Agency Deluged by Complaints : Disputes Over Carry-on Baggage Studied by FAA
Whenever he flies, Steve Berlin, a musician from Venice, Calif., insists on carrying his saxophone aboard the airplane. “I can regale you with horror stories of what airlines can do to a fragile, expensive, difficult-to-repair instrument,” he wrote recently to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Susan Campbell Hughes of Dallas thinks much the same way. She told the agency that she would not dare trust the $12,000 sterling silver tea service that she and her husband brought back from Britain “to the average baggage handler.”
But Maurice M. Frye, a frequent traveler from Vernon, Conn., had little sympathy for passengers like Berlin and Hughes. Frye bluntly declared that it burns him up “every time some stupid s.o.b. staggers on the plane loaded down with a briefcase, garment bag and overnight bag.”
Their letters are among more than 5,000 comments--taking up nearly seven feet of file space at the FAA--that have poured into the agency in the last year alone addressing the controversy over what and how much people should be allowed to carry on flights. And still more letters are expected before the designated public comment period ends July 28.
Current FAA regulations specify only that whatever luggage a passenger carries aboard must be stowed safely in an overhead bin, under the seat or in other approved storage spaces. But, after the comments are reviewed, the agency will make its final decision on a rule that would require the nation’s airlines to draw up new plans for handling carry-on luggage--potentially affecting an estimated 400 million passengers expected to fly this year.
“It’s maddening,” added Ward R. Reiss of Oak Park, Va., who said that he makes about 70 flights a year. “Scores of people are forced to wait in line like sheep while one understrength slob struggles with overstuffed bags and consumes the attention of the entire cabin crew.”
Reiss used to request a seat in the last row “so I could board first and avoid those people who thought they had a ticket for a Mayflower moving van,” he wrote. “I gave that up when I saw that many of the passengers who need special assistance in boarding were people with excess baggage.”
One sticking point in the agency’s decision-making process on its proposed regulations is a controversial provision that some say could delay flights even further. That proposal would require one of the airline’s ground crew to make a final check on each plane, ensuring that all carry-on bags have been properly and safely stowed before the aircraft’s doors are shut.
Possible Safety Problem
“The FAA has definitely been looking at the problem,” spokesman Bob Buckhorn said. “We did a survey that showed that passengers are carrying excessive amounts of baggage and that it could have the possibility of creating a safety problem.”
Flight attendants and others have expressed concern that an excessive volume of carry-on luggage could hamper emergency evacuations and cause injuries by hitting passengers during turbulence.
The Assn. of Flight Attendants initially petitioned the FAA to address the issue, asking the agency to restrict passengers to two carry-on bags apiece that met a designated size. “Our primary concerns are excessively large items and generally too much baggage,” said Matthew Finucane, the association’s safety director.
However, at the Air Transport Assn., which represents major airlines, spokesman Thomas M. Tripp said that the airlines do not believe the current volume of carry-on baggage presents a safety problem. Tripp said that many airlines have redesigned aircraft interiors, providing larger storage compartments to accommodate passengers, especially business travelers.
“The trend is to travel lighter but to carry it with you,” he said, adding that some of the new overhead bins can hold as much as 250 pounds apiece. “You’d be hard-pressed to get that much weight in them without putting 30 car batteries in there.”
Cut by Hangers
Although there is no official record of baggage-related injuries, there are incidents of people who have been hit by falling briefcases. In one case, Elizabeth J. Ferguson, vice president of Shearson/American Express Inc., said her face was cut by hangers protruding from a garment bag that fell from an open overhead luggage rack.
But the vast majority of complaints involve the inconvenience and delay caused by heavily laden passengers who cram their belongings throughout the plane.
“It’s generally better to get on the plane before my seat number is called if I wish to have any place to put my briefcase,” U.S. Tax Court Judge Charles E. Clapp wrote. Otherwise, he said, “somebody in the back of the plane has already filled up all available space around my seat with hanging bags, suitcases, knapsacks, golf clubs--you name it.”
The earful of comments received by the FAA underscored in particular how sensitive the issue is for traveling businessmen. Tripp said that, of the 380 million airline passengers who flew in 1985, 50% of them were on business.
Many businessmen argue that the convenience of carry-on bags saves them valuable time, business and even their luggage.
Philip S. Dauber, president of Memorex in Santa Clara, said that a large number of his company’s 10,000 employees travel by air every week. While the savings in being able to carry on a briefcase and at least one other bag “may not be very substantial for a person who travels occasionally on personal business, for a company our size it is very significant,” he said.
Letter From Peter Nero
Pianist and composer Peter Nero wrote that business travelers like himself who spend countless hours on airplanes must be allowed “business items too fragile to be checked in as baggage.”
Henry L. Kotkins Jr., president of Skyway Luggage Co. in Seattle, Wash., said that the problem does not warrant new FAA regulations because the number of offenders is relatively small. “Do not fire a shotgun broadside at the entire air traveling public to catch a few blatant abusers,” he said.
