You’re allowed to carry bags onto the plane – but only if there’s enough space on board. That’s the main reason it’s better to board planes early, rather than being last onto the plane. Priority boarding is a benefit to ensure you get access to carry on bin space – even though no one wants to spend more time on board the aircraft than they have to.
Overhead bins are stuffed full, and passengers are forced to gate check their carry on bags, even though airlines are installing bigger overhead bins – bins that are supposed to have enough space for everyone. And it didn’t used to be this way!
- 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 the first checked bag. That pushed a lot more bags into the cabin. Southwest Airlines doesn’t have the problem of full overhead bins nearly as frequently than United, Delta and American. Southwest allows each customer to check two bags free of charge.
It took several years of stuff bins before we started seeing bigger bins. The move to charge for checked bags coincided with a challenging financial period for the airlines (and the country and world, the Great Recession). Airlines weren’t going to make capital investments they didn’t have to, either right out of bankruptcy or as they attempted to forestall it.
Airlines want larger bins both because not having to gate check bags is a better customer experience, and also because having to gate check bags slows down the boarding process.
- When customers find out at the last minute that bins are full, they’re often bringing bags off the plane after they’ve been boarded.
- This can mean delaying a flight five or ten minutes. And do that with every flight, you’re looking at delays that stack (and missed connections) and flights that are no longer desirable to customers to book (since they push flights outside of the most desired time windows).
- It makes fleet use less efficient, and the concrete cost there can be thought of as needing more planes to execute the same schedule.
Coming out of the Great Recession, bigger bins still needed to be designed and certified. And the cycle for airlines investing in cabin refurbishment is long. They don’t want to take planes out of service for a partial cabin refresh twice. They also don’t want to certify the new cabin twice.
Basically we got a delayed start to a process that is itself long, with airlines mostly aligning new larger bins with cabin refresh cycles. American Airlines, for instance, didn’t put new bins in their Airbus A319s or A320s since those haven’t yet received new seating configurations either.
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.
Airlines are still on the lookout for flights that will need gate checking even with larger bins. And gate agents often start requiring it when there’s still plenty of space. They may not communicate with the cabin at all during this process. They want to start before they’re told bins are actually full (there will be passengers already on the jet bridge with these bags if they do). And they’re under a lot of pressure to get flights out exactly on time and not a minute late.
- A gate agent doesn’t get rewarded for ensuring passengers can bring their items on the flight.
- But they may get yelled at by a supervisor if too many bags make it on, and gate checking bags delays a flight by a few minutes!
Why do you lie to us that the overhead bins are full when they aren’t? It isn’t very American to do that. Frustrating. Why can’t you just be honest? pic.twitter.com/ykHwHD9W13
— Jon Ferguson (@JonF4Jesus) July 18, 2023
The incentives gate agents face are to require too many bags to be gate checked even when larger bins means there’s enough bin space for everyone.
This is why passengers carry more bags on planes than ever, airlines install bigger bins, and it’s still not enough space to prevent customers from having to gate check their bags.
Looking around the airport, it seems like more and more people are carrying around bags from well known brands (Away), very expensive bags (Rimowa, Louis Vuitton, etc), or some combination of the two. And many passengers want to keep possession of these bags at all time as they don’t want them to be potentially mistreated by baggage handlers. I wonder if this is contributing to the increase in demand for overhead bin space.
When a flight tells me I have to gate check before the first person has boarded and I’m flying First Class, then it’s the airline, not the size of my luggage, not the amount of my luggage, nor the size and amount anyone else is bringing on board.
It’s pure laziness on the part of the airline. AMERICAN AIRLINE.
I’ve flown in many countries on domestic airlines with the same roller bag and backpack, many oddly jumpers. Only ONE airline has ever made me gate check. AMERICAN AIRLINES.
And now I won’t fly AMERICAN AIRLINES.
Also, some airlines installed more seats at the same time they installed bigger overhead bins. Which means more passengers and more carry on bags.
*mainly local puddle jumpers
I would gladly pay $100 for bin space. It’s insane this is not possible. I can’t pay for MCE and have my bag over my head. It’s just insane. My choices are 1) back of the torture tube and guaranteed irrop disaster or 2) pay to ride up front (i rarely find a rational points spend for domestic).
Status has been devalued to having the ability to get your bag over your head.
Pathetic.
Commercial Air Travel has devolved in to personal combat.
Deregulation worked for investors, bridge & tunnel, kettles, bankers, and bloggers, but not for me.
Thank god for international E+ humane survival class.
Another pet peeve is cabin crew closing partially filled bins during boarding to give the impression there is no space left
I bought one of those bag covers which in theory protects your bag when checked. I came back with the cover ripped to shreds, one use only.
you wait eventually we are going to have to weigh bags that get carried on flights like we have to do with european flights .. its coming folks ,. stay tuned… this will elimanate the overload of carry on bags some weighing 40-50 lbs…
I never have a problem finding overhead bin space on Spirit, Frontier, or Allegiant…. they even reserve and police the front bins for the bulkhead customers. And shock of shocks, I see crew on those airlines helping customers with bags too. On Allegiant two weeks ago, one of the flight attendants was asking everyone coming by where they were sitting, instructing where and how to place bags, etc. Flight was full and we pushed 15 early. They boarded that full A320 in about 16 minutes. Even walking outside and up a ramp.
I have a friend, who I worked with two decades ago at an airline that no longer exists, who is at American as a gate agent at a city I frequent. He rarely gate checks customer bags unless they are oversize. Why? He has a clicker and counts the bags going on, coaches passengers again on how to place the bags properly on the A321 or 737, and explains if people follow the steps, he won’t have to check bags. I watched him board a nearly full A321 to LAX and only tagged a couple of bags at the very end. But, he puts some effort into things which I don’t think many do.
Joe D wrote:
“we are going to have to weigh bags that get carried on flights like we have to do with european flights”
Can Joe please say which European carriers are doing this?
@Joe D
Guess you don’t fly LH or Finnair.
It’s GREED! Let us check a bag for free and everyone gets out on time. Idiots… It’s the most obvious solution in the universe. Does it hurt profits more for airlines to get out on time or to give a free checked bag – especially when you end up gate checking all those bags. It’s just an inconvenience for the customer. Stop being pigs!!!
Airlines should flip the script. You pay for carry on bags and check bags for free. Those will elite status get one carry on bag. Everyone else checks or pays.
This will a) speed up boarding and disembarking and will be cost neutral
I first started flying when I joined the Marines in January 1969. (Yes, I’m old, but I didn’t pull mess duty at the last supper!) The overheads were empty except for coats and the ladies would put their hats up there. Certainly, ladies don’t wear hats these days but the carry on has gotten crazy. You have to wonder where it’s all going to stop.
Perhaps if airlines treated their employees, especially gate engines and flight attendants, better, the employees might treat us better. Trickle down pleasantness or unpleasantness. Take your pick
The biggest problem that I’ve observed is that a lot of people are nowhere near the allocated limits, instead having two LARGE bags and often a small one as well. This eats up a disproportionate amount of overhead space. Because the people doing this are often elite members – AA EXP here so no hypocrisy – they are allowed to get away with it even though it hoses everyone else, not that the elites doing this care since they can congratulate themselves on not checking a bag. It’s a nasty situation.
@Roy Fuscone I can, as I just got back from a multi-country Europe tour. Ryan Air, easyJet, and Wizz all do this. Vueling does this sometimes, but aren’t as frequent.
With all of the above carriers, they will sometimes have people spot checking bag dimensions and weight during boarding, and other times where nobody checks anything.
If you do have an oversized bag and they catch it at the gate, the fees are crazy high. Ryan Air is £11 per kilo. (https://www.ryanair.com/us/en/useful-info/help-centre/fees)
Ryan Air boardings are quite the spectacle. People that complain about the boarding process for US carriers should spend some time flying Ryan Air. My favorite part is how they funnel the “priority” lane and regular lane people into the same little room, cramming them in like sardines, then throw the doors open and everyone squeezes through that door and rushes to the plane as fast as they can to get overhead bin space.
The reason that more or larger overhead bins are not solving the airline baggage problem is simple , and timeless. It’s one of Murphy’s Laws… the one that says ” Stuff expands to fill the available space “.
@mets fan has it exactly right. Free checked bags. Pay for carryon. The infrastructure is there for checked bags and the airlines get to incentivize the behavior that gets them on-time departures without pissing off people in the tube. If your cargo is that precious, it either fits under the seat or you pay to put it overhead.
I always see items taking up bin space that shouldn’t be there. Small backpacks, purses, laptop cases, coats, etc. The flight crew may make one or two announcements about what should not be in bins. But they won’t police it, even if you ask them too. I know the crew is busy during boarding. But the alternative of having to gate check is also time consuming too.
I get on as soon as I can because of this situation so I have space over my seat to place my carry-on. I have started using a large backpack instead of a roller bag to save on weight. It has about the same interior space as a carry-on roller bag but is a lot lighter empty and the external size is smaller. The shoulder straps can be unclipped at the bottom and hidden away in a zippered pocket.
American touts their basic econ fare as including a carry-on and then makes group 9 check their bags as punishment for buying the cheaper fare. I’ve seen it done even on half empty flights.
@gary the title should be about AA
These people who think checked bags should be free, perhaps accompanied by charging for carryons don’t think of unintended consequences. Twice as many checked bags means twice as much time to stand in line to check a bag, twice as long to get bags loaded, twice as long to get bags off the plane, twice as long to wait at the carriousel (and twice as many people fighting for space at the carrousel), twice as many bags lost and damaged. I think it’s a terrible idea.
Free checked bags. Pay for carryon. So simple.
It’s far cheaper for an airline to handle more checked bags and load a plane in 20 minutes (and unload it in 20) than thanking the 40 minutes it takes now. A plane costs them $200 million and doesn’t earn a penny when on the ground. Bags fly free is a core reason why Southwest is consistently profitable. And anyone who flies Southwest knows that @DaveS doesn’t have a clue with his made up scare scenario.
Allocate overhead bin space for each seat. Ie your ticket gets you a seat and say 2 feet of bin soace. So if you can’t fit your big or multiple bags into your allocated space – then tough. It goes below and u pay. No “stealing” someone else’s space.
“Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome.”
I travel to Japan and often fly domestic flights often, I have never seen baggage overflowing from the over head bins. More so, the boarding time for the wide body aircraft is 20 miuode aircraft is only 20 minites,
The missing baggage ratio is very minimum.
@Mark says: “Allocate overhead bin space for each seat.” Exactly right. It’s been my air travel wish for years. One numbered bin very close to its companion numbered seat. A bin with a top, bottom, two side walls and a door. It’s your bin. With the bin dimensions prominently published on the airline’s web site. Put into it whatever you want that will fit. Anything else gets checked or goes under the seat in front of you. Learn to travel with a little less stuff.
Think of it. No more boarding zones, priority boarding, early boarding, pylons, gate lice, etc. etc. etc. They’re all needed today only because of the battle for overhead bin space. Instead, when it’s time, it’s just: “OK, everyone, please go ahead and board the plane.”