Originally Posted by
evergrn
I completely understand the reasons why biz travelers wish to bring on max carry-ons, as I observe many of them to do. But so the fact remains that biz travelers are more guilty of clogging up overhead bins (which was one of the points I made a few posts into the start of this thread). A typical biz traveler will travel solo and will almost invariably put a rollerboard up there. I see many of them putting the second personal item up there also. On the other hand, a family of 4 would typically only take up bin space that's equivalent to maybe 2 rollerboards max.
My view is that any item smaller than a rollaboard should go under the seat. Frankly I have seen just as many leisure travelers putting small bags (and duty free bags!) in the overheads that should be under their seats - taking space in the bins away that could be used for rollaboards. It's all a matter of incentives and priority etc. When I'm traveling for work, they'll have to pry my rollaboard out of my cold, dead hand to get it away from me. On low-cost airlines like Ryanair/Easyjet (which I fly several times a year within Europe), I pay extra for priority boarding and the ability to take a roller + personal item. Having airline status is the equivalent of having "paid extra" by having my butt in one of their seats (instead of those of their competitors) for 50,000+ miles a year. The airlines themselves want the business of "road warriors" much more than they do of the family of four going to Disney World once every few years.