There's an inefficiency there, though. More bags in the overheads might leave them room in the cargo hold for paid shipments.

And allowing only passengers in premium classes to carry on a roller bag for free doesn't work very well when you fly out of a non-hub airport and your first leg is on an ERJ with puny overheads that won't fit even a modest roller bag. Last year I nearly had to gate-check mine at MCI (I'd wanted to take carry-on only since the headlines about lost luggage were pretty extensive last summer) and they wouldn't just gate-check it to ORD- it would have been to London, where I was overnighting before continuing on to Tirana.

I think the people that run the airlines probably did the arithmetic first.

This. I don't fly WN often, but when I do, there's no problem with overhead bin space. It's an airline created problem.

They should just enforce the size rules properly before they let you through security.

Insomnia thought: what if there were no overhead bins?

Then again, on my flight from Beijing to Pyongyang years ago, I seem to recall a lot of our luggage being thrown in the aft section of the fuselage. There were no seats back there ... just valises and backpacks randomly amassed.

Make the size universal and then ensure that it is one carry on and a one personal item like a laptop case. To me the main issue is that different airlines have different sizing.

Yes there’s a solution. Fly less. Else just use carryon and luggage as needed. Those in groups 4+ will be better off gate checking. Are any of us here in group 3++?

I take an "international size" rollaboard (noticeably smaller than the 22" height permitted in the US) and a medium size backpack and do carry on only for almost any trip, paying any fees required because I don't want to 1) allow the airline to lose or delay necessary items or 2) wait 40 - 50 minutes at baggage claim. Yes, I've been flying less lately also, so I am occasionally in 4+ and recently was demanded to gate check the rollaboard even though I had purchased the premium economy (or whatever, i don't keep them all straight any more) with alleged "guaranteed overhead space for your seat."

I'm investigating the "ship ahead" possibilities for when I must travel with spouse who always checks a big suitcase for even a 3 day weekend trip.

IMO the solution is based on the newest bins that allow bags to be placed on their side -- my understanding is that results in enough space for every seat. Put hard dividers in (forcing people to put the bags in the right way and effectively rejecting oversized bags) and label them (so it's easy to find where yours goes, and where it doesn't). If people have articles that take up more space (guitars etc), those might need pre-arranged payment for multiple overhead spaces, combined with credits/selling tickets that give up their space).

And yes, separate from that, education on how to board/deplane efficiently would be great -- if you're in the aisle, you can open the bin and pull out or be ready to pull your bag out. If you're farther in, it's courteous and efficient to wave a few people by, then as a gap forms in a few seconds, get your bag out and join the convoy. That's what we always did when we had young kids, carseats, etc, making it much less stressful for both us and those behind us.

Different airlines, different sizes and sometimes the underseat space doesn't work right anyway. My laptop pack always fits fine under the seat (although it doesn't look like it would--it's too big, but the extra is air and squeezes out fine), the FA told me I would have to put it in the overhead, I ended up concluding she was right--had the seat supports been aligned with the seats it would have gone under like normal, but the way they were actually arranged meant that there was no way you were getting 3 normal underseat bags in the row.

Amen!!!!!

The "short" dimension is ~ 14 inches. 3 bags = 42 inches space required above each row in a typical 3 x 3 layout in economy. No-one has 42 inch pitch in economy so there will never be enough room for everyone to have a regular carry on bag in the overhead .

Please delete.

I would have extra luggage racks take up parts of the galley and exit spaces around economy compartments. On long flights, the reduced storage could be partly offset by provisioning meal pouches before takeoff, perhaps using holding slots integrated into each seat.

Actually the short dimension with the newest bins I'm talking about is 8-10" depending on airline -- https://www.businessinsider.com/unit...screens-2021-6. For United at least (22x14x9in), that calculates out to 9*3 = 27", so even with the loss of space between bins (and maybe my dividers that would force using the bins correctly), that allows 6 bags over 2 rows with ~30" pitch. There are other factors, like crew bags and safety equipment that take up some bin space, but that might be covered by the extra linear space in some classes/exit rows, or by continuing to have some ticket classes that don't allow a carryon (which is how Jetblue "guarantees" bin space I believe)

Just like an assigned seat, knowing that I have a dedicated space for my bag would eliminate virtually all boarding anxiety. The last time we had to gate-check bags, we were just a few people past the cutoff point, and all 3 of our carryons got soaking wet during the connection in JFK. The outside wasn't noticeable but luckily I realized right when we got home and opened/unpacked everything to dry out, so nothing was ruined, but if we had left it a day or two it might have been a moldy mess.