Originally Posted by ExplorerWannabe

@pindi, you really need to stop the self-flagellation. While the FA in question was rude and out of line, the other passenger ended up having to check his bag. You filed your complaint with United so they know the FA was unprofessional. Time to get on with your life.

WRT the ongoing discussion about overhead versus underseat storage, I think we all agree that the people who board loaded for bear and then proceed to use up all the overhead space without putting anything at their feet are out of line. Where I think we differ is in whether we have a "right" to a certain amount of overhead space versus whether we have a "duty" to use the underseat storage for what we can before loading things into the overhead. Proponents of the former position feel that as long as they are using less than "their share" of the overhead, they are entitled to have footroom and heck with everyone else. Proponents of the latter position feel that everyone should try to use the underseat storage as much as they can before taking up "community" space in the overhead.

People in the former position seem to feel like someone is getting one over on them if they don't make use of "their" space in the overhead bins while people in the latter position seem to feel like people who don't even try to use their underseat storage for personal items are being selfish. I'm in the middle. I recognize the former position but I try to abide by the latter. The OP physically could NOT put the laptop under the seat in front so it's perfectly understandable that it went in the overhead. The late passenger couldn't fit his rollaboard ... that's tough, but all of us should know by now that gate checking is always a potential risk of getting to the gate late. At the same time, the GAs and FAs are people too ... most of them are just trying to accommodate as many people as possible and run a conflict-free operation. Some small minority may be on a power trip but most of them really aren't. Is it too much to ask to treat each other as humans without all the drama?