overhead bin

Wednesday, February 2nd, AA flight 1499 from Dallas, Texas to San Jose, CA.

I am 6′ tall, long legs. I always book my flights way in advance to be sure that I can reserve an aisle seat to avoid being cramped.

As we are boarding there is a mother, father and small child several people in front of me. The mother does not speak English. The child is too young to speak, but can walk and babble.

As many flights the previous day were cancelled, this flight was full. The gate agent continued to make her announcement to only bring on one carry-on that must fit in the overhead bin, and only one other article like a purse or laptop… ONLY.

This family of three had 5 large carry-on suitcases. In addition, the mother had a purse and a diaper bag. The gate agent originally said they could not carry on five pieces of luggage. They acted as if they did not understand. The gate agent then said that two of the bags were too big to fit in the overhead bin… to that the father understood, and there in the door of the jetway, blocking boarding… he began to re-shuffle items from one bag to the others, much to the dismay of the passengers and gate agent. The gate agent made an effort to say that they had too much, but the father then stuffed the individual bags in question into the “size guide” rack. The gate agent, flustered, waved them on.

A few minutes later I board the plane with only my small backpack which I planned to put in the bin above me so that I could have leg room. As I get to my row, there standing are the mother, father and child. The father has taken all of the overhead bin space above my row, and the bin space above the row opposite my seat.

I take a deep breath, and let it go. The father, mother and child are standing in my row. I say to the father, “This is my seat.”

The father in perfect English responds, “We are travelling together, will you take my seat?” I look at his ticket… it is a MIDDLE SEAT several rows back.

I tell him, “No, I booked my flight months in advance to reserve an aisle seat.” The father very politely says “no problem” and then moves to his seat several rows back.

I sit down; the mother and child sits down. And, you got it… the kid starts screaming! The mother does little to stop the child. She stands and says something to the father in another language. I pull out my book and try not to be bothered.

A few minutes later and the child is continuing to scream and cry. The mother continues to look back . I hear the father talking to a flight attendant, and then the surly flight attendant says to me, “You have to move so the father can sit by his child.” Just like that… not “will you move,” or “please move,” but… “you have to move.”

I said, “Does he have an aisle seat?”

The flight attendant replied “No, but wouldn’t you rather move than listen to a screaming child?” She did have a point, but she could have been more polite about it.

I take another deep breath and retrieve my small backpack from underneath the seat in front of me and get up. At that time another flight attendant says, “Here is a window seat,” pointing to another row back. So I move to that seat… not sure whose seat it was because the flight ends up being fully packed, and some other poor soul takes the guy’s middle seat.

So, to this I ask why? I played by the rules. I made my reservation months in advance to ensure my seat. I only carried on a small backpack and checked my other luggage. I did not carry a small, screaming child onto the plane. So, why did I have to move? So, why did I have to cram my backpack into my leg space, under the seat in front of me? Why did I have to endure the scream of someone else’s child? Why was I originally being moved to a middle seat? It seems AA was more accommodating to the people not playing by the rules than to those of us that do play by the rules.

To top it off… when the flight was over… the father stood in the aisle and began to remove all 5 pieces of his luggage, while those of us behind him waited and waited and waited.

As I passed him in the jetway, he said to me… “It really wasn’t a big deal.” I took another deep breath, and said nothing. Nope, it wasn’t a big deal to him. He inconvenienced everyone else for his wife, his child and himself because he was too cheap to check his luggage. And he was inconsiderate by flying with an unruly child.

His choices… that we have to support.

Tagged as: american airlines, baggage, children & babies, flight attendant, gate agent, overhead bin, seats

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