Thank you very much everyone for your advice. It was kind of hellish but I figured there wasn't a whole lot to do about it. These things happen, I suppose.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by sjharte:
...everyone from there believes it is their God given right to bring on baord an enormous carry on (why should they be expected to check in their luggage - they're American!)...</font>
Um, if you don't like traveling within the US, then you can stay home. There are 300 million Americans who won't miss you.