Thank you for the welcome.
I'm not really worried about being stopped. Flew about 90 - 150k a year for the last 5 or 6 years with a bag not much smaller and never had a problem.

If they do stop me, I'll have to manage but it's worth trying. It holds enough for an entire trip and it saves me 45 min to an hour at baggage claim - lots of bags on the 772's and sometimes TSA inspection as well - and I'm often on a tight schedule.
If, however, it is too big for the overhead bin, it's not worth keeping.

I'm flying out on Thursday but don't know whether to try bringing it...
Thanks again - great forum.