Originally Posted by bgiery

I flew United 2/9/18 from IAD to STL on an RJ-145 and was blindsided at the gate when they announced I was only allowed 1 personal item on board. First of all, they didn't mention anything about this at check in when clearly I was carrying two small bags. I am a long-time Premier Gold frequent flyer so I was shocked and surprised. They were not going to let ANYONE have two bags on board the plan. When I asked the gate agent about this, he said it's a "new rule" that went into effect two weeks ago for 50-seater aircraft for weight and balance issues. He also said that some were not strictly enforcing it, which makes it worse since you won't know until you arrive at the gate. What kind of rule is that? I found it hilarious that the line waiting for gate-checked bags when we landed was 4 times as long as it usually is because although everyone only had one bag in the cabin, all those bags were still on the plane; they were just underneath in cargo. Doesn't make sense. I specifically carry a laptop bag which fits into the overhead of every plane without fail and a tote with the rest of my travel stuff in it and I was made to check my laptop bag. I asked some other fellow road warriors and they've never heard of this rule either (and they've all traveled on small planes the last two weeks), so they were doubting this was a thing. Has anyone been caught unawares at the gate recently with this "one bag, period" rule on smaller aircraft? Was United just flexing their muscles?