A customer service failure experienced by an 86-year-old United Airlines passenger concerning her request for assistance lifting her carry-on bag should not be conflated with whether flight attendants should be required to lift bags.
No, Flight Attendants Should Not Be Required To Help Lift Carry-On Bags
An 86-year-old woman traveling from Dublin (DUB) to Chicago (ORD) on United Airlines was wheelchair-bound and 4-foot-10-inches. She asked a flight attendant for help lifting her bag, but was “snottily” told, “That’s not my job! Ask a passenger!”
My mom flew @united yesterday from Dublin to Chicago. During boarding the FA yelled at her to get her bag out of the aisle. She’s 86 & 4’10. She asked the FA to help put her bag up & she snottily said that’s not my job ask a passenger. Do better United! Pic of mom who is amazing! pic.twitter.com/VTRRb0HbOe
— Colleen ☘️ (@cmcubfan) October 7, 2024
Of course, the woman was taken aback and so was her daughter…it’s rude and unacceptable customer service.
But the flight attendant was right that flight attendants are not required to help passengers lift bags. This is a contractual issue but it goes beyond even that.
I used to believe that flight attendants should be required to lift bags. Why not make it part of the job description? In any case, the “good” flight attendants already do this…
But I’ve changed my mind over the years. First, flight attendants are not necessarily guaranteed disability, leave, or even medical care for injuries sustained from lifting bags. Second, in the US there are no weight limits to carry-on bags. I’ve seen carry-on bags weigh more than 50 pounds when fully stuffed and that is way too much for a flight attendant (who isn’t a bodybuilder) to lift.
So I now believe that flight attendants should no longer be required to lift bags. If you bring a carry-on bag that is too big for you to lift, you should not expect others to lift it. Chances are, you’ll find a nice seatmate to do it. But asking flight attendants to do it is a no-go.
Does that mean senior citizens should not be allowed to travel? Of course not! But it does mean they should travel with someone who can help them if they are unable to lift bags themselves…
image: @cmcubfan/X // hat tip: View From The Wing
I disagree. They should help if the bag is not too heavy and the passenger is frail. It is not too hard to gauge weight.
How about checking-in her 100 pound bag in the first place ?
She can take her meds with her in a handbag .
How do you gage the weight of a bag without actually or partially lifting the bag? Some bags can appear to be heavy because they are bulky when they are actually not while other bags are small and compact but can weigh 50 pounds or more.
If a customer can not lift their own bag then they should check their bag to its final destination, which they can do at the gate free of charge. I agree with Matt on this one no flight attendants should not be lifting passengers bags even if the passenger is old.
I, too, have come to believe this should not be a FA responsibility. Part of this epiphany came on a DCA-LAX flight when my “carryon” was a box of paper documents which were exhibits for depositions. It had to be 40 pounds. Asking an FA to manage that, and equally heavy carryons of other passengers over several flights a day truly becomes taxing and an unreasonable expectation.
Some training might be helpful on how to be more diplomatic in turning down such requests would enhance the customer experience.
@jfh … +1 . Exactly .
I would add that this person ought to have gone to bag check-in at the front desk .
I side with F/As on this. You pack it, you lift it.
Some people will say “it’s only a couple of bags, so what’s the big deal?” It is a big deal because those “couple of bags” add up for F/As over the course of multiple flights over multiple days.
It depends. Some airlines like Singapore Airlines have a 15 lbs maximum limit on carryon bags. If that weight limit is actually enforced, I think it’s reasonable for flight attendants to help lift the carryon bag.
As we all know, they don’t weigh carryon bags in USA so no, FAs should not be forced to lift them up for pax. I’m actually more surprised the daughter let her 86 year old wheelchair bound mom travel alone. The poor mom. 🙁
Agreed.
Interestingly, United doesn’t specify a weight on their baggage page for carryon bags. Previously when flying with Lufthansa where were carry-on specifications of 18 lbs (imperial) and I’ve even seen them weigh it at check in and mark the bag “cabin baggage”. This is common for nearly all European carriers I am aware of.
Generally if someone is flying domestic business, perhaps a heavy carry on is not an issue but I found it interesting when those fancy, expensive aluminum carry ons weighed at least 9 lbs basically 1/2 of the baggage allowance for a European carrier.
Now granted, this may happen only once but image they try to fly Spirit or a carrier that weights their carry on and they get dinged.
Now onto the topic at hand: I agree that it’s important to set a legal precedent: If FA’s start stowing bags as a courtesy for one, it will apply to all and if that bag slipped out after “contents had shifted during flight”, and hit a passenger in the head (even if it wasn’t the FA’s fault), the airline faces a lawsuit.
That said, the FA can be polite about it, even if it’s necessary to train them, to say something such as: “For legal liability reasons I cannot do that. Please ask a fellow passenger.” Simply saying “It’s not my job” implies an utter lack of empathy.
As an amusing factoid I recently read, the smallest “unlimited weight” USPS box you can ship as it turns out would cost more to send even if packed with the most dense metal available, osmium. I was wondering if it would be economically viable to ship bricks by unlimited weight USPS boxes.
You can have a policy and still be a decent human being and help a senior citizen.
Agreed. Seems there was no compassion here.
@Matthew
You failed to mention United flight attendants at United are not paid for boarding or deplaning so that flight attendant wasn’t getting paid either for lifting bags
To me the important issue stated in the posting is: ” First, flight attendants are not necessarily guaranteed disability, leave, or even medical care for injuries sustained from lifting bags.”
I would never ask or expect employees to do something for me if I put their health or income in jeopardy. No insurance? No income? People expect them to lift numerous bags into those bins on how flights a day? For all those advocating that they have to, those people should step forward on the flights and offer assistance.
Check the bag – those handlers are paid for that service.
@Matthew, several airlines specifically state that disabled pax are offered assistance with storing/retrieving/accessing their carry-on items (AC, AS, B6. DL, WN), while UA lists it under their ACAA section. FWIW, I couldn’t find anything on AA.
Did a quick search, and this is what ACAA says 382.111(e): “Assistance in stowing and retrieving carry-on items, including mobility aids and other assistive devices stowed in the cabin (see also 382.91(d)).”
382.91(d): “…you must assist passengers who are unable to carry their luggage because of a disability with transporting their gate-checked or carry-on luggage…”
It appears as though it *is* a requirement. The airline has to help with carry-on bags (and not just mobility aids), but whose responsibility is it if F/As can’t do it due to injury risk (and/or contract provisions)? What’s the solution? Bring baggage handlers onboard?
Interesting comment, Tennen. I will look into this further.
If you have a disability, don’t fly with a US airline. I can’t imagine an Aer Lingus crew member behaving like this.
With a weight limit on the bag, payment for boarding and disability or other medical payments for injuries I would think they should. Otherwise no. But this is a case of a cranky b*tch and no a helpful employee.
Stopping the bag fess would help too.
It is not about lifting the bag or not. It is about the disgusting behavior of the FA by saying “That’s not my job! Ask a passenger!” That person should be placed under customer service training to learn how to talk to someone that is the reason the FA has a job. There are nicer ways to say the FA cannot lift the bag. Not surprised it comes from a United FA. It is part of their corporate culture to act that way.