<p>I have one rule when it comes to luggage and it is as follows:</p>
<p>There are only two types of luggage: 1. carry-on, and 2. lost.</p>
<p>As such, I ALWAYS pack a carryon with a couple changes of clothes and some underwear no matter where I go and carry it on board with me. Gate-checked bags have a lower chance of loss as you’re handing over the bags right next to the plane. And as an elite member of a frequent flyer program, I have a little plastic card that says “Star Alliance Silver” that exempts me from bag fees on United.</p>
<p>If there is only one reason I play the frequent flyer game, this is it. Elite status allows me to board early which gives me first dibs on overhead space. Otherwise, unless your main airport is O’Hare, Dulles, Denver, or San Francisco, fly United and pick window (at those airports I mentioned half the plane is elites and seat assignment doesn’t have much meaning). They board 1st, business (where applicable), elites (including star alliance elites), window, middle, aisle. I have a rollaboard that fits perfectly into the overhead bins on the planes that UAL operates into JFK from the west coast, which by the way I pack to the gills. Sometimes I can get all my clothes for winter break to fit into a rollaboard.</p>
<p>Oh, and always dress nicely. Flight attendants take you more seriously.</p>
<p>^^^futurenystudent…here’s hoping your ‘star alliance silver’ sticker will keep your gate checked bag on the same plane you are flying. </p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about MagnoliaMom’s post (#2). I posited in my OP that maybe the airlines are carrying extra non-luggage cargo for profit, leaving less space in the cargo hold. But maybe it is all about weight. Maybe there was physically enough room for more bags in the cargo hold on my flight but the airlines are no longer willing to fly as heavy as they used to? But rather than tell the passengers, ‘yes, we have room for your bag but we don’t want to take it’, they say ‘the hold is full’. </p>
<p>The system as it exists is broken. I am sticking with my revised (with thanks to dmd77), but sure to be unpopular, solutions: charge for the use of the overhead bin for anything but a coat, hat, or similar small light item and charge a lot. (Even charge the star alliance members ). Anything else goes under your seat or is checked luggage. Or simply prohibit the use of the overhead bins for anything but what I just said. What a dream. It would probably take an act of Congress. Yes, I know the horrors of lost luggage but there is not enough room for EVERYONE to have luggage in the overhead bins. We don’t have a right to carry-on luggage (as evidenced by my last flight). The days of the savvy traveler slipping in and out of airports with their carry-on luggage are long gone.</p>
<p>On the positive side though - last year our family of 4 was flying to Florida over spring break (I actually think we had used frequent flyer miles for these tickets, but no matter). The plane was overbooked, it was late, it was going nowhere, and it was the airline’s fault for overbooking. They offered $100 for people to take a later flight. (HA. Like I was born yesterday.) No one bit. The atmosphere at the gate was really nasty. I walked up and said that I had four passengers and we would take a later flight but it needed to be worth our while. They said $200 a person. I said no thanks, but we’re sitting over here if you need us. They kept calling for people and no one budged. I went up there again and they said “We’ll give you $300.” I said, “$400 and you’ve got a deal.”</p>
<p>So, for waiting just a few hours, our family got $400 in vouchers per person. The even nicer part is that these are essentially like gift cards - so it’s really like receiving a $1600 gift card for American Airlines. We are gearing up to college visits right now, and just booked not one, but two trips for all of us completely for free!</p>
<p>Checking bags is for amateurs. I never, ever do it. For our college visits, we’ll pack H / me in one carry-on and my twins in one carry-on. Easy. No one’s going to see us from day to day, so no reason we can’t rewear clothing.</p>
<p>Hasn’t failed yet. I’ve never had to gate-check a bag on any plane bigger than a 50 person puddle jumper. And even on the puddle jumpers, my bag is in the hold by the time the second half of the plane starts boarding (it may be a puddle jumper but they still call elite boarding first). One of the advantages of boarding early. When I’m boarding, it’s right after business class (before anyone else in economy) and the overhead space in economy is wide open.</p>
<p>Greta, on the subject of carryon luggage, why shouldn’t airlines be able to reward their most loyal customers who pay extra to fly with them by giving them first dibs on overhead space? It’s a perk, pure and simple. And in this economy, airlines should be giving more of those to their frequent flyers.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, I know my original post was long but if you read the fourth paragraph you would see that carrying on your bag no longer means it will necessarily arrive at your destination with you.</p>
<p>^It does if you board early enough. And yes, it does give my bags priority. A silver tier frequent flyer vs. a customer who hasn’t even joined one: who do you think the airline is going to favor? I’ll give you a hint, it ain’t the latter. And I enjoy certain perks other than priority boarding that the nonfrequent flyers don’t. I.e. on all airlines that have reciprocal agreements with my FFP I get priority checkin (not that I use it because I do it all online).</p>
<p>As for charging upper tier frequent flyer members (anything but the base tier) for overhead bin use, not going to happen. They waive it as a perk. You think the airlines would turn their backs on their most loyal customers? Ok they did but they do so at the peril of going out of business. What will happen is they’ll charge the non-upper tier members and nonmembers and waive it for the frequent flyers. They certainly won’t charge everyone. Actually Greta, that’s a GREAT idea! Now I get MORE overhead bin space.</p>
<p>Either fly Southwest or jetBlue (assuming they go where you need to go), or if you fly on even a semiregular basis, look into joining a frequent flyer program and fly them consistently.</p>
<p>futurenystudent: The airlines can reward their loyal customers all they want. It certainly works for you, the loyal customer. But the loyal customers and savvy business travelers used to be the last ones on the plane, slipping in at the very end. Now you loyal customers have the privilege of sitting on the plane longer than anyone (so you can be sure and snag an overhead bin, even if the overhead bin is several rows away because that group even more loyal than you who boarded ahead of you grabbed your bin.) Yep, the system is broken.</p>
<p>As far as loyalty points go, I would rather have frequent flyer miles I could actually use. But, I forgot, that system is broken too.</p>
<p>FutureNYUstudent, I totally hear your point, and I am one of those million-mile travelers my favorite airlines love, and I totally board early and pull rank, LOL. But I’ve had to gate-check if for some reason I’m one of the later ones arriving. It happens. Frequent flyers like myself often go standby on earlier flights, and I’d still rather fly on an earlier flight and get my luggage at the other end than take a later flight. I have never had what happened to Greta happen to me – gate-check and then the bags on a later flight!</p>
<p>Greta, every time I flew my bags flew right over my head. I don’t know what you’re talking about. And everyone who’s more loyal than me upgrades to business. I also tend to avoid bulkhead rows like the plague (also less leg/foot room). The overhead space there tends to be at the highest premium. There and exit rows. There’s no storage under the seat in front of you (there ARE no seats in front of you) and the crew sometimes puts safety demo equipment there.</p>
<p>It might be worth checking out which airports the airline operates their premium configuration planes out of. Lower density=more overhead space per person. The flights that I take on a regular basis out of JFK hold 110 people max. The same plane in a normal configuration out of Newark would hold 185.</p>
<p>You’re darn right I do, for all the miles I fly! And if someone has blocked the bin ahead of me, I most certainly will take another bin. It’s first-come-first-served, IMO. And part of being a sophisticated traveler is getting on a flight early. If I’m flying an airline where I’m not a frequent flyer and I board at the end … well, then that’s my problem if I then have to be gate-checked.</p>
<p>My husband is a frequent flyer…I get the perks thing, lol. But you have convinced me. Charging more for using the overhead bins won’t work.The only solution is to prohibit their use for luggage storage. I’m proposing taking away something that didn’t really even exist as an option until fairly recently. When did they start allowing using overhead bins for luggage storage? It wasn’t that long ago. I am old enough to remember plenty of years of flying when the bins were only used for coats and the occasional bag of souvenirs from Disneyland ;)</p>
<p>Then I guess I’m an amateur. I will check my bag when going on a business trip. I wouldn’t be able to put a week’s worth of clothing in a carryon bag. </p>
<p>One thing that bugs me is the woman who thinks the 2 bag limit doesnt apply to her.
You know the one…has the oversized carryon bag, the large roller-computer bag AND the suitcase-sized purse…and no one ever stops her.</p>
<p>Another is the guy who puts his computer bag in the overhead when it fits just fine under the seat in front of them.</p>
<p>I just don’t care to fly anymore. With the baggage issues, delays, cancellations and such, I’d prefer to drive or stay home.</p>
<p>Airlines have allowed people to put luggage in the overhead for at least the last 30 years (the length of my memory). My family was way, way ahead of our time on this. We had rollaboards back when rollaboards still signaled your status as a “stewardess.” Nobody but us wheeled luggage on board back then because they didn’t try…not because there were rules against it.</p>
<p>The problem isn’t bags in the overhead. It’s inconsiderate, clueless people putting bags in the overhead. It shouldn’t take more than five seconds of blocking the aisle to get your bag up and in. If the aisle seat is empty, you can step into the row before you lift, which means you should block the aisle for zero seconds. If you can’t physically handle the bag in that period of time, then you need to check it. Most of the people I see blocking the aisle aren’t tiny people struggling to lift the bag; they’re dithering about which bag to put where, what they’ll need during the flight, etc. Drives me bananas. And then they put the bag sideways, taking up space for three bags! Yes, I will remove and correct your bag if the flight attendant doesn’t get to it first.</p>
<p>“Attendants announced, “please hold coats to make room in the overheads” and yet bin after bin was filled with coats.”</p>
<p>The solution to this is to step into the row (so that you don’t block the aisle), take the coat down, slide your bag in wheels first, and then squeeze the coat in around the bags. No one has ever said word one to me when I do this, but I welcome them to try and wish them good luck. They are the ones violating airline policy, not me.</p>
<p>Oh yes they do!! DD left here last Christmas with her laptop bag, her instrument case ($15,000 worth of instruments) AND a SMALL purse. We begged her to put her needed purse items in her jacket pocket and pack the purse. She did NOT listen. Well…hard knock way to learn…as she was boarding the plane, they TOLD her she would have to check something. The purse wasn’t a choice (so overloaded it wouldn’t have zipped shut anyway)…and the instruments were mighty costly to check. She gate checked her computer bag. She was so angry…and we just said “told you so”. </p>
<p>I will say, both of my kids travel with expensive musical instruments when they fly. BOTH have very expensive cases that are designed to fit into the overhead bins of even those small commuter planes. These are their second bag. They both carry a SMALL carry on with their clothes or whatever in it. If the airline doesn’t charge for checking the bags, they check the suitcase. My kids would get OFF of a plane before checking their instruments.</p>
<p>I try to carry everything in carry-on. Why? Because a long time ago I flew cross-country for a job interview and my checked bag (my only bag) was um, misrouted. And no I didn’t travel in my interview suit that day.</p>
<p>Lost luggage isn’t the worst indignity regular flyers endure. But I understand why a passenger would want important belongings close by. The system is broken, but charging $10/bag for carry-on items just means offended passengers will simply be more indignant. “No I won’t move my coat. I paid $10 to have it on the plane with me, and for that price it stays where it is (or the airline will be hearing from my lawyer).”</p>
<p>Greta, that overhead space has been for luggage for the last 40 years. It’s not a recent offering!</p>
<p>For women who travel with a briefcase and rollerboard. I suggest using either a wristlet or one of those flat bags that crisscrosses the body and just pare down to your license, 1-2 credit cards, and money. You can shove those into a briefcase if needed. </p>
<p>And Hanna is right - the problem is the infrequent flyers who don’t know how to board a plane without blocking traffic. Frequent travelers know how to stash bags and sit down.</p>
<p>What happened to airlines making sure that luggage matched the people flying on the plane? Maybe I am out of touch, but for security purposes I would like to believe that each person’s luggage is on the same plane they are flying–checked or overhead (of course I now know that this must not be happening). This is a frightening thought w/regards to what OP mentioned: attendants retrieving bags that won’t fit and putting them on another flight whenever. Thanks airlines for making me feel safe in the skies…this does not reinforce my feeling of safety. No, it is not a pleasure to fly anymore!</p>
<p>the matched luggage is bull*****-- one time I checked luggage and had a connecting flight-- which then got cancelled. I got put on the next flight, but my friends who I was traveling with got booked on a flight that stopped in miami (we were flying to the caribbean). I of course got on that flight to be with them. When we got to miami we had a lot of time until the next flight, so we tried to get on an earlier flight-- which they wouldn’t let us because we had checked bags and the luggage had to be sure to be on the same plane as us. We disembark at our destination, and lo and behold our luggage made it on the first flight, hours and hours before we managed to get there.</p>
<p>I agree that there are 2 kinds of bags - carry-on and lost. I too had my bag lost when I was going on an interview the next day. They found it and got it to me at 6 AM, just in time to get dressed. It was a sleepless night though. Now I can pack a week long business trip in my roll aboard and computer case, along with what I am wearing. I only check a bag when we are going on a vacation and then we still have a couple of days of clothes and anything important in the carry-on. . We now fly Southwest whenever possible because they are so much more reasonable in their pricing. .</p>
<p>I went to Japan for ten days in January with just the rollaboard. I’m pushing the packing-light envelope now: on my last long weekend, I just brought a shoulder tote type bag plus a purse. The secret is only bringing one pair of shoes, which you carry on your feet. Black boots work for just about every occasion in the fall and winter.</p>
). Anything else goes under your seat or is checked luggage. Or simply prohibit the use of the overhead bins for anything but what I just said. What a dream. It would probably take an act of Congress. Yes, I know the horrors of lost luggage but there is not enough room for EVERYONE to have luggage in the overhead bins. We don’t have a right to carry-on luggage (as evidenced by my last flight). The days of the savvy traveler slipping in and out of airports with their carry-on luggage are long gone.</p>