frequent travelers who don’t need a checked bag can have a place for our happily paid for carryon when a connection is tight so we are the last on the plane.

I understand the limit on space. There are airlines that charge for carryons now. They know the in cabin capacity. Sales for carryons are cut once the capacity has been met. In the event someone has paid and there will not be room, compensation occurs.

The way that SWA is attempting to put them in the category with AA, Delta, United, etc rather than the opposite way of Spirit, Frontier, etc would be more logical (IMO) though not wanted from a PR-stance to make their Basic ticket not include carry on luggage as opposed to across the board have no ticket include carry on luggage.

Also don't put frequent travels who don't need a checked bag in the same category as thinking they would get overhead bin space. History has shown that each of these airlines that have a Basic-like ticket where carry on luggage isn't included, doesn't have a choice for seat selection, etc all encounter issues with passengers who purchase these tickets but refuse to abide by the ticket rules. It's going to be a problem for SWA with respects to assigned seating; how big of an issue remains to be seen.

 

[eticketplease]

I understand the limit on space. There are airlines that charge for carryons now. They know the in cabin capacity. Sales for carryons are cut once the capacity has been met. In the event someone has paid and there will not be room, compensation occurs.

Sure they know that but what they don't know is if Jim and Sally are going to store their bags in the correct way in the overhead bin or are they going to just heave it up there? If it is the latter case it is possibly taking up more space than what it should according to the airlines and then the person who specifically paid for a carry-on can't get theirs to fit. The compensation you mention normally doesn't cover the extra damage that the bags are subjected to when checked and is normally just reimbursing you what you have already paid.

 

[pooch]

Sure they know that but what they don't know is if Jim and Sally are going to store their bags in the correct way in the overhead bin or are they going to just heave it up there? If it is the latter case it is possibly taking up more space than what it should according to the airlines and then the person who specifically paid for a carry-on can't get theirs to fit. The compensation you mention normally doesn't cover the extra damage that the bags are subjected to when checked and is normally just reimbursing you what you have already paid.

Yup and this leads back to enforcing carry on size & ensuring they are placed in the overhead correctly. We’ve all seen the monstrosities people use as carry ons that go overhead sideways & take up half the bin. Make everyone place their carry on in the sizer at the gate. If it doesn’t fit, charge them for a checked bag. Once on board, carry ons go in wheels first, on its side, in the bin above your seat. This is how the bins are designed but no one enforces it because it holds up the boarding process and time is money.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yup and this leads back to enforcing carry on size & ensuring they are placed in the overhead correctly. We’ve all seen the monstrosities people use as carry ons that go overhead sideways & take up half the bin. Make everyone place their carry on in the sizer at the gate. If it doesn’t fit, charge them for a checked bag. Once on board, carry ons go in wheels first, on its side, in the bin above your seat. This is how the bins are designed but no one enforces it because it holds up the boarding process and time is money.

To that point though older bins aren't designed for that so it depends on the aircraft. I know our MAX8 flight a few weeks ago the overhead bins had a diagram and words telling you to load sideways.

I agree about size.

I also think for sure some people just casually throw in the bags without regard to other passengers

But the thing is about the conversation about the gate agents asking about gate checking carry ons is none of that is impacted by passengers loading their carry on on its back if the overhead bin was designed for the side. The gate agents are doing that preemptively so reserving judgement on passengers it's really on SWA. None of the FAs have ever made an announcement on the plane to put the bags in sideways at least on SWA, there isn't an announcement at all. I don't normally see FAs readjust the carry ons in the overhead bin unless they are trying to fit a specific carry on here and there but I don't see them going by as people are putting them up there and correcting it as a norm.

Now another thing about charging I'm not sure it's a thing for SWA as I haven't noticed a difference but I know on our British Airways double-decker plane flight from Heathrow to Chicago in 2023 we chose the back of the plane on the second level and there was zero indication (at least then who knows if they've added it now) that the overhead bins are smaller than the ones in the middle and the front of the plane. Same seats, smaller overhead bins. My carryon fit because it was a 2-wheeled one, my husband's did not because it is a 4-wheeled one. Both fit in the dimensions of British Airways rules. There's no reason why a passenger should have a fee in that instance. For my husband they were able to locate a spot a few rows into the middle section of the plane.

 

[pooch]

I believe that’s exactly how older bins were designed. Three bags corresponding to the three seats below it, on their sides, wheels in. I’ve been flying SWA since 2004 and it was that way even back then. The fact that FAs aren’t correcting the current behavior just means they need to. We are all very much lemmings and will follow rules that are clear and uniformly enforced. When those “in charge” ignore the rules, we all do.
Of course, luggage has changed too. Hard sided bags give less. 4 wheels vs 2. Expandables. All this contributes to the problem.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I believe that’s exactly how older bins were designed. Three bags corresponding to the three seats below it, on their sides, wheels in. I’ve been flying SWA since 2004 and it was that way even back then. The fact that FAs aren’t correcting the current behavior just means they need to. We are all very much lemmings and will follow rules that are clear and uniformly enforced. When those “in charge” ignore the rules, we all do.
Of course, luggage has changed too. Hard sided bags give less. 4 wheels vs 2. Expandables. All this contributes to the problem.

Wheels back is correct I was speaking to sideways vs on its back. Newer overhead bins are optimized for that, that was not always the case and older non-retrofitted overhead bins. It changed over time on a new plane design at a time type thing. The majority of passengers are used to suitcases on their back, you only have to look at the overhead bins to see that.

Regardless this isn't about going back and forth here, it's about not blaming the passenger for things not outright told to them. Size restrictions are outright told to the passenger so bringing a suitcase, yes wheels and all, that doesn't fit would always be an issue at least when looking at the airlines rules. But that is not the same as a passenger's bag fitting within the airlines rules but it not fitting in the overhead bin and most certainly if you're talking about charging a customer. An airline who does that is not looked favorably on (looking at you Frontier who practically makes it a sport to charge for bags that fit in their dimensions including their testing bin).

If we're talking about overhead bin space and the number of wheels blame that on airline manufactures and airlines who haven't gotten with the rest of the world. I vastly prefer 2-wheel luggage but I'm quite the minority when traveling. Nearly everyone else is going with 4-wheels and have been for quite a long time.

 

[pooch]

I actually hate lugging a carry on and I know I am in the minority. I much prefer checking my bag & letting someone else deal with it. I only carry a change of clothes, my meds & enough toiletries for one night and that often fits in my hobo bag under the seat. Only once have I had my luggage go missing.
Really there is no one size fits all solution.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We're flying tomorrow and the middle of the day non-stop has the 737-700 flight (we're on the late night flight) and the 737-700 is most of SWA's fleet

The internet seems to call it "pancake" style to mean on it back, the newer style of overhead bin space called "taco" style. IDK that's just the words they use but flat bottom overhead bins were meant for on the back, hinge style depends on the height, new planes are much more likely to be taller hinge style optimized for on the side.

To visualize this is a picture from someone's 737-700 flight a few weeks ago on SWA, this is the "pancake" design.



I even found on the internet where not all Max8 overhead bins are meant to accommodate on the side. With the FA on that person's flight actually saying the overhead bins were designed for flat laying. Really I think you'll need to look at the signs on the overhead bin that tell you to flip it on the side. That is at least the the Max8 I was on a few weeks ago but it seems to depend on how new, someone pointed to 2023 and after of the plane having the even taller overhead bin space so Max8 planes delivered to SWA before that date may not be accommodating for on the side.

 

[eticketplease]

I actually hate lugging a carry on and I know I am in the minority. I much prefer checking my bag & letting someone else deal with it. I only carry a change of clothes, my meds & enough toiletries for one night and that often fits in my hobo bag under the seat. Only once have I had my luggage go missing.
Really there is no one size fits all solution.

I am right there with you.

I was always shocked with so many people dragging suitcases down the aisle when SW gave two free bags. Yes it takes some extra time once you land but I don't want to have to babysit a bag in the airport plus have to go through TSA screening with it as with my luck they would probably open every single one of my packing cubes.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I actually hate lugging a carry on and I know I am in the minority. I much prefer checking my bag & letting someone else deal with it. I only carry a change of clothes, my meds & enough toiletries for one night and that often fits in my hobo bag under the seat. Only once have I had my luggage go missing.
Really there is no one size fits all solution.

I am right there with you.

I was always shocked with so many people dragging suitcases down the aisle when SW gave two free bags. Yes it takes some extra time once you land but I don't want to have to babysit a bag in the airport plus have to go through TSA screening with it as with my luck they would probably open every single one of my packing cubes.

Not me over here about to do a 17 night/16 day international trip with a personal item (that is smaller than standard U.S. size because international..) and carry on to be fair we do in-sink laundry at certain stages of our trips. And with international travel you often have weight limits. Our carry on can be no more than 26lbs for Virgin Atlantic upper. We have however done it in Premium Economy with Virgin Atlantic where the weight is 22lbs. Air France is even worse.

But most people do it because of lost or damaged luggage. I don't know how bad SWA was on that but it plays into the psyche. Also we got burned in Cancun...where SWA doesn't have priority seemingly. Think half the plane unloaded then nothing......for 1 1/2 hours....while 4 planes of JetBlue or someone else I can't remember were offloaded and done. One of our traveling party had the luck of their luggage coming right out where the rest of us sat for 1 1/2 hours just waiting.

If you're talking about Orlando airport notoriously that one also takes a while for people to get their luggage.

It's pretty easy to play it off like the bad passenger but mostly it's the whole airline/airport experience that plays into it. So long as passengers have the correct size and weight (if one applies) the rest is something that is on the airlines for why people often end up doing carry on.

I will say there was a case in which I was totally (though I had no choice anyhow) fine with cargo hold for our carry on which was Iberia's regional carrier Air Nostrum where the overhead bins are not meant for really any carry on luggage. But they load it on the belly of the plane in front of you, you get dropped off on the tarmac and they unload the luggage right in front of you.

 

[eticketplease]

Not me over here about to do a 17 night/16 day international trip with a personal item (that is smaller than standard U.S. size because international..) and carry on to be fair we do in-sink laundry at certain stages of our trips. And with international travel you often have weight limits. Our carry on can be no more than 26lbs for Virgin Atlantic upper. We have however done it in Premium Economy with Virgin Atlantic where the weight is 22lbs. Air France is even worse.

But most people do it because of lost or damaged luggage. I don't know how bad SWA was on that but it plays into the psyche. Also we got burned in Cancun...where SWA doesn't have priority seemingly. Think half the plane unloaded then nothing......for 1 1/2 hours....while 4 planes of JetBlue or someone else I can't remember were offloaded and done. One of our traveling party had the luck of their luggage coming right out where the rest of us sat for 1 1/2 hours just waiting.

If you're talking about Orlando airport notoriously that one also takes a while for people to get their luggage.

It's pretty easy to play it off like the bad passenger but mostly it's the whole airline/airport experience that plays into it. So long as passengers have the correct size and weight (if one applies) the rest is something that is on the airlines for why people often end up doing carry on.

I will say there was a case in which I was totally (though I had no choice anyhow) fine with cargo hold for our carry on which was Iberia's regional carrier Air Nostrum where the overhead bins are not meant for really any carry on luggage. But they load it on the belly of the plane in front of you, you get dropped off on the tarmac and they unload the luggage right in front of you.

Like @pooch said earlier there is no one size fits all solution.

I have tried carry-on only a few times but I always seem to regret it as I have forgotten something.
That is certainly exciting to be able to do what you do but it just doesn't work for me.
With international they at least allow one checked bag so I would certainly take advantage of that as that is the only way to bring wine back home unless you ship it.

We had a similar experience with SW at CUN. Everyone in our party had our bags except we were missing one bag. It was literally the last bag that was put on the belt after quite a delay.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Like @pooch said earlier there is no one size fits all solution.

I have tried carry-on only a few times but I always seem to regret it as I have forgotten something.
That is certainly exciting to be able to do what you do but it just doesn't work for me.
With international they at least allow one checked bag so I would certainly take advantage of that as that is the only way to bring wine back home unless you ship it.

We had a similar experience with SW at CUN. Everyone in our party had our bags except we were missing one bag. It was literally the last bag that was put on the belt after quite a delay.

I wasn't talking about a solution never mind it being a one size fits all. I was responding to both of your comments regarding other passenger's behavior.

I never thought I could do what we've done but our 2024 Europe trip was the first time, Japan 2024 the second time, this is the 3rd time. Europe and Japan were a necessity with train travel. Then the other Europe cruises (2023, 2025) were checked luggage due to dress codes for the cruise. For domestic travel (and Jamaica and St Lucia where both cases the luggage was destroyed by the airline SWA and Delta respectively) my norm was to check luggage on longer more than a week trips and especially Disney/Universal because you get so dang sweaty and a mess lol but I do understand why other passengers would rather not. A difference in exclaiming in a disapproving way vs the more practical nature of how airline travel can be. All of us agree we don't want passengers bringing obvious oversized items for the sake of it but that's a particular passenger rather than looking at passengers in general. Not everyone can realistically choose not to do checked luggage, I don't mean that as a personal choice, I mean that the airlines are not meant for that type of situation, I just understand various reasons why some passengers choose not to do checked luggage on any given trip; I was that way (meaning knew reasons why airline travel can do xyz to someone) many years prior to doing long international trips without checked luggage.

We're always bummed because flying to/from the U.S. means we're only allowed 1 carry on due to TSA rules but for airlines depending on the ticket you purchase it can allow you 2 carry ons, we just can't take advantage of that.

At least there's a shared experience with Cancun however unfortunate that was though

 

[jimmymc]

I would actually like to see them charge for carryons and give a free checked bag. This way, us frequent travelers who don’t need a checked bag can have a place for our happily paid for carryon when a connection is tight so we are the last on the plane.

I wish more airlines would do this. It dramatically speeds up boarding and deboarding.

 

[focusondisney]

This discussion has been interesting. I don’t know about anyone else, but I never heard carryons are supposed to be on their side until this thread, I’ve been flying since the early 90s, with SW or JetBlue. We’ve checked bags pretty much every flight & only used a carry on maybe 5 times in the last 2 or 3 years. I don’t know that I’ve even seen anyone put a carry on bag on its side either. Or heard a flight attendant tell anyone to do so.

I bought a new carry on for a 3 night Christmas trip last December. We were flying JetBlue which seems to have smaller carry on dimensions. I wasn’t looking for a top of the line or expensive case. Looking at places like Kohls or Target, most of the carry on cases were over the JB size limit. None of the carryons I looked at mentioned putting them in on their side. If that’s how they’re supposed to be, the airline & luggage industry need to do a huge public education program.

 

[eticketplease]

I wasn't talking about a solution never mind it being a one size fits all. I was responding to both of your comments regarding other passenger's behavior.

Yup I totally understand I was just agreeing that there is no one solution and then even if there seems to be one everyone then interrupts it differently

 

[jcarwash]

This discussion has been interesting. I don’t know about anyone else, but I never heard carryons are supposed to be on their side until this thread, I’ve been flying since the early 90s, with SW or JetBlue. We’ve checked bags pretty much every flight & only used a carry on maybe 5 times in the last 2 or 3 years. I don’t know that I’ve even seen anyone put a carry on bag on its side either. Or heard a flight attendant tell anyone to do so.

As far as Southwest goes, it depends upon the plane whether bags go flat or on their side. A newer Max8 might have taller bins, with mirrors and instructions inside, that call for luggage to go in on the side.

 

[eticketplease]

I wish more airlines would do this. It dramatically speeds up boarding and deboarding.

Deboarding yes but I’m not sure about boarding as people may throw the bag that would have been at their feet up in the bin now