April 4, 2025, 5:05 p.m. | Reading time: 5 minutes
Because many airlines charge extra for checked baggage, passengers are taking more and more into the cabin. This leads to full subjects, frustration and delays. A cabin manager says what the problems are - and what passengers can improve.
The amount of hand luggage on flights is growing. Also because more and more airlines are charging extra fees for checked baggage or it is only included in more expensive fares. On board the plane, this causes full overhead compartments and stress. Flight attendants like Nikolaus Moehren are watching this from the front row.
“What used to be conveniently left in a suitcase during a week’s summer vacation is now sometimes stuffed into hand luggage,” says the experienced cabin manager. And: "Many people now carry more than one piece of hand luggage with them, which is often too big. Either not knowing what the airline's hand luggage regulations are, or knowingly ignoring them," observes flight attendant Nikolaus Moehren. “This causes additional problems because on fully booked flights the overhead compartments sometimes overflow halfway through boarding.”
Moehren works as a cabin manager at Lufthansa and is active in the flight safety working group of the flight attendant union UFO. He says: “The basic solution would be to simply check your booking shortly beforehand: What can I actually take with me?”
In the interview, he gives further insights into what annoys him and provides practical tips on how passengers can optimally stow their hand luggage.
Mr. Moehren, have you ever hurt yourself while stowing hand luggage?
Nikolaus Moehren: "No, luckily I haven't injured myself yet and haven't hurt myself yet. That may also be due to my constitution. I'm 1.95 meters tall and sporty. If necessary, you can lift a heavy piece of luggage upwards. But here too, I work as a cabin manager at Lufthansa, we're required not to do that - it's about occupational safety. That's not a ban. I just always say to my cabin crew: “You don’t touch anything that’s too heavy for you.”
Of course we help an elderly lady or someone who has physical disabilities. But for a sporty family man or a middle-aged businessman, and I'm deliberately mentioning them here, I don't have to stow their hand luggage. Basically, we are not baggage handlers, but flight attendants – and are responsible for safety on board.”
How should passengers pack their hand luggage so that as many others as possible can still stow their suitcases?
Moehren: "Cabin trolleys are best pushed in with the wheels towards the side of the ship. I can put them upright in newer luggage compartments - that's ideal, of course, so I create even more space. This doesn't work in older compartments. But even if the trolleys are lying horizontally in them, you can at least put your handbag or jacket on top and stuff it a little.
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What I always have to point out to passengers is that when they have their seat, they have not automatically booked the luggage compartment above it. So please don't be annoyed if you have to walk another three or four meters to put your hand luggage in the compartment because everything above your seat is already full.
And if you can't fit anything in the top, please put your hand luggage under the seat in front. That works. I am tall myself and can still sit comfortably in our economy class with a backpack or cabin trolley between my feet.
Keyword clothing: Apart from the rows at the emergency exit, there are always jacket hooks on the backrests of the front seat. That would mean significantly fewer problems in the overhead compartments if the coats were hung there more often.”
Can the flight be delayed because of a problem with hand luggage?
Moehren: "Yes, that can happen. The moment the plane rolls off, all passengers must be seated and the luggage compartments must be closed. So that nothing can fall out if the plane drives over a bump on the way to take-off.
Departure slots are sometimes very scarce, especially at large airports like London, Paris or Frankfurt - if you miss yours, you sometimes have to wait an hour for the next available one. That's why you really have to stick with it and if there are passengers in the aisle shortly before you're supposed to roll off and don't know where to put their backpack, the big hectic stowing away begins.
But we also can't conjure up a place where there is no one. If necessary, we have to unload the luggage into the hold - which causes a real delay. And the reasons for this are not always that there is a lack of space on board for hand luggage, but rather that it was not allocated efficiently or that passengers, for example, refuse to stow hand luggage under the seat in front of them instead of in the overhead compartment.
To be honest: a little more consideration for other fellow travelers, a little more intelligence - that would be a lot to gain.
With material from dpa
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