On tuesday, I flew back home on Continental Express and had to check one bag (too big for carry-on) while my fiancee and I carried two more bags. When we got to the plane, they had to gate check those two bags because they were too big to actually fit the overhead compartments of the small planes we we were on. Then, when you get off the plane, you have to wait for your gate checked bag to be retrieved, then make the walk to get you regular checked bag. What gets me is that it seems they put these bags in the same compartment as the actual checked bags. So I just want to know why we have to pay $20 to check a bag, but then they gate check a bag for free and put them in the same place? And with the self check-in that they do now where there is at best two employees helping out, but it seems like there is only one from what I could see of other airline check-ins, why do they need so much extra money? Didn't they save it by laying off other people? Ok...maybe I'm just ranting here, but it still irked me that my free carry-on was stored in the same place that I had to pay to put a checked bag.

Because people would be gate checking very large bags! Then flights would be going out late and employees could get hurt more often.

Your comment about them being put in the same place is what got my attention - is there a compartment under the aircraft that you'd be happy to have them travel in for free, compared with the luxury the $20 bags are traveling in? Held by ropes under the fuselage perhaps?

Also, if we want to get really nitpicky about it, the gate checked bags are stored in their own cargo net so as to be easily separated from the traditionally checked luggage. :-:

The difference is the size, that's all. Any bag that's too big to be carried on must be checked...hence the fee.

Don't worry, there will be a time (very soon) when you will be charged for your carry-on bags, whether or not they are gate checked...

Haha...thanks. That's what I was really afraid of. I was more just venting I think. I still don't like paying to check the first bag. I understand airlines aren't as profitable as they once were, and I see why they want to charge for it. The result is that as they charge that fee, there has been a major increase in the amount of carry-ons...at least from what I am observing. I don't remember that many carry-ons when I was younger, or even when I flew in 2005 or 2006. But I know my couple of flights this year it seemed everyone had a carry-on.

There are already a couple of LCC in Europe that charge for carry-ons...the day is coming soon when this will start in the U.S.. I predict the first to institute this will be US Airways, and then all the other legacies will quickly fall in line.

It is also interesting to note that the federal government is considering taxing all these new fees as they do the actual tickets themselves, under the principle that these fees are just a technique to displace fare increases, which, of course, they are.

A feel a sizing box should be at the bottom of every jet way along with a agent. Every roller board should be checked for size and width and if it doesn't fit you must pay to check it or you can't board. This will stop people from over packing and thinking ahead of time that if they have to sit on there bag to close it, you have to pay for it or remove some stuff.

I can't wait till the FAA finally passes some type of actual law or set in stone regulation when it comes to carry on bags. One day the bins are just going to collapse.

Easy solution -- get the Chase CO Mastercard -- 1st checked bag is always free if you charge said flight on the card!^ If you travel a lot -- the saved fees will cover the annual fee of the card -- plus you earn more RDMs!

Your comments are off-topic. The thread is titled Continental Express Gate Check. If a carry on bag comes anywhere close to touching the sides of a standard sizing box, it will NOT fit on a COex overhead bin. That is the reason for the gate check for COex. If you have a general concern over carry on for the larger planes, start a new thread.

The solution will be even simpler: They will start charging for carry ons.

As for the sizing box, I agree with you except that one sizing box will not be useful since there is such a wild range of sizes of overhead compartments.

An overhead compartment on an ERJ-145 or CRJ-200 is so tiny, it barely can hold a backpack. On a big mainline jet such as a 777, virtually any checked bag could fit.

Last spring, I flew AF JFK-CDG and my 22" rollaboard was selected for inspection in the sizing box. To my considerable dismay, it didn't fit. So I just took out a leather jacket and some socks and put them in my pockets (I'm allowed to wear my jacket on the plane obviously). Then the bag barely fit in the box.

We were flying a 777 and when I got to my seat, I put my jacket and socks back in the bag and the overhead bin was so huge, that my rollaboard was engulfed in it and I couldn't even see it without standing on my tippy toes...

Continental Express pretty much only allows for a back pack or small duffle to fit...because these can go under the seat. Their overhead compartment will not hold even the smallest size hard rolling suitcase. The bag in question here is plenty small enough to be a carry-on...it's just not small enough to be taken on COex. On any COex flight, you can guarantee finding about 20 people or so standing around waiting for their gate checked luggage.

Any regional jet on any airline...it's not a CoEx issue...it's just a function of the fuselage size on these planes.

A couple of days ago I did a day trip from NYC to DTW.

In the morning I flew DL JFK-DTW on a CRJ-50, then my return was a charming late night DTW-IAD-JFK on UA

The final leg was on a Mesa CRJ-200 whose interior would have appeared tattered on Aeroflot in the final days of the Soviet Union. We arrived in driving rain and high winds (amazingly, though, we were early) and when we disembarked, the fa announced that, because of the weather, all gate checked bags would have to be picked up at baggage claim.

I was certainly glad my back pack did not have to be gate checked...

If you are talking about XJT's ERJs....then no....no seperate "cargo net". They are just loaded last to be closest to the bin door and have the blue tags...hence why sometimes one person is left waiting for their gate check when all others have gotten theirs. Happens with turbulence etc and the bags get jumbled around in the cargo bin.

First, there's the bags that would need to be checked on any flight. Either because of their size or the total number of carry ones if yook all your bags on-board. These are subject to the bag fees (not that I'm agreeing with bag fees). The size, weight and number of your bags is under your control.

Then there are the bags that need to be checked for this flight for whatever operational need. IE: a Regional Jet with small overheads or a main-line jet whose bins have already been filled (I'm not getting into the topic of bin-hogs here). The lack of bin space for your (otherwise bin-friendly) bag is out of your control. The airline will check these bags for free.

Steve