Originally Posted by
cosmo74
Except I've seen on numerous occasions people who gate-check and board first then place their smaller bags or coats up in the lockers, they seem to think that as they are boarding an empty plane they can take up as much space as they want - and the cabin crew never do anything about it
True, but the smaller bags and coats tend to get squished around other things as the boarding progresses, and I've often seen FAs juggling locker contents or even removing items they can attribute to people foolish enough to claim knowledge of them. There's still plenty of space available for the status passengers, and to be perfectly honest even in group 5 on United I've always managed to find space in an overhead. I think the irritation that people might be gaming the system to save on checked bag costs is more psychological than anything.
Mind you, my cool, detached attitude changes when I'm actually at a gate, and I'll gladly gate lice myself onboard with the best of them. I remember being very irritated when in CW from Chennai that the priority pre-boarding was essentially
everyone in Y who all had at least one small child or an elderly auntie. Rationally that made no difference to me at all, they weren't taking my overhead space, they weren't even in the same part of the cabin as me, and it only took 15 minutes maximum. But at 6am or whatever ungodly time the flight was at, I was puffing up to a minor DYKWIA and may even have uttered the words "why do we pay extra for priority boarding, harrumph" as I passed the GA.
But we digress - first flight under the new system is on Friday, all being well, and will see how it works first hand.