If you aren’t at the boarding gate when your flight is called, you probably aren’t going to get overhead bin space. If the flight is full, and you aren’t among the first half of passengers on the plane, your carry-on bag is likely going to be taken away from you and gate checked.
Much of the time when you get onto the plane, though, you still see overhead bins with plenty of space. You were lied to! The bins weren’t full after all. So what gives?
@AmericanAir thanks for making me gate check my bag! Definitely couldn’t have fit here! pic.twitter.com/KjgA0WCbgb
— Shears (@jshears_) April 5, 2026
Forced to check carry on with HALF of the overhead spaces EMPTY!!
by
u/missbissel in
unitedairlines
This is a common problem for passengers on Delta, American Airlines and United. It didn’t used to happen nearly as often with Southwest Airlines, because they allowed everyone to check two bags free. Now that’s changed, and Southwest is a gate check demanding dumpster fire, too. And they don’t even have bigger overhead bins on much of their fleet the way airlines like American do.
Why is @AmericanAir making people check their carry ons when the overhead bins are 50% empty?!?! pic.twitter.com/xkndqzVTG8
— Joshua Glazer (@JoshuaGlazer) April 3, 2026
But what about customers being forced to gate check bags when there’s still plenty of space left in the bins? Nothing makes customers mad like being lied to and forced to gate check bags when it isn’t necessary. I see this on twitter as one of the two most common airline complaints (after nicked luggage) that’s accompanied by photos.
- Agents do this because they don’t want to gate check bags at the last minute when it might delay the flight by a minute or two
- They are afraid of getting yelled at for this by their managers.
- So they start requiring passengers to gate check bags before the bins are actually full. If they waited until bins were full, it would be too late – passengers would already be on the jetbridge and maybe in the aisles of the aircraft looking for bin space.
There’s little incentive to make sure customers can get on with their bags. There’s every incentive to avoid low ratings for delayed flights a gate agent is working.
Twenty five years ago U.S. airline passengers could generally bring two full sized carry on bags onto planes, and there wasn’t an issue with too-full overhead space. That’s because planes weren’t as full, and airlines didn’t charge for most checked bags, so passengers didn’t use all the space they were allotted.
Restrictions on carry on bags began with federalized security checkpoints following 9/11. The government didn’t want as many carry-ons having to be screened, so we got carry on limits as a way to speed up lines.
The rush to carry bags onto planes by more passengers didn’t begin in earnest until 2008 when airlines began charging for bags. That pushed a lot more bags into the cabin.
Unfortunately larger bins aren’t a panacea. Even where bins are in theory large enough to accommodate a full sized carry on bag per passenger,
- That requires turning carry on bags on their side, and too many passengers don’t do this (more generally, efficient use of the space isn’t done perfectly every flight)
- Customers put up more than one item, either their personal item doesn’t go under the seat or in winter people bring jackets etc.
Unfortunately there’s no end in sight for this. The problem is actually getting worse.
Here's some more of these. I got bored of taking these but you get the point.
You wasted my time, and several other people's. Please fix this so in the future I can get home to my family quicker.
Maybe you can ask @bscholl for advice on creating great travel experiences. pic.twitter.com/mATGZiOR9P
— Jason Crawford (@jasoncrawford) April 3, 2026
When it’s been demanding of me, I’ve weaseled out of it, just boarding with my carry-on anyway on United and recently negotiating a bag tag with American with the promise to use it quickly if my stroller wouldn’t fit under my seat (it did – the flight attendant in the galley was incredulous that it wouldn’t).
Hard to believe that the airlines haven’t found a better solution given how
Much this issue infuriates fliers.
Why not put one FA in charge of monitoring the bins? Instead of GAs just cutting off carryons blindly, the FA could alert the desk when bins reached 80% full (or whatever number makes the most sense). This approach doesn’t seem overly complicated.
I just take off the tag that the gate agent put on my bag and proceed to my seat. If the bins are full, I put the tag back on and return it to the jetbridge.
Just flip the calculation – Allow a free checked bag but charge for carry-on. Most carry-on would then disappear. Those that require it would have space. Flights board faster, gate agents don’t get yelled at. A win for most.
Re Ron says: Ron that is a great idea! I wonder which airline might be the first to try it. Checked or non-checked, weight is weight!
Aww. This rotating post is like Gary’s comfort blankie. Bah!
On the issue of a personal item also being placed in an overhead bin, the seat legs on the row in front of you often limit the amount of available space. If my backpack does fit, it goes up…no choice in the matter.
The culture of lying is the standard for the airline industry. One of it’s pillars. It has became the go to explanation for cabin baggage having to be checked. I have been fortunate to fly airlines that haven’t resorted to forcing passengers to check their cabin baggage. JetBlue has never done that to me. Neither have any of the number of Asian airlines flying across the Pacific that I have flown. If the spacing is going to be tight, most will send a gate agent out to find volunteers to check their carry-on roller bags. I have done that before when asked.
Working the gates is horrendous now. It used to be fun. We are given the carryon bag limit for each aircraft. Once that number is reached, we are required to check all remaining bags. In the “old” days, there was another agent who could run down and check with the FA about bin space. Now you’re on your own. You can’t walk away in the middle of boarding to check. AND if you ignore the number given and there are bags to tag it’s on you for a delay. You are written up for a performance failure. But carriers will never remove the fee for bags………..they make TOO much money from it.
I hate someone in front of me dragging their spinner. no luggage should be allowed in the cabin.
Charge to take bags on board and provide free checked bags(or reduced cost).
On board bags are terrible for everyone and a safety risk.
@ David P
“Why not put one FA in charge of monitoring the bins? Instead of GAs just cutting off carryons blindly, the FA could alert the desk when bins reached 80% full (or whatever number makes the most sense). This approach doesn’t seem overly complicated.”
That IS what they do – Gate Agents don’t blindly cut it off. They know a particular plane can handle 50 bags, or 75 bags, or 90 bags, or whatever, and count as they go past. Also, the FA’s DO monitor the bins, and alert the Gare Agents as they fill up so the agents can cut off sending any more bags down.
The problem is the unpredictable passengers. Despite repeated announcements of “only put your larger carry-on bags in the overhead bins, and place your smaller ones under the seat in front of you” passengers continue to put smaller backpacks, purses, bags, coats, etc in the overhead. So the bins can fill up faster than predicted. Plus – when the FAs report “only room for 10 more bags” – there’s really no way to know if you have 2, or 5, or 8 of those already in the jetway (past the Gate Agent, but not accounted for by the FAs).
90% of the time – it actually works, the bins are used without wasted space / without pulling bags back out to check, but you don’t notice. The times it DOESN’T work gets all the attention, making it seem like this is always a problem. It’s far less a problem now (except for Southwest).
Good lord.
Is this your go-to now?
How many times are you going to talk about this?
Really… HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS?
It’s all about on time departure. Passenger’s carry ons slow the boarding down and cause many delays. Any time a delay occurs, each minute of that delay has to be coded with a cause. If the FA’s don’t advise Gate Agent that bins are 70% full within a certain time frame,
the delay code goes on the FA’s. If ramp doesn’t get bags loaded and cargo door closed 8 min prior to departure the delay goes on Ramp. Gate agents start checking all remaining bags as soon as FA’s advise bins are 70% full. Pilots, Gate Agents, Ramp, Bagroom, FA’s, Maintenance and Op’s are held accountable for delays. FA’s are more likely to advise gate agents that 70% of bin space is full when in fact it’s only 50% full to avoid getting a delay coded against them. Any bag delay then shifts to Gate Agents. It’s at this point gate agents get aggressive checking passengers bags.
The alternative is bin space runs out and the flight is delayed as people try to swim upstream and subsequently bags have to be tagged and handed to rampers. There’s no winning solution here.
Why not check your bags. We always do-even if its just a carry-on. We don’t have to schlep our bags thru the terminal and our bags are at the carousel by the time we get there. Much easier.
The fundamental problem is that the USA airlines are not enforcing the carryon limits. They let people stager on with two, or even three bags, none of which fit in the little box or under the seat. And apparently some airlines are even doing away with the little box. Meanwhile, asian airlines are limiting carry-ons by weight, not size. Usually 7 kg, 15 pounds. An empty roll-on bag weighs about ten pounds, Asian passengers respect this limit. But they let westerners stagger in with their oversize/overweight bags anyway. They’re used to westerners being rude. Even so, asian airlines can board a 737 in ten minutes, a 787 in fifteen, and a 777 in twenty minutes. It’s incredible to experience!
Carry on bags slow down the boarding process. It is not always about space. It’s about time.
I can only speak for SWA, but gate agents are not making estimates or judgment calls when it comes to (or not to) gate check bags. There is a system that they use that tells them if bags need to be checked and exactly how many. It uses an algorithm to determine this, and gate agents are trained to follow this. In other words, don’t get mad at the gate agent when asked to gate check the bag, as they are not making the call. Your issue is with the company and the system they are utilizing.
Just have a lithium battery in your carry on.
Few days ago I was boarding AA 912 SCL-MIA and gate agent said I can not have two carryon’s. I said I do not have two. She pointed to the little bag (which fits under a seat). I said that is not a carryon, that is a personal item. She said it is not a personal item, it is a carryon. I pointed to my 22 inch and I said that is a carryon and this little one is a personal item. She said a personal item is a laptop bag or purse not that. She brought over the head of security and the guy sided with the gate agent. He said it is AA worldwide policy for one carryon and one personal item. I said I know, I am an Exec Plat with AA and I fly all over the world with this carryon and this personal item that fits under the seat. They said no you have to check one bag. And the overhead bins were mostly empty. Later on I remember I have a piece of plastic advertising material that came with the personal item that was inside my bag that says this is a certified underseat personal item. Wish I had remembered but I was so taken aback that they both stood their ground. When I sat down in my seat I watched others coming down the aisle and their personal items were much bigger than my personal item. Plus some had a third item with them.
@Carlos — That sounds like a Santiago de Chile airport (Arturo Merino Benítez International) and perhaps language-barrier issue, not necessarily AA or a rule issue, specifically. Maybe they just didn’t like you, in-particular. Not great, either way.