Zorak

Pretty much, although right now we get people who haven't been on a RJ before/ignored the GA announcements/poor spatial estimation skills/delusional who try to cram a bag that obviously won't fit, turn it around, try it again, then have to swim upstream to gate check it.

Also getting rid of the overheads probably leads inevitably to stacked airline seating...

diburning

That's funny although it has never happened to me, and I do observe people in F with bags under their seats, although they most likely have the same idea that I do. I will pick a window seat in F if at all possible, and as such, I will always put my laptop bag under the seat in front of me, so that I don't have to disturb the person in the aisle seat to get up to go fish it out of the overhead bin. Also, I don't like taking things out of the overhead bin, because then it becomes a mad dash to stow everything again once initial approach is called.

nichelle

Last week I was flying a redeye from SEA to MSP. The flight was completely full and they made multiple offers to check bags. Then there was an announcement that if you attempted to board with more than 2 items, they would automatically check anything over the limit.

As people were boarding the FA directed each person to place their second bag under the seat as he figured they'd run out of space in the overhead. A passenger boarded and began to place both of his items in the overhead. The FA asked him to please hold on to one of them. If there was still room, he could place it in the overhead later.

And then the whining began. "Look, I fly ALLLLLLL of the time". "This is ridiculous." As other passengers boarded he started complaining to them. "That flight attendant doesn't know what he's doing" The FA asked him to please try and place the bag under his seat. The passenger stood up and started saying that he's sure it won't fit. "See, it won't fit. Ugggggghhhhh" We all listened to him whine until the FA finally just said to place it on the overhead.

And, of course, as the last passenger boarded they ran out of room. The last to board had to check his bag.

javabytes

I really don't know why this topic continues to live in the DL forum. Bin space etiquette has been debated here for years.

If you have only one bag, you get to put it in the overhead. It defies logic that someone who packs small should be penalized by being forced to put their back under the seat in front of them, while someone who packs the kitchen sink and takes up large amounts of bin space also gets to keep all their legroom.

Two bags... one in the overhead, and one under the seat in front of you, unless there is still space left after everyone has stowed their bags (or you're seated in a bulkhead row).

ashill

And the FA didn't make the "fly all the time" jackass check his bag?

True dat.

Except there simply isn't room. As I pointed out upthread (and have pointed out numerous times in other threads on this topic), if we followed that logic, fully one third of the coach passengers would have to gate check a bag, even if no one had a bag wider than the allowed 14" wide and everyone stowed their bag making optimal use of the bin space. More than one third would have to gate check on DC-9 derivatives.

The only exception is AS's tall bins that allow rollaboards to be stowed on their sides.

RSSrsvp

This is definitely not a DL specific topic so I am moving this discussion over to TravelBuzz.

RSSrsvp - Moderator

Badenoch

British Airways has a good system. Your personal item is tagged as such and it must go under the seat. Your carry-on goes into the overhead.

I've had one issue when an FA attempted to remove a personal-item size carry-on of mine to make room for a huge roller. Upon explaining that it was my only bag she relented and it remained in the over head.

ATOBTTR

And with seat pitch continuing to get tighter and tighter throughout much of the plane, there "simply isn't room" for my legs in the seat if my personal item is under the seat in front of me.

I must be missing the part where I'm supposed to care or feel sympathy that someone else now has to go to the same baggage claim that I do because I checked my roll-a-board, thus allowing me to put my one personal item in the OH bin, to give myself the best possible comfort.

Breaking it down:
Person A is 6'4 and brings only 1 "personal item" that could fit under seat.
Person B is 5'3 and brings 1 roll-a-board on the plane.

Per the logic of some on here, they think the most reasonable option is for Person A to put their "personal item" under the seat in front of them and have even less legroom while Person B, whose bag can only fit in the OH bin, should be more entitled to bin space and then have the space under the seat in front of them to better stretch their legs. Seems reasonable..... put another way several posters on here think I'm supposed to be miserable as possible on a 5-6 hour transcon so they can save 20-30 minutes at bag claim on the other end.

What I've never understood about this is why the personal item is tagged rather than the carryon. One could easily rip the personal item tag off while walking down the jetway and then stow it in the bin.

ashill

Many in this thread have said that there is room in the overhead bins for one item for every passenger. I'm pointing out that that's simply untrue.

Speaking as a tall person (though not quite as tall as you) who certainly does his best to have nothing under the seat in front of him, I don't think height gives any special privileges. I don't think expecting that someone else with lower status or who otherwise boarded later should have to gate check so I can put a bag that fits under my seat in the overhead bin is not particularly collegial.

Certainly, after everyone has boarded, I typically try to find space for my small bag in any empty space in the overhead bin, especially if I didn't bring or checked my rollaboard. But I don't feel entitled to the space.

As you say, if many items going in the overhead bin are significantly narrower than 14", there may in fact be room for everyone's bag in the overhead bin. But even many briefcases that fit under the seat that I see people put in the overhead bin are 14" wide or close, so they don't save any space relative to a rollaboard. I of course don't know what your bag in particular is like.

nichelle

Nope. I wish he'd done that, though. After all of the whining, I'm pretty sure the FA would have had the support of anyone in our section.

ATOBTTR

Fair enough. And certainly true.

I never said my height gives me special privileges. I pack a bag small enough to fit under the seat in case I board late and can't find bin space and my roll-a-board would have to checked. This becomes "too bad, so sad" for me. But this is a big part of why I both maintain status (to have early boarding privileges) and why I have my own minimum connection times that give me the best chance at arriving prior to the start of boarding for my connecting flight, even when factoring in possible delays.

I don't think expecting someone else to be miserable for 5-6 hours on a transcon so you can save 20-25 minutes at bag claim is very collegial. Someone with no status or boarding late is going to have to go to the same baggage claim I am on arrival. Why should this bother me or why should I have sympathy for someone having to gate their bag (for free)? I'd have a different opinion if they were being charged but that's not the case, and not one person has provided a good answer to that question.

And why should I bother checking my roll-a-board then if I'm going to be forced to put my "personal item" under my seat anyway?
You tell me which you prefer:
1) I check a roll-a-board suitcase and bring a "personal item" which takes up about 50-75% of the volume of the roll-a-board, and that "personal item" goes in the overhead bin, thus leaving some 25-50% of the space I could otherwise take up for other bags & space under the seat remains empty for me to stretch my legs.
2) In order to prevent people like you from telling me my personal item should go under the seat in front of me, I purposely start packing my personal item in a roll-a-board so that it CAN'T go under the seat in front of me. 100% of the space I could take up is now taken up, leaving 0% additional space. Even though 25-50% of the space in the roll-a-board is wasted as empty space, I still have the space under the seat in front of me empty. Late comers have to check their roll-a-board because my roll-a-board is in the OH bin.
**Worst case with this option, I board late and my roll-a-board has to be checked. My stuff inside is packed in a roll-a-board in way that I can easily pull it out of the roll-a-board and place it under the seat in front of me, so that the stuff I don't want checked isn't checked.
3) Since you're going to make me put my personal item under my seat anyway, I now gain nothing by checking my roll-a-board. I carryon both my roll-a-board bag and personal item and put the roll-a-board in the OH bin and my personal item under my seat. Late boarders still have to check their roll-a-board because my roll-a-board is in the OH bin.

Those are your options. Tell me which you prefer, because I'm going with one of those three options. I posted about it upthread prior to this thread being moved from the DL forum to TravelBuzz. I went with Option 3 on my most recent trip out of convenience (I carried on my roll-a-board and my personal item went under the seat) since I had a late arrival in SEA and wanted to save 20-30 minutes by avoiding bag claim. This was my first flight on DL in a long time where I wasn't in the exit row, C+, or FC. Right after boarding in DTW, I immediately regretted that decision and that 5 hour flight to SEA on a lovely DL 737-900 was one of the most miserable experiences I've had on an aircraft since flying knee-to-knee on Blackhawk helos.

Annalisa12

Fully Agree.

LarryJ

That is true for most passengers but not all. Medical assistance devices/supplies are specifically exempted from the carry-on restrictions under the Air Carrier Access Act. That might mean a third bag for a CPAP machine, diabetic supplies/medications, etc. There are often several such passengers on a mainline flight so you can't just assume that every third bag you see is in excess of the allowances. Most are, but not all.

emma69

Not to mention many airlines specifically permit a third bag. For example:

1 x standard article (21.5x9x5.5)
1 x personal article (13x6x17)
"[And] other items you can bring on board in addition to your carry-on allowance"
Small purse (10x12x5.5)
Snacks or food to eat on board
Coat

So someone could, quite legitimately, bring a rollaboard case, a laptop bag, a purse, a coat and a bag of food. It's not so much people gaming the system, as following the letter of the airline's rules.

beachmouse

My flights will often involve Barbie Jets and a spousal unit with a very nice camera kit. No airline wants him to check the camera, even in a Pelican case, because of possible damage concerns (as a good photo gear sherpa, I check the CoC of every airline we're going to fly). To make sure of the cabin bin space on something like an Embraer 135, I first buy up boarding position as much as financially feasible and then will unapologetically Gate Lice the heck out of the boarding area.

Overhead bins will never go away entirely, especially in the age of the lithium battery pack, because the airlines don't want to be responsible for many smallish expensive items and because of fire concerns with many modern computing devices.