I agree.

I need every inch of the legroom a seat has. I see no reason why I should not be able to store some personal items in the overhead bins. I can assure you that my checked luggage will take up far more space than a small carry on bag and a jacket.

If the airline, or anybody else, wants me to put my carry on bag or other personal item under the seat in front of me the answer is simple - give me at least 38 inches of seat pitch.

I've recently seen FA's pulling a few personal items from the OH's to make room for full-size carry-ons and when there has been a fuss from the passenger, offering to gate check.

There is no "right" to OH space even if one only has one carry-on and it is of the "personal" size.

Needless to say, this only works when the aircraft is boarded fairly early as it takes time.

But, it's a zero-sum game. Some winners & some losers.

Two winters ago I dealt with a guy who put his laptop in the overhead bin and it wouldn't turn on at the end of the flight. He yelled and videotaped our conversation. AFAIK he was never compensated for the damage since it was his own fault. Just the sweet dessert of seeing people use the OHB for their personal fragile items. He promised he would put the video on YouTube and Facebook but I never found it.

It seems the "please note some items may have shifted in flight" line didn't stick with him

HAHAHA - So true ...

As for the OP's "observation". More often than not my personal item and carry on COMBINED are smaller than most carry ons ...

Well his smoking gun was that a Red Coat offering a $50 voucher for goodwill while explicitly saying they aren't liable for carryons was an admission of guilt and liability. He declined it then came to me at baggage service. He asked me for the voucher and I had to politely decline since he would interpret it as an admission of guilt.

So who's going to say <insert first class or elite> passengers deserve more overhead space because of the extra dollars spent or butt-in-seat?

Or has FT gotten more civilized since the last time this topic came up?

Unrelated to that comment, just because your bag can go under the seat in front of you doesn't mean it should go under the seat in front of you. Everybody is entitled to stow one item in the overhead bin (provided there is space available), even if it's a 'personal item.'

I guess I'm an outlier. When I see an FA asking about moving personal items (which are 90% of the time computer bags) to keep late arrivals from having to gate check a bag, I offer to place them under my seat next to my purse for takeoff and landing (if it will fit / and the owner will take them in the interim). Usually the offer is declined. The worst part is those same people are almost always the first to hop up when the seatbelt sign goes off to grab those same bags and keep them at their seats. I always hope karma bites them at some point when they reeeeeally need bin space.

What about those of us who really need the leg room? I'm 6'4, well into the 99th percentile for height, and most of it is in my legs. And just out of curiosity, when I check my bag so that I can have the space under my seat free and available, why should I feel sorry for "late arrivals" who now have to gate-check their bag if bin space runs out? They'll be going to the same baggage claim I'm going to because I checked my bag so I could have that space under the seat in front of me for comfort.

On a recent flight I didn't check my roll-a-board, so my personal item went under the seat in front of me. I was due to arrive in SEA pretty late and thought I'd save 20 min by not checking my suitcase, which meant my backpack went under the seatspace I usually use to stretch me legs. Mere minutes after sitting down, I wished I had checked my roll-a-board. Due to the very late booking and limited flexibility in my schedule, it was my first time in quite a while on a DL flight where I wasn't in either an exit row, C+, or FC and I honestly hadn't been that miserable and cramped on an aircraft since flying knee to knee on Blackhawks (actually I think the Blackhawk was slightly more comfortable).

Protip: once you're in the air, just move the backpack to the space under your legs, right up against the front of your own seat.

Next time you are in first or walk though there look under the seats. Most of the "elite" don't put anything under their seat. And almost all of them had two items (sometimes three or more LOL!) I have actually had some of them say to me "you don't have to put that under the seat" when I slid my personal item under the seat in front of me. Really? Where is the special "First class DYKWIA" exemption?

This means that when your connection is late and you arrive late to the plane and are seated up front "too bad" your luggage isn't going to fit. And if you expect your fellow elite to help out and take down their personal item... Fantasyland is at Disney not on Delta. (And yes if they have put your luggage in coach, it's rude to force your way back there on landing and then try to shove back to the front because "I AM IN FIRST" LOL!)

On my last flight out of MCO I got to witness "DYKWIA" in action. I was in the first row of Delta Comfort and he was in the last row of First. He's the last person to board the plane (literally the gate agent was right behind him to close the door) He has not two, but THREE items of carry on luggage. FA somehow squeezes 1 and 2 in the overhead bins. Man stands in the aisle loudly saying "AND WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO WITH THIS" while holding a small laptop bag. FA suggests it needs to go under the seat in front of him. "NO, I NEED THE LEG ROOM" (He's not a pro basketball player LOL!) He starts trying to rearrange all the bins so his laptop case (and seriously it was very small) can have a home. Poor FA somehow got him in his seat, but he whined loudly to everyone around him for several minutes about "I thought First Class was guaranteed overhead space". I admit I started giggling when another passenger then LOUDLY said "YOU GOT IT FOR TWO ITEMS SO SHUT UP " Not sure who that was, but it came from someplace else in First Class LOL!

On some level, yes. However, there is not enough room in overhead bins for a legal-sized rollaboard for every coach passenger. Therefore, much as a I dislike it as a fairly tall person (though not 6'4"), I support flight attendants insisting that bags that fit under the seat go under the seat.

Delta's allowed width of a rollaboard is 14". For three passengers per row, that's 42". There are only about 31" per row. There's a bit less overhead bin space than 31" per row because some overhead bins are reserved for crew/safety equipment, and the edges of the bins reduce the practically-usable space. (This is on a 3x3 configuration; MD80s are of course even worse.)

So if everyone takes the "allotted" space in the overhead bin, about 1/3 of the passengers will have to gate check a bag. The only way around this is the new bins that Alaska has on some planes which allow rollaboards to be stowed on their side. If everyone keeps the expansion closed so rollaboards are only the allowed 9" tall, that does mathematically leave enough space for everyone to stow a rollaboard. (Getting people to actually stow their rollaboards on their side is another issue; even getting people to stow their rollaboards wheels out or wheels in is enough of a problem!)

Can't remember the last time I put my laptop bag in the bin (never would when I have a rollaboard also) but I would do the same if space was needed.

At the end fo the day the MD 88's are just crap when it comes to overhead bin space and I am stuck on these more than I care to be.

As far as yesterday goes no one except me had any bag under the seat in Comfort +. Bins were chock full of purses, computer bags, backpacks and coats. It is what it is and just wanted a moment to vent. I feel better now.

I always put my laptop bag, my sole carry on, in the overhead bin. It's never been an issue but after reading this thread I feel like a criminal!

Personally I think if you have one item, putting it in the overhead is not a crime. If your coat is stuffed over it, no biggie there either.

For myself, I always put my laptop bag/backpack under the seat if there's room, but it's because I want easy access to my stuff. The trick of putting it under your knees after takeoff is something I employ often.

The person who has 2-3 items + coat and takes up half or a whole bin with all of them is the one I think is the actual target of this thread. One item up, and if you have more than one, one up, one under (except bulkhead of course).