Image by Kevin Jaako.
Consider the common airplane and it’s absurd carry-on baggage situation:
Airline policy (at least according to their safety videos) is for passengers to store their heavier carry-on luggage below the seat in front of them and the lighter articles in the overhead compartment.
This is, apparently, for your own safety.
But have you ever been able to successfully accomplish that feat?
Of course you haven’t. Why? Because overhead compartments on airplanes are designed to accommodate the size and girth of a typical piece of carry-on luggage and the space under the seat in front of you is designed to accommodate baggage not much larger than a purse or a briefcase.
And given the airline’s recent stinginess on checked baggage, frugal customers try and cram as much as humanly possible into their carry-on. Those large and heavy carry-ons inevitably find themselves crammed in the overhead compartment.
Policy is a blunt instrument – and totally ineffective if the policy and the industrial design meant to service it don’t agree.
Even better: Get rid of the policy entirely and design baggage compartments such that people will naturally and automatically store heavier articles under the seat in front of them.
Do that and the need to communicate a heavy baggage policy becomes utterly redundant.
Want more? Purchase Cable Car Confidential: The Essential Guide to Cable Cars, Urban Gondolas & Cable Propelled Transit and start learning about the world's fastest growing transportation technologies.
