I also usually travel with checked bags, but take a backpack on board. These days regardless sitting in CE or ET, I try to board as soon as possible to ensure there is still space left on the overhead bin near where I sit..I get annoyed that the cabin crew often targeted my little backpack and often attempt to squeeze my backpack to somewhere else..

However, I noticed very often when the CE is short, there may not be much overhead bin space available to start with anyway....because some have already been occupied by the cabin crew themselves…but often end up desperate shuffling bags around to find more space for the late boarded CE passengers and sometimes have to remove their own luggages from the overhead at the end