Reserved Overhead Lockers for Emergency Exit Row: Good Idea?

On a recent Austrian Airlines flight, I noticed an interesting phenomenon where the overhead lockers above the emergency exit rows were reserved exclusively for the passengers seated there.

It made me think that this is actually a great idea and that more airlines should adopt it.

Exit row seating

If you are seated in an emergency exit row on a plane, you cannot store any bags under the seat in front of you and must place them in the overhead lockers.

This is done for safety reasons, so that in an emergency the exit row stays clear of objects and passengers can leave quickly through the emergency exit.

A similar restriction is in place for bulkhead seats.

If you are in a bulkhead seat, there is no seat in front of you to store a bag, so it must be placed in an overhead locker.

Leaving it on your lap or between your legs is not allowed, as it could become a projectile during an emergency landing or manoeuvre and injure passengers.

Needless to say, this can cause problems during boarding when the overhead lockers are full and passengers in emergency exit rows or bulkhead seats have nowhere to store their bags.

Austrian Airlines brilliant approach to overhead locker space

Recently, I took a short-haul Austrian Airlines economy class flight home after a trip through Ukraine, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

I was seated in a window seat in an emergency exit row (12A), which was automatically assigned to me free of charge during online check-in, even though I had booked the cheapest economy class ticket without free seat selection.

While our Airbus A320 was boarding, I noticed an interesting phenomenon regarding the overhead luggage bins.

A flight attendant was standing by the two emergency exit rows (on this Airbus A320, row 14 behind me was also an exit row) and actively ensured that space in the overhead lockers was kept free for the 12 passengers seated in these rows.

At one point, the flight attendant even had a lengthy discussion with a passenger in row 10 who tried to place his bulky backpack in “our” overhead locker, firmly insisting that he either somehow store it under his seat or take it to the front of the plane to have it checked into the hold, as our flight was fully booked.

It worked out perfectly, as two passengers in the emergency exit rows happened to board among the very last, and there was still space available for their trolleys and hand luggage.

Are reserved overhead lockers fair?

Some might argue that passengers in non-exit rows have just as much right to overhead locker space as those in emergency exit rows, and there is no reason to keep them reserved just for these couple of passengers, but I do not agree.

First of all, there is no absolute right to use the overhead lockers, even if your ticket allows you to bring a trolley bag on board the plane.

All airlines include a clause in their terms and conditions stating that if there is no available space in the cabin, bags must be checked into the hold.

With more and more passengers travelling hand-baggage only – which almost always means a large trolley bag – the unfortunate reality is that most narrow-body planes are simply not equipped to store all these bags in the overhead lockers.

If you are seated in a normal row, you can either take a smaller bag that fits under the seat in front of you or choose priority boarding or a more expensive ticket, allowing you to be among the first on board with plenty of overhead space left for your trolley bag.

Exit row passengers are not allowed to store their bags under the seat in front of them, and it is not realistic to expect airlines to check those bags into the hold on their behalf.

Electronic items – especially power banks and batteries – are now largely banned from checked luggage due to fire risk, and passengers may also be carrying medicines, essentials, or other valuables in their bags.

It is therefore only fair to reserve some space for the bags of passengers in emergency exit rows – as unlike other travellers, they have no other place to store them, whether they are carrying a trolley bag or just a small rucksack.

Should other airlines follow up on this?

The likely reason why the Austrian Airlines flight attendant guarded the luggage bins to keep them reserved for passengers in the emergency exit rows was to speed up boarding.

Needless to say, time is money for airlines, and delays during boarding can disrupt schedules and cause the flight itself to run late, along with any subsequent flights the aircraft is scheduled to operate that day.

If a passenger in an emergency exit row were to board last and found no available space, their bags would still need to be placed elsewhere, which can be a time-consuming process.

It would likely mean that someone else’s bag has to be removed from the overhead locker and checked into the hold, which is the last thing you want to deal with when boarding is nearly complete.

Moreover, such a situation would likely lead to arguments and frustration, as a passenger might (rightly or wrongly) feel unfairly targeted for having to remove their bag from the overhead locker to make space for someone in an emergency exit row – a situation that could be avoided by preventing them from placing their bag there in the first place.

I am actually quite surprised that I haven’t seen many other airlines follow Austrian Airlines’ approach of reserving space in the overhead lockers for passengers in emergency exit rows.

Low-cost airlines, in particular, could benefit from this, as they often have more passengers in emergency exit row seats who are among the last to board compared with full-service carriers.

On full-service airlines, it is often frequent flyers with benefits such as free seat selection and priority boarding who pre-select emergency exit row seats (and my Star Alliance Gold status probably played a role in being assigned such a seat for free on Austrian, even though I had booked the cheapest ticket).

However, on low-cost airlines, you can only pre-assign a seat by paying for it, and the automatic seat assignment system typically allocates emergency exit rows and other sought-after seats for free only to the very last passengers who check in.

In the end, it will vary greatly whether passengers in emergency exit rows on low-cost airlines will have trolley bags or just small hand luggage, and whether they will be among the first half to board or among the very last.

I strongly believe that the boarding process on low-cost airlines could be significantly sped up if space in the overhead lockers were reserved for passengers in emergency exit rows.

Conclusion

For safety reasons, passengers seated in an emergency exit row are not allowed to store any bags under the seat in front of them, which is why their bags must be placed in the overhead lockers.

This can cause problems when passengers in emergency exit rows are among the last to board and find no space left in the overhead lockers, as unlike other passengers they have nowhere else to store their bags.

Although it might seem slightly unfair or even discriminatory to reserve overhead locker space exclusively for passengers in an emergency exit row, it actually benefits all passengers by speeding up the boarding process.