Ok here's the deal. Chautauqua and Eagle are both "no carry-on" airlines. Eagle has only been this way for a couple of years now, but Chautauqua and a lot of other regionals have been this way for a lot longer. "No carry-on" airlines have the benefit of lighter passenger weights for w&b purposes. Basically it allows us to carry more pax with less restrictions, because the FAA says that pax without carry-ons weigh less than pax with carry-ons. Eagle was reallly big on enforcing the rule when it went into effect, because the FAA was walking around Dallas making sure the new rule was being enforced. But now most of the flight attendants and agents I've seen have gone back to their old habits. So it is definitely possible to have different experiences. Sometimes it works in your favor, and sometimes you'll get an fa that enforces the rule to the letter, and unfortunately, they are correct in doing so. As far as Chautauqua is concerned, they've had this rule a lot longer, and it sounds like they are more consistent with enforcing it. They are a completely different airline on a different certificate, so yes they can have different FAA regs than Eagle. The regs are all specific to an airline's certificate. That's why some airlines allow handheld GPS to be used on board, and some don't for example.