Originally Posted by
Chicken or Beef
Just reading your responses I'm wondering would you feel the same if you were that last minute passenger? Would you be ok with me checking yours bags?
We try to encourage small bags to be place under the seats so we can place larger bags in the OHB, that way we can get as many bags as possible in the cabin.
Whenever people travel with bags too large to fit under the seat, they are taking the risk that they will not find space in a bin - especially if they are boarding at the last moment. And when people show up with bags that don't
really fit into the bin, or with more than one bag too large to fit under the seat, I really have no sympathy at all.
An advantage of carrying a backpack is that it can fit under a seat if necessary - it doesn't have to be gate-checked if there's simply no overhead room. But that doesn't mean that I want to lose my legroom when someone else shows up with luggage that can easily be gate-checked. I've got arthritis in my ankles and feet, and that little bit of extra space is a lifesaver.
The checked bag fees encourage people to drag everything on-board that they can. I don't see anything bad with gate-checking, since people probably don't need most of the items in that rollaboard between now and arrival. That said, I'm not particularly interested in getting a fistfight with an angry passenger over this.