Originally Posted by
fumje
Tip: if you know better than the GA that the bins aren't full, take the white tag off in the jetbridge and bring your bag onboard. Best to be discreet about it rather than start an argument with the GA or crew.
Originally Posted by
mduell
Just politely take the bag tag and take your bag onboard.
There's a reason that this is verboten -- it messes with the count of bags, potentially causing them to scramble to look for your 'missing' bag.
I've seen FAs take the tags off and call the gate agent down to un-scan them; I've also seen FAs send passengers back up the jetway to ask the GA to un-scan them directly. Either of those approaches is better.
Note that I recently had two separate UA FAs lie to my face about the bags "really" being full when I asked before I set foot on the airplane, when I found myself in a similar situation. I took pictures of several nearly empty bins and sent them to 1K Voice, but I'm not sure I successfully made my point. I wasn't angry about having to check my bag, which is what 1K Voice apologized for -- I was angry about being
lied to.