Why Is There Never Room for My Carry-On?! It’s Complicated

Why are the overhead bins always so full? Is it because planes are packing on more passengers than ever before? Because it costs extra to check one in before you board? That’s certainly part of the answer. But there are a few more not-so-obvious reasons why there’s no room for your wheelie bag in the cabin.

Nearly everyone who flies regularly on North American airlines will eventually face the unfortunate situation of having to involuntarily gate-check a carry-on bag. Announcements informing passengers waiting to board that the overhead bins are already full have become commonplace in the years since the airlines began charging steep fees for the privilege of placing bags in the baggage hold, but this isn’t the only reason scarce space in the overhead bin has become such valuable real estate.

The Space Race

In the first quarter of 2019, U.S. carriers collected a whopping $1.3 billion in baggage fees which is nothing to sneeze at. But, baggage fees aren’t the only byproduct of limited bin space.

It also makes priority boarding more valuable. The sooner you get on the plane, the more likely that you’ll be able to keep the goodies in your checked bag with you on the plane. That also makes you more likely to pay extra for priority boarding, fly an airline often for more loyalty points or sign up for a co-branded credit card with early boarding as one of its perks.

 

Related: Fly With Just a Carry On? These Are the Bags to Use

 

The Chicken and the Egg

But, there are drawbacks to the race for bin space. There’s the added stress that, on one Southwest flight, resulted in a fistfight. And, while limited overhead bin space may look like it’s all due to an elaborate airline plot to collect more ancillary fees, the problem of cramped in-cabin space has a lot to do with passengers’ changing travel habits. Planes were not designed for everyone to carry-on their bags.

People started carrying on more in the early 2000s… when airlines started charging more for checked luggage… because of rising fuel prices. Then, to compensate for passengers bringing more luggage on board, overhead bins got bigger. But, there are limits to the available space on an airplane, and passenger demand for space has outstripped supply, especially as larger numbers of passengers are flying than ever before on planes that are, sometimes, smaller than ever before: these days, airlines fly more single-aisle airplanes with less overhead space (fewer aisle over which to put overhead bins) whereas, once upon a time, long-haul flights were almost much more likely to take place on twin-aisle planes.

 

More Solutions, More Problems (Fewer Taxes)

Why don’t airlines make you check every bag? Well, Basic Economy fares that limit you to a personal item come close. But airlines can’t easily abandon overhead bins because business travelers demand them. Because their travel is lucrative for airlines and demands tight turnarounds, airlines have to give those customers the ability to fly with just one bag.

The solution? Space in overhead bins to keep business commuters happy. Then a little more space because when bins are small, passengers take longer to deplane which can cause significant delays.

The problem: bigger overhead bins, especially the higher-capacity pivot bins, are heavier which drives up fuel costs (and baggage revenue down). Plus, flight attendants don’t like them. The Association of Flight Attendants, the country’s biggest cabin crew union, has pushed airlines to cut down on the number and size of carry-ons passengers can bring on the plane “to reduce risks of injury and conflict aboard the aircraft.”

The solution: reduce baggage fees to encourage more people to check their bags. Except, even though the cost of oil has gone down since baggage fees shot up, airlines are unlikely to give them up. That’s not only because they bring in billions in fees and those billions don’t come with federal taxes the way that fare increases do.

The conclusion: it’s hard to keep everyone happy.

 

A Possible Change of Course

If you’re familiar with Southwest you may have noted that it was kind of ironic that a fight over overhead bin space happened on the one airline that doesn’t charge for checked bags. Southwest has remained an outlier in the baggage fee hike race and, it’s worth noting, their abstinence hasn’t hurt their bottom line. In fact, they’re the only major U.S. airline that has managed to avoid bankruptcy and they remain one of the most profitable US carriers.

But while other airlines don’t appear ready to relinquish baggage fees anytime soon, there are efforts to make overhead bins more user-friendly. The 2019 Aviation Interiors Show in Hamburg featured bins with color-coded lights: red for full, yellow for nearly full, and green for nearly empty.

Diehl Aviation (which designs cabin interiors for Boeing and Airbus) has a prototype for a bookable overhead bin. Passengers will book their space just like they book their seats and be guaranteed room for their roller bag no matter when they board.

However, both options present more costs, potentially more weight, less satisfaction for business passengers, and fewer perks for those who retain airline status (at least in part) for the ability to board first.