Last week I flew from Belfast International to London Gatwick with Easyjet.  My flight was incident free for the most part – which is always good.  Belfast International Airport has sorted out logistics in terms of check-in and security and these days I can make it from my car to the departure gate in a couple of minutes.

My only issue last week – and this is something that’s been happening more and more – is that I was subjected to the humiliation of having to put my carry-on bag into the dreaded luggage measuring cage whilst the rest of the queue looked on.  Northern Ireland to GB is a journey I make most weeks – sometimes twice.  In a rare week I might fly back & forwards three times between Northern Ireland and the British mainland.  I’ve been doing this for years and my annual tally of flights is easily 100+.  Regretful as I am about the size of my carbon footprint, it’s necessary when you live in Northern Ireland and work predominantly with the government.  Everyone knows that London is the centre of the universe.

Now my bag clearly meets the measurement criteria for all the airlines – I don’t have time in my life to remember which bag I need to take with me on any given day so I’ve gone for the smallest I can get away with.  You can tell that just by looking at it.  Why then was I singled out to put it into the measurement cage last Wednesday.  I’ve thought about this since and can only conclude it was some sort of pathetic show of power by the people working on the gate.  It was two women – one asked me to put my bag in the cage whilst the other simply stared at me without smiling or saying a word.  She looked quite disappointed when it easily fitted.

Sort yourselves out Easyjet and start treating your passengers (customers?) with some respect.  This sort of petty behaviour is hostile and unnecessary and yes we do have a choice of airline.  You’re letting yourselves down as your online crew are marvellous.

Regular readers of my blog will know that this is one of my pet topics.  My blog from last July on BMI Baby’s carry-on luggage practices (in which it turned out BMI Baby were indeed at fault – as their cages were smaller than their published minimum luggage sizes) generated no less than 33 comments – so it’s clearly something everyone else has an opinion on as well.  You can read that blog here http://marymckenna.posterous.com/when-size-really-matters

Interested in your comments and stories as always – good and bad - so please add them below.

Travelling back to Belfast from East Midlands airport always provides a good bit of sport.  Why?  Watching the BMI Baby Baggage Police humiliating traveller after traveller of course.  Making them cram their bags into the cage one at a time under scrutiny.  Penalty if you can’t force your bag in there - £30.

This results in the following behaviours that I’ve witnessed in the past few weeks:

Ø  grown men in suits crawling around on the dirty floor with their clothes strewn everywhere trying to repack their bag more tidily whilst everyone else in the queue climbs over them;

Ø  pensioners who probably rarely travel being terrorised into parting with their hard-earned cash (despite our loud barracking of the airline staff);

Ø  pleading and wheedling by all sorts of people, yours truly included.

Today we watched the airline delay a flight to Edinburgh whilst a man tried & tried to repack his bag in a different way – it was just the wrong shape...

BMI Baby has a less generous hand baggage measuring system than anyone else – and those extra centimetres count when the pressure’s on.  This means that if you travel a lot, like the Learning Pool team does backwards & forwards from our Northern Ireland HQ, it inevitably catches you out.  It’s that sinking feeling when you remember you’re on a BMI Baby flight (see McElvaney’s face in the pic above).

When that happens, there’s only one thing for it – head to duty free, buy something & ask the person in there for an extra big bag.  Then unload what you can from your case into it – you’re allowed to take on an additional bag if you bought it after clearing security.  Some of the Poolies have even started carrying empty duty free bags with them – different ones dependent on the airport they’re using.  As Paul always says – Learning Pool – using innovative ways to keep the cost of your subscription low.

Remember that the next time you see one of the Learning Pool team with a duty free bag – that’s all part of our commitment to customer care!