[LItraveler]

Boarded flight 648 from San Juan to JFK yesterday with a colleague who was in business (I was in coach). The gate attendant told me my 22 inch travel pro bag (which is an authorzied carryon and I carry on with every other airline - including American from LGA) was too large for me to carryon but if it had been my colleague's, he could have taken it on board!!! My colleague offered to switch bags with me (he had one small computer bag) and the gate attendant refused, telling him that my name was on the bag.

Unbelievable, that if I had a seat in business, I could have brought the bag on board. The EXACT same bins are found in coach. Just amazing. When I told a supervisor (RC) in San Juan that this was discrimination against coach passengers, he laughed at me.

To add insult to injury, when I arrived at JFK it took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get my bag.

[jimworcs]

You may not be understanding what the differences are between Coach and Business. You are both flying on the same plane to the same destination. Therefore, to differentiate the service and justify the difference in price, the airline has to offer enhancements. These include better seats, better service and more amenities, such as more generous luggage or hand luggage allowances. That is not discrimination... it just buying a better service.

[ChrisH]

Jim is correct. That is part of the perks for paying to fly in Business or First Class. You get a more generous luggage allowance. Sure, it is the same bins as in coach, but there are larger seats and thus less seats and passengers per the same amount of space in coach, which means there is more open ben space in the First Class and Business Class areas since there are less passengers vying for that space.

It is by no means discrimination. Also, while it is a bit over the top to have to wait 1 hour and 45 minutes for luggage, JFK and other such large airports are going to involve much longer wait times. When flying into those airports, it is important to plan for that.