Originally Posted by
flyer215
Because FC isn't the problem, as the bin space / passenger is MUCH higher.
In Y, the pitch is lower and you have 3 seats (in a 757 / 737, say), in FC you've got only 2 seats at greater pitch.
Elite pax riding in Y could be a different story.
I usually travel with a small roll-aboard (fits in sizer) and a small backpack (no laptop, it's a small book-bag size backpack).
On moderately-full to full flights, I try to board near the front because I prefer bulkhead F. Front bins are often occupied by emergency equipment and/or crew bags, and I rarely am on a flight where the F bins aren't full - and sometimes spill over into the Y bins.
And yes, look at the upgrade lists and the 'Y' pax boarding in the first boarding group. Some of the worst offenders in 'Y' are elites who didn't get the upgrade. They're not hauling those bags on (nor are the folks in F) because they don't want to pay baggage fees.
I can't believe anyone who thinks it's a mess now thinks it won't be a bigger mess (for quite some time) if the airlines abruptly start enforcing the bag rules. It only takes one or two DYKWIA pax to give GAs a serious headache, and there will be more than one or two. Plus, if the airlines don't all make the shift at the same time, you're really going to confuse the infrequent fliers.
And please. Don't even think of suggesting that this should be enforced at the security checkpoints.
Those people already can't do their jobs.
At the very least, I think if there's going to be a 'crackdown', it should be preceded by a few months of 'citing' bag violators - let bags through that are a near miss on the sizer, but give them a warning tag - at some stated time in the future, the bag will no longer be allowed as carry-on and will be gate-checked at a charge. This approach might ease such a transition.
I have seen GAs (not UA) occasionally pro-actively roam the gate area looking for oversize bags to be checked ahead of the boarding scramble. That provided an opportunity for education, seemed to defuse pax anger, and didn't cause boarding delays.