Palladium-Item from Richmond, Indiana • Page 38

Page D4iPaad'um-femi Sunday, Dec. 27, 1998 Business Excessive carry-on baggage doesn't fly with some airlines, passengers witnessed Continental customers inconvenienced by the template. Delta says the lawsuit might have been inspired from the top but suspects it's largely a publicity stunt to call attention to Continental's larger bins. Continental spokeswoman Sarah Anthony says this is no stunt: "Delta's allegation is nothing more than a weak attempt to cover up poor customer service. We don't need the publicity.

Our planes are full." The idea of sizing luggage is not original. But measurement devices at gates have been largely ignored. They helped gate agents and flight attendants settle arguments when passengers tried to board with huge carry-ons. But the agents ran into conflicts because of their duty to please customers, who would beg them to allow stuffed animals, violins and large purses. smaller but hard-sided suitcases must be checked because they don't conform to the opening.

Lawsuits. Continental, which says it has spent $14 million adding bin space to its older jets, sued Delta to get a template removed from the front of X-ray machines in San Diego. Delta, as the largest carrier at Lindbergh Field in San Diego, is in charge of security Continental, America West and Frontier also use the terminal. Station managers from all four airlines initially agreed to install the template. But Continental, which paid about $700 toward the template, based on its 24 percent share of San Diego traffic, says it agreed only to a temporary test and wants it removed.

Orders are coming from Continental CEO Gordon Bethune, who owns a home in San Diego and might have made its last flight above your head. Says frequent business flier Ryan Barnes: "I have waited on many people trying to cram the equivalent of a watermelon into a tissue box. It is a bit frustrating." What's happening: Fed-up flight attendants. They say they spend way too much time trying to get bags legally stored before takeoff. Fights are breaking out regularly among passengers over bin space, An inflexible standard is unfair when different aircraft have different amounts of space, says FAA spokeswoman Kathryn Creedy.

Airlines should be able to be more lenient when flights aren't full. And, they're free to order new jets with more space and retrofit old ones. "We should not be in the business Perturbed passengers. Frequent business fliers say they don't mind airlines enforcing stricter carry-on policies. Many welcome them.

But they say the system is rife with inconsistency Roy Berger, president of a small company in Wichita, Kansas, had to check a bag that didn't fit through the O'Hare template by 18 of an inch. But when he boarded the plane, the overhead compartments were stuffed with the huge carry-ons of people who passed through security at another airport and were connecting through Chicago. "I was on a flight last week where a gentleman had three carry-ons and a cigar dangling from his mouth," Berger says. "A least the cigar was unlit." Other fliers complain that people stuff huge garment bags through the template like a sleeping bag when of retail regulation," says Creedy, who has been flooded by so many carry-on questions lately that coworkers call her "the bag lady." Get-tough carriers. United and Delta are installing metal or Plexiglas templates at security checkpoints.

They are barriers that sit in front of the X-ray machine and have rectangular holes that let only small luggage advance to the gate. Delta's holes are 16 inches by 10 inches. United's 14 inches by 9 inches. United is becoming the most aggressive airline cracking down on carry-ons. It has templates at Los Angeles and O'Hare airports with others at 40 more airports on the way.

Initially, about 20 percent of bags did not fit through the template, United spokesman Joe Hopkins says. But as fliers caught on, that fell to 5 percent within a few weeks. Gannett News Service The shortage of space in the overhead bins that has been creeping up on fliers for decades is blowing up in their faces during the holidays. Forces are colliding to bring it all to a head. Planes are flying fuller for the fifth consecutive year.

Overstuffed bins mean delayed flights, but passengers apparently prefer that to waiting for their luggage to dribble off a carousel. In November, carry-on problems sparked one carrier to sue another, and flight attendants will beg the government to restore calm with increased regulation. What does it all mean as you hit the airport? It means your carry-ons have never been in more danger of being confiscated and put in the cargo hold. And even after the holidays, your overstuffed garment bag (d)(o) Co) fttn i D) i MEM A SPECIAU jNMEMORIAM FOR THOSE 1 1- I a v- i i A page in the book of memory Silently turns today We Remember you in silence, And make no outward show And what it meant to lose you No one will ever know. Cone from our lives One so dear; But in our hearts, Forever near.

You presence we miss, Your memory we treasure; Earl A. Sittloh July 14, 1916 January 22, 1998 Olaf Ray Thomas May 28, 1935 December 30, 1997 Charles W. Long September 14, 1915 January 11, 1998 'I f' Off. If Kynzie Cayde Minor Bailey January 7, 1998 January 9, 1998 Earl Baker February 5, 1932 August 31, 1997 Jennifer Sipe August 13, 1957 October 12, 1971 Siegfried Holthouse, Jr. June 12, 1928 November 16, 1998 Loving you always Forgetting you never.

In our hearts we have your picture Of the days when you were here; Those memories will never dim, Asme go rom IfLwe had all the world to give, We'd give it, yes, and more, To hear your voice and see your smile, -And greet you at-the door. r. I fl--lTirr uid.hu an.njiW.nm.n W' Robert C. Crelin August 2, 1946 October 29, 1998 Richard "Dick" Smith April 16, 1940 September 16, 1998 Anna McNew July 17, 1998 Marietta (Bueme) Matson January 16, 1918 March 13, 1998 i si i I 'lmsyr v. ft' i J.

I Lou Ann Lair August 10, 1937 September 4, 1998 MattieJ. Dunn May 1, 1901 August 26, 1998 Raymond D. Woolard September 13, 1921 July 9, 1998 David L.Brann November 1, 1941 August 7, 1998 David C. Cavin August 15, 1939 July 26, 1998 Robert E. Musselman June 17, 1942 October 25, 1967 ir.