Originally Posted by
jcdill
I know this varies from airline to airline, and from flight crew to flight crew, but in general - if I have 1 overhead-size carryon, one backpack, and one purse - will I be allowed to board the plane or will they consider the backpack an additional "carryon" and refuse to let me bring it with me?
jc
You may or may not be allowed. Rules are rules. Sometimes they're enforced and sometimes they're not. For most US carriers, the carryon limit is one carryon bag and one personal item. A purse, a backpack, or a laptop case each counts as a personal item. So what you're basically asking is if you can break the rules. Depends on who's standing at the gate that day.
Have you tried putting the laptop into your regular carryon with just a padded sleeve? This could eliminate the need for what you're referring to as the purse in the scenario above.