This woman who was forced to check a bag was incredibly irritated by the back-to-back inconveniences on her United Airlines flight.
As it turns out, she might be owed a little bit of compensation for her troubles. Read on in case you’re ever in a similar situation and don’t want to go home empty-handed.
United Airlines passenger fumes at delays
Content creator Sophie (@booksaremylifenow) shared the recent experience she had with United Airlines. Her video now has 36,000 views.
In the video, Sophie says she had the “LITERAL WORST” experience flying with United.
After already being irritated by a three-hour flight delay, Sophie notes she was informed that she couldn’t bring her carry-on onboard with her.
“We have run out of baggage space you are required to check your bag,” the text overlay on the video reads.
This might have been fine with Sophie if it were true. But when she boarded the plane, she notes that saw empty space after empty space in the overhead bins. She filmed the open space.
“Now I have to wait for baggage claim for no reason,” she adds in the caption.
Can airlines make you check your carry-on luggage?
If you travel with any frequency, you’ve likely had this happen to you. Or you’ve heard the announcement on the loudspeaker: The plane is at capacity, and the bag you were going to put in the overhead bin now has to be checked.
And yes, it’s fully in an airline’s rights to do this.
It tends to happen the most on full flights or if your luggage is too big to fit in the overhead compartment.
With most airlines, when it gets to this stage, checking the luggage will be complimentary.
But while it’s free, it’s still an inconvenience for people who want to be able to depart from the airport quickly (since they don’t have to wait around for the bag to show up on a carousel) or who have sensitive or valuable belongings they wanted to keep with them.
Compensation for long luggage wait
It’s a little-known fact that some airlines, like Alaska and Delta Airlines, will offer you compensation, usually in the form of a discount of miles, if you have to wait 20 minutes or more for your baggage to arrive at baggage claim.
Commenters react
“United always be doing this so annoying,” a top comment read.
“Be mad at the people that like to put their half empty purses and bags up there! Not the airline,” a person said.
“She probably has a basic economy ticket and you can see that back is already full,” another guessed.
“Gate agents are judged on how fast they can get the plane boarded, so making everyone gate check speeds up the process,” a commenter added.
@booksaremylifenow @United Airlines is the LITERAL WORST. Flight already delayed 3 hours and now I have to wait for baggage claim for no reason #unitedairlines ♬ original sound – †
The Daily Dot reached out to Sophie for comment via TikTok direct message and comment and to United via email.
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