Seat Upgrade/carry on

[jennifer]

I finally got through American Airlines and moved our seats from the last row 23 to a Main Cabin Extra in row 11. Here's my question: we have a really short layover, (when that plane lands well be running to catch our next flight. ) Now that I got us upgraded whats our chances of getting an overhead bin for our carry on? We won't have time to gate check it and wait for them to bring it out. The plane is an American Eagle and sits around 76 passengers.

 

[jimntx]

You don't have a choice on gate checking. A number of the Eagle a/c have no or very little overhead bin space. As you go down the jetbridge you will be instructed to leave your bag at a particular place. You have to do it. There is no space on the airplane which meets FAA safety standards for storing luggage other than small items, like a purse or computer bag. When you arrive at the connecting airport, the bags will be brought to the jetbridge for you to claim. The airline will not be interested in hearing your explanation of why you should--A: Be allowed to bring a bag on that will not fit in any storage space; B: have your bag brought up first; or C: Hold the connecting flight for you to have time to collect your bag and get to the connecting gate.

As far as your tight connection...the general attitude will be that you should not have booked a connecting flight with so little ground time. Most large airports suggest a minimum of one hour between arrival and departure time to make connections. If the connection is to/from an International flight, you need even more time because most airports that have International flights have them arrive and depart at a totally separate terminal. (This is so Customs and Immigration can be grouped together at one terminal location.) Don't get yourself twisted about what you see on the boarding pass. You are probably looking at the boarding time, not the departure time. Read the boarding pass carefully. On most airlines, boarding begins a minimum of 30 minutes prior to departure time and as much as 1 hour on International flights or flights which have very large airplanes assigned to them. So, if you arrive at the connecting airport at 12 noon and the boarding time is 12:30pm, you actually have at least1 hour to make the connection.

Oh, and for future reference, overhead bin space is shared space, first come, first served. No airline will guarantee that you have any overhead bin space for your bag. They would prefer that you check the bag anyway. Speaking of which, why don't you just check the bag(s) through to your destination?

There's probably not much you can do at this point about your tight connection. Let it be a lesson for the future--Don't book connecting flights with less than 1 hour of ground time