Tim Roxborogh's Travel Bugs: Overhead lockers on planes

If passengers obeyed the rules when it comes to cabin baggage, it would make for much smoother journeys for everyone. Photo / 123RF

This week Tim tells his fellow travellers to 'get stuffed' as people are cramming way too much into overhead compartments

There are two flights I know I'll never forget when it comes to full-blown tomfoolery, shenanigans and even out-right silly-buggers around the overhead luggage compartment.

The first was from London to Amsterdam about a decade ago. With Amsterdam a major transit site, the majority of the passengers that day were bound for Africa's largest city, Lagos, in Nigeria.

Lagos is so massive that no one really knows how many people live there, but most estimates are upwards of 21 million. That's 13 Aucklands, or about 52 Wellingtons or Christchurches. A lot, anyway. And, evidently, a big city equals big bags and I don't know what was happening with the staff at Heathrow on that particular morning, but let's just say there were a remarkable number of jumbo suitcases that hadn't been checked in.

Take-off was delayed by more than an hour. Initially I assumed either our plane had been late in arriving or there was a technical fault, but once I finally found myself in my seat, it was clear. Every second passenger was standing in the aisle, trying to shove small-car-sized luggage into the overhead compartments. Exasperated staff were doing their best in the rigged game of Tetris, while the rest of us could really only watch and laugh.

Somehow, the too-big suitcases were eventually enclosed inside the too-little compartments and the plane could take off. It should've been relief all round, but I already knew I was now likely too late for my connecting flight to Washington DC.

The other flight was from Singapore to the southern Indian city of Trivandrum. In this case there were so many bags of non-regulation size that there was really very little correlation between where you sat and where your bag was being stored. Passengers would find their seats, but realise there was nowhere above them to put their bag. So staff would take their bag further down the aisle in search of space, undoubtedly causing a healthy dose of separation anxiety for the passenger.

Add to that an intriguing percentage of passengers who appeared to mistake the plane for a bus and as such were sitting anywhere they liked. Announcement after announcement came over the intercom: "Please sit in the seat allocated on your ticket", but even when this ramped up to, "PLEASE SIT IN YOUR ALLOCATED SEAT OR THE PILOT CANNOT TAKE OFF!", it made little difference.

At least an hour after departure time, everyone was re-seated as per the flight manifest and we could finally take off.

I managed to park my frustration – aided this time by the fact I wasn't in danger of missing a connecting flight – and chose to let the chaos wash over me. Sometimes it can be great sociological fun just sitting back and letting our fellow humans entertain us.

Tim Roxborogh hosts Newstalk ZB's Weekend Collective and blogs at roxboroghreport.com