The case of the audacious pillow pilferer….
Dec 24, 2023 | 7:37 am
#46
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: ±38,000 feet
Programs: LH HON, BA GGL, AF Plat, EK Plat
Posts: 6,499
I may have related this story before here, but this reminds me of an Austrian flight many moons ago from Vienna to New York… front row of business (no First on that plane) and I had left my bag in the bin above my seat and went to the loo (one of those loos that had not one but TWO windows, which I was quite excited about back then).
I come back to my seat to find a rather frantic seeming Germanic man (don’t know if he was Austrian, German or other) exclaiming that if this was my bag I needed to move it, “as he believes your bag should always be in the space above your seat.” As it’s quite early in the boarding, moving my bag around was no imposition, so I move my own into the bin across the aisle. He thanks me and repeats his spiel about wanting to have his bag above his seat.
I tell him I agree generally, but was happy to make an exception for him to have the extra space for his bags. I then ask him if he would mind letting me through to my seat, which was the window next to his aisle seat. The look on his face as he realised I had just moved my bag further from my seat on his request was priceless. He starts to apologise and I tell him it’s fine, from the window I can actually see across the aisle better than up into the bin above me, so it’s really better anyway. He nods appreciatively.
But I do always find it funny how many people seem to think that the bin space is matched so directly to their seat, without taking notice that there are other people seated around them who may need to use the same bin… especially when in a cabin where you’re not exactly going to run out of space anyway.
I come back to my seat to find a rather frantic seeming Germanic man (don’t know if he was Austrian, German or other) exclaiming that if this was my bag I needed to move it, “as he believes your bag should always be in the space above your seat.” As it’s quite early in the boarding, moving my bag around was no imposition, so I move my own into the bin across the aisle. He thanks me and repeats his spiel about wanting to have his bag above his seat.
I tell him I agree generally, but was happy to make an exception for him to have the extra space for his bags. I then ask him if he would mind letting me through to my seat, which was the window next to his aisle seat. The look on his face as he realised I had just moved my bag further from my seat on his request was priceless. He starts to apologise and I tell him it’s fine, from the window I can actually see across the aisle better than up into the bin above me, so it’s really better anyway. He nods appreciatively.
But I do always find it funny how many people seem to think that the bin space is matched so directly to their seat, without taking notice that there are other people seated around them who may need to use the same bin… especially when in a cabin where you’re not exactly going to run out of space anyway.
Dec 24, 2023 | 10:17 am
#47
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Seattle, Wash. USA
Posts: 1,552
I recall a lot of pillows going walkies when they introduced the White Company bedding in Club. I stopped one fellow passenger trying to stuff one into an empty duffel, reminding him that (1) it wasn't his to take and (2) the same pillow was available from White at a very reasonable cost, and without the guilt.
Dec 24, 2023 | 2:27 pm
#50
Join Date: Dec 2016
Programs: BAEC GGL; TK Elite (*A Gold); SAS Eurobonus Gold (Skyteam Elite Plus); Mucci des Puccis
Posts: 6,112
Dec 24, 2023 | 4:32 pm
#55
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,339
I got shouted at in F by a passenger for taking “their” pillow that was in the overhead bin labelled 1K. Clearly my mistake as there was no overhead bin above my seat (1F), so my pillow must be “down the back somewhere”. I was also not allowed to put any of my luggage in his bin either and needed to “go find somewhere else for it” as it was his bin.
