Originally Posted by gooselee

I don't fully agree. I often check my small rollaboard specifically so I can put my backpack in the bin and have more room to stretch my legs. My backpack generally has a laptop and other electronics in it.

It is durable enough that it can be shifted around and bump into things during takeoff and landing with no issues. But I've seen FAs and other pax literally ram bags into bins over and over trying to make them fit, with a degree of force much greater than the shifting and bumping you can expect from flight.

I'm particularly sensitive to this as well as I also had a backpack on vacation once with a couple pretty sturdy (or so I thought) wooden souvenirs in it, wrapped in a fleece, no less. I also had a small tote bag with more breakable stuff (glass and ceramics) at my feet, so I put the backpack in the OH. At the end of boarding, an FA come up from the back with a full-size rollaboard, which he promptly shoved into the bin and did the ramming technique wedging my stuff to the side. I got up and literally had to pry my bag back out - the souvenirs made of 1" thick wood had been cracked/split in half.

So yes, it's fair for FAs to assume stuff in the bins is somewhat durable, but it's also fair for pax to assume their stuff won't be subject to extreme levels of abuse while up there.