reft

No mission creep.

I think those scanners have to be able to scan other items going into the sterile side not intended to make it on an airplane. In addition, what can fit on a widebody might not fit on an Regional Jet. Let the airline check in desk deal with this with sizers. They know their aircraft and your flight, and have the incentive to deal with it.

I can't see them implementing this without charging for it as a new fee for personal items in the cabin, new exemptions and FT'ers coming up with new ways to work around it.

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Put a couple of overhead bins in the airport near check in. If you can't get it in the bin here, you won't be able to get it into the bin on the aircraft. It would take a couple of bins per type of aircraft flown, but it may be more realistic than the sizer. And if they are mounted the normal distance off the floor, some pax may decide it's easier to check it then loft it 5 feet in the air.

I've had luggage comes off 30 seconds after I hit the claim at one airport, 5 minutes after deplaning. I'm aware they can't always do this, but if I don't have to wait for my luggage, the only reasons to carry it on are to use it (laptop, etc) or to protect it from damage and/or loss and/or misrouting. These are within the ability of the airlines/airport to prevent. There's the traveler who needs to hit the ground running, and doesn't have the luxury to spend the time sorting out problems. If there are no problems, they the reasons not to check go way down.

When crew can check their bags, and count on it being available in a timely manner, including removal for reroutes, then they'll be some customer confidence level that what goes into the baggage maw, comes out. (and I have no expectations about this happening.)

So there are things the airlines can improve to reduce demand for overhead bin space, for a price.