On our way back from Hawaii in April our flight was late so we were running to the ATL connection. The gate agent refused to allow us to bring on our carry ons (within size) because her computer said there wasn't room even when I argued that we were comfort with dedicated overhead space. I opened up my suitcase and took out everything with value and carried it in my arms and argued with them that it was happening. my kid unfortunately didn't take anything out of his carryon and had cash and an iPod stolen, the kid didn't think to put cash in pocket before handing bag over. We will not gate check carryons anymore in comfort because of course once we boarded there was plenty of room as we had insisted. It was a lesson learned, especially for my kid.