Paid being the key word. My point was that if you're on a basic fare, you shouldn't be allowed to gate-check carry-on for free, since you're not allowed a carry-on in the first place.

Yes, but then the status trumps the gate-check requirement anyway. And I don't believe that message is personalised based on your status in the first place. So telling people on Basic fare that they can just gate-check their carry-on "gratis" is not correct.

You're not allowed to have the carryon for free, but if you do have one, you can check it in for free - if the flight is full. Otherwise you would have to pay extra to check it in.

If the system indeed works this way (check in paid, unless the flight is full), then it makes absolutely zero sense. Which doesn't mean that KLM would design it that way

Right, so you mean the situation when someone books Basic fare and then pays for a carry-on as an extra? Okay, that makes sense - to an extent. Forcing people to gate-check their bag when they specifically paid for carry-on doesn't sound like a great idea to me. Well, yet another benefit of the bright Basic fare concept by AFKL...

Unless you are going to go the ULCC way of selling 90 carryons and not a single more, it's going to have to work like this.
The only question remains, why would anyone book a basic fare and then pay for a carryon rather than just paying up to a light fare right away.

Well, that's the way to go, except that legacies should also allow equivalent of a carry-on to be checked in for free. Basically keep the current allowance but make people put their bags into hold. If they need it on board so bad, make them pay for it and cap the number of bags.

Of course they're never going to do it, so the delays and chaos during both boarding and deplaning will continue.

For years I've always taken my carry-on along on trips, even just a short overnight one. As I got down the rabbithole of one-bagging, I try to travel lighter whenever I can.

Still, the carry-on comes along on lots of trips and although I'd love to check it in, the endless waiting times at the baggage belt is what deters me. AMS is particularly bad, with 30-45 minutes becoming the norm rather than the exception. On the majority of very short flights I take, I'd be sitting by the belt longer than actual air time of the flight, which is frustrating to say the least..

Can't blame anyone for not wanting to check bags anymore.

Agree - AMS lately the wait is long. Especially frustating on short EU flights.

I'd happily take 30-45 mins at AMS. My experience, post-covid, has been at about 50-60 minutes to get bags. The KLC flights take lesser to go from BRE-AMS, but it takes them longer to get me my luggage. I used to be able to predictably get my bags in about 30 mins at AMS pre-covid, and used that certainty with an error margin to book separate tickets. These days, I am afraid to book anything less than 4hrs on separate tickets at AMS if I know that I won't be able to interline the bag.

Perhaps slightly OT but the experience of a non-status I have travelled with quite a bit is that they are usually more than happy to check in hand luggage for free, even on lighter flights, as long as it fits the handluggage criteria.

In my last 10 or so arrivals in Ams, intercontinental and Euro, KL/AF and others have been luggage arriving between 10-30 mins. Quite a few times indicated as 30 mins but coming out sooner.

Overall I rarely experience more than 10 mins or so of delay by collecting the bag (incl. at AMS though I only fly there occasionally). Some airports are quite bad with bag delivery, e.g. LHR, but most are fine. For me it's absolutely worth not having to squeeze everything into a tiny bag, not having to buy travel-size toiletries all the time, not having to carry a suitcase around the airport and not having to fight for the overhead space on board. Much more pleasant. And if I see some interesting item on my trip, I can buy it and take it home irrespective of its size or whether it's a liquid.

IME, most people with horror stories about checking bags are the ones that rarely or never do it. In reality it's much more relaxing than carry-ons.