The lady in front of me was unable to make her bag fit and had to pay to check it. I took my jacket out and my bag fit just fine but I was really pissed since I was going though the priority lane and had less than 20 mins to make my connection.
My recent experience with BA - going through LHR Terminal 5 on my way to the U.S. they were being very strict and asking anyone whose bag looked even a little overstuffed to prove the bag would fit in the frame.
BA currently has an issue with carry-on as they've introduced "hand baggage only" fares so many people are now taking pretty big carry-on bags instead of checking in a case.
However, BA still allow two carry-on bags (I believe) although the second one has to be small enough to fit under the seat in front (even if there is no seat in front for your particular seat, and hence it has to go overhead anyway).
If you don't like an airline, best to write a hit song about it.
If you think flying a gazillion of miles for a employer is enjoyment, you really need to think again..
Having a senator card and about 500,000 miles in the bank is all well and good, but it comes at a price.
This does my head in on the Zurich - City route, which I do regularly. I only carry a small bag, which they insist on sticking a label on and tell me to stow under the seat in front of me. Only such that all the people with roller bags + hand / laptop bags can fit their bags in the overhead bins.
Generating complaints on the Flyertalk forums too. Best is to remove the yellow tag and put it overhead, carry a bigger bag, or book a bulkhead / emergency exit seat.
KLM isn't so bad once you are boarded, but the Zürich groundstaff (at check-in 2) are rather incompetent
(Very broad generalisation based on 2 experiences where I arrived 2.5 hours early to airport, dog in tow and one human child in tow, only to miss flight because they didn't know how to do the canine check-in. Needless to say they could have cared less that we would miss connection in Amsterdam to catch night ferry back to UK and no possibility to compensate for a hotel. Airports can be very cold at night, and 5 hours feels like 9 or 10.
KLM staff at Schiphol, on the other hand, are very efficient. I think when flying national flag-bearing airlines one misses out on the "familiarity" if the overseas positions are staffed by people having no sense of the culture of the airline they represent.
OH was chatting with a local commuting friend on the train the other morning, catching up as they hadn't seen each other for a while. When she mentioned that the youngest daughter had just started working for Swiss as a flight attendant, he said he could barely muster up any enthusiastic response..nothing he would like to do less than spend more time on planes and in airports...
I find myself airborne for just a tiny percentage of time compared to many on EF, but I feel sorry for all those business travelers going through one more security check, one more stow your carry-on, ignore the chatty passenger next to you, delay at the gate - I used to feel excited when I headed to an airport, but now it is just a means of transport.
The thoroughness of your price comparison lets me conclude that you indeed must be Dutch.
I kind of support this policy though. I hate getting held up on the plane whilst some moron tries to to shove a suitcase the size of a coffin into the overhead lockers, and then wonder why it doesn't fit. On the other side though, I also don't like it when they're overly strict when there's some little Hitler manning the gate forcing people to prove their handbags are within the required size limit.
I like when they are strict on someone else's hand luggage but not on mine.
They have a huge turnover of trolley dollies. 1 thing they would not have taught her is to keep the maintenance people happy and offer him or her a coffee or just make it anyway.
Yes I always remove the tag on the walk to the plane. Selfish, possibly. But not as selfish as those that bring more bags.
KLM have some very pretty Dutch stewardesses
Photos please
here you are
I do that too. In fact I keep a duty-free carrier bag for each of the airports I frequent regularly and re-pack stuff post security.
But I guess its only a question of time until they clamp down on that too.
One particularly unpleasant flight that I remember was with Aerolineas Argentinas. This was pre-9/11 and people were bringing so much carry-on that even the aisles were full of huge items of luggage. It was more like being on a freight plane than a passenger.
Another tip just shown to me by a friend.
If you're booking an Air France flight to the US (probably works elsewhere) you can save loads - in some cases around 200 CHF or more - by going to their French website and selecting "Mulhouse" as the airport instead of the default Swiss website and "Basel/euroairport". Not only is it cheaper for the French peasants who live around Mulhouse but it prices in Euros which, as we all know, is a good thing for us right now.
Holy crap! I just found a flight home to the States for 507 Euros that way! The same fare priced in Francs is over 600, which is still great but wowie.
That's the wonderful thing about Basel airport, everything is far cheaper on the French side: Parking, Flights, Car hire, even the queues at passport control are shorter. Why anyone uses the Swiss side after being here a while is beyond me.
Cos Bus 50 doesn't stop at the French side