SPN Lifer

If one's personal item contains anything fragile, there is reason to be wary about placing it in the overhead bin.

I have observed tremendous physical force applied by some passengers trying get another bag into that bin.

Even if watching one's personal item closely, at times this boisterous physical shove is done at the very last minute (bag already partially resting in the bin), with no opportunity to try to prevent it.

jsloan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

This board works on a voluntary basis; individuals contributing their time and effort to try to help fellow travelers. This thread has been fantastic, because now I know which travelers are willing to uphold the social contract on a plane and which are not, and I can adjust the effort I use to help accordingly.

To reiterate, if there’s still empty space after boarding is complete, by all means, put your small bag in the overhead if you want. But if you do it during boarding — if there’s even one person who has to check a bag because of your decision, you’ve stolen 15-30+ minutes of their time as surely as if you’d tied them up and locked them in a closet.

As for suggestions to use a larger bag when a smaller bag will suffice — the day will eventually come when you’re the one who has to check the extra bag.

KabAir

Can’t tell if this is tongue in cheek or not, but this post had me literally lol. Thanks for making my morning

LarryJ

There are no rules about putting smaller bags in the overhead.

Keep an eye on the bins as they fill up and look for small spaces that are too small for a regular size rollaboard but can accommodate your smaller bag. It's a real life game of Tetris.

dmurphynj

If you have 2 items (1 person + 1 carryon), one of those belongs under the seat. Full stop. If it doesn't fit, it should be checked at the gate. (Exception of course for bulkhead seats.)

If you have 1 item, I'm all for it going under the seat in most cases. Obviously exceptions to every rule, but if there's a bag that can fit in either place, I'd rather see it under the seat, and save space above for bags that can't fit under the seat. As the saying goes, "it takes a village" -- so I do the small things I can do to make the flying experience better for all of us.

All that said - I'm of the camp that prefers my electronics and such be located under the seat. Learned that a long time ago when my iPad was smashed by someone shoving a bag into the overhead bin.

I've gotten myself into a pretty good routine - I use an Away rollaboard + an eBags backpack. They make for a great combo; that eBags backpack especially is -- by far -- the best laptop bag I've ever owned. Tons of storage space, lots of pockets, and fits underseat just perfectly. Strong recommendation.

Kacee

There are no rules against many different forms of rude and selfish behavior.

For example, I'm aware of no rule disallowing a passenger from pushing past people who were seated in rows ahead to get off the aircraft faster but I would hope everyone would agree that's inappropriate.

KabAir

I seriously don't get how it's against some "social contract" or how it's rude to put your only carry-on, which is smaller than everyone else's, in the overhead bin. In fact, why is it my problem that someone is not willing to pay to check their bag and has to bring the entirety of their luggage on board? Why should I suffer because they are a cheapskate? Let me be clear here. EVERYONE that checks a bag is paying to check a bag. Some people pay by way of spending a lot of money on United every year and getting status. Some people pay by getting a co-branded credit card that has an annual fee. And some people pay at the check-in counter. But we all pay to check our bag in one way or another.

So if I'm the person who spends $10,000 a year flying United, or if I'm the person who paid $35 to check my bag at the counter, why does the person who decided to slow the boarding process and bring the entirety of their household possessions on board in some massive "carry-on bag" get priority? Why are they not the jerk who is violating the social contract? In fact, they ought to be grateful that if there is not bin space for them (meaning that they were probably in a late boarding group, meaning they probably booked a cheap ticket on Priceline and United is losing money on them), United will gate check their bag for free and they can still skip out on paying for luggage like the rest of us do.

I can't imagine any other business working this way. "Sorry Mr. Smith, we appreciate the $200,000 you spend every year at our hotels, but we need you to move your little sports car from the shared parking spaces and park it up against the side of the building so that the family who booked a $99 room on Priceline can get their minivan in".

mtofell

6'4" and appreciate every bit of leg/foot room but really don't have a problem shifting my backpack around at my feet. I go between keeping it under the seat in front with my knees bent, feet on the floor and putting it under my extended legs with feet under the seat. I'll usually switch ever hour or so just to be in a different position. It's really not any different than I'd do without the bag there.

From what the FAs (usually) say during their briefing, smaller bags are supposed to stay out of the bins. Seems pretty straightforward to me. Aside from that I really don't want to be separated from my personal bag that has my laptop, wallet and other important items. I actually hate bulkhead seats for this exact reason.

Repooc17

This.

Also for me, I am pro-windows seats, so leaving small bags and my laptop in the overhead bin would be inconvenient to retrieve during the flight.

GBadger

Agreed with all of this as well (and also 6'4"). At the same time, it seems silly to base this all on bag size. You'll just get people putting their laptops into larger bags to avoid confrontation about overhead space, which seems counterproductive. In my experience, smaller laptop bags will almost always fit *somewhere* in the overhead bin, even after everyone has put their larger items up. I can see both sides of this argument, but generally lean towards everyone having the ability to at least put one item up (even though I personally always leave my smaller item by my size 14 feet, so that I can access it right at 2 dings).

prestonh

The economics of the argument are interesting. UA selling cheaper fares (often at a discount earlier and keeping the cash internally) enables them to generate demand for higher booking classes to sell at higher prices. If they did not do this, competitors certainly would and they would be out the cash to operate from the forward bookings (and have to wait for the business traveler cash which tend to book much closer to the travel date). I suspect if it were not for discount fares there would be a much narrower route footprint and smaller airline. Perhaps that solves the problem. Although you may not get to where you are going.

ualboston1k

Just stumbled across this thread and I'm honestly baffled at some of the responses.

Perhaps my perspective is different because I'm a 6'2", broad-shouldered (think football-player build), middle aged man. I'm a 1K and MM. Yet I don't really "fit" well, even in Economy +. (You know you're a big guy when you look forward to flying A320s vs 737's because the seats in coach are 1" wider. )

On long transcons I often choose to check my carry-on sized luggage. So that I only have my backpack briefcase with me. So that I can put it in the overhead bin and not have it take up space under the seat in front of me. I am actually using "less" overhead bin space by doing this than if I decided to NOT check my bag and carry on both. My backpack is considerably smaller than my roll-aboard.

I can see one's argument if I had both a checked back and my briefcase in the overhead bin. But if I'm consciously opting to check a bag so that I can put my backpack above to save me hours of agony, then that should be a no-brainer. I'm entitled to 1-spot in the bin. And I"m taking it.

I've tried the "move the bag under my legs" thing. It helps a bit, but there is a constant "shuffle" to get comfortable.

claire16

How about when you're flying with two smaller items? I frequently do single day trips with a small backpack and large purse only. A couple weeks back on LGA-ORD I ran into some particularly aggressive FAs policing the bins for small items. I had placed my backpack in the bin since I already had another item at my feet. One of the FAs pulled my backpack out and was insisting that it be taken down. My protests were ignored and she simply handed it to me and walked away... So I sat there with it in my lap until another FA told me it had to go up. Magically now there was room. No, both items would not fit under the seat concurrently. I get that this route is populated by 80% elites with rollaboards, and I get that no one likes gate checking, but the whole thing felt completely ridiculous.

LarryJ

Watch the overhead bins as passengers continue to board. Invariably, small spaces will be left over that won't fit a full-size rollaboard. When you see one, stow your small bag there. It's like playing Tetris.

Peter Snijder

Really? He "can't"? Sounds like an entitlement issue. How big does he think the bag is? If he wants to stretch out, simply put the bag behind the legs (in the space between his legs and the front of his seat).