Airlines should charge for guaranteed overhead bin space. Most tickets come with a ‘license to hunt’ for space, rather than overhead bin space proper. And customers who believe they are entitled to bring a carry-on bag on board get stuck gate checking their bag and wasting time at baggage claim at the end of their flight.
This is one of the most common complaints I see on social media with photos, behind only damaged bags. American thinks adding 5 minutes to boarding time is going to fix this, when United and Delta have already increased boarding time and have just as much of a challenge.
Airlines monetize everything else, and bin space is a scarce resource (like extra legroom seats), so in a way I’m surprised airlines don’t monetize guaranteed bin space access. I would pay for this, because it means I could board last rather than first and either get to the airport later or spend more time working in the lounge.
Guaranteed bin space would be an amazing top tier elite status benefit, too, and something airlines could use to entice managed business travel (since their customers likely prioritize carry-on versus checked bags the most).
@AmericanAir As a professional wrestler, when I travel, I have about $5000 worth of custom made gear. There is a reason I don't check bags, it's irreplaceable. Your staff made me check bag bc there was "No room"…. pic.twitter.com/Kd9bJGq8nP
— Greg Anthony (@GoldenBoyGreg) March 2, 2025
Some airlines charge for use of the bin already via basic economy – the idea is if you don’t spend more to avoid basic economy fares you can’t bring on the bags that require use of bins. Yet United Airlines still regularly lacks sufficient bin space for everyone else. Banning customers from bringing on bags isn’t the same as guaranteeing space for everyone else. Real value is in the certainty of bin space access and that’s something that could be charged.
Of course that would require something like Delta’s test years ago with boarding passenger carry-on bags in bins themselves (but you don’t want to do this before boarding starts, or it undermines the whole point of showing up to the gate later) or assigning a new task to flight attendants and actually ensuring uniform execution. So this is hard! But it’s revenue clearly being left on the table.
If all bin space was charged, there’d be no shortage. People would board faster. That would be a big savings for airlines, who would operate on-time, more efficiently and at lower cost (now that several pay flight attendants for boarding time). They might even make first checked bag free.
There are a lot of ways that airlines could monetize passenger travel, improve their economics, if they weren’t so status quo-focused. Better paid food in first class seems like an obvious play. Selling premium wine is harder to make the case for but I’d love to avoid the swill that airlines serve domestically, and that American Airlines serves internationally.
Airlines might enlarge lavatories and pay for it with credit card ads on the walls and lobbying to permit onboard gambling would generate $1 billion in revenue annually for a large airline.
At the very least, these ideas should be pursued. There’s only so much margin that can be squeezed out of testing routes like Austin – Harlingen. And Elliott Management has the plot all wrong, merely trying to turn Southwest into JetBlue or American. Go big and get creative!
Gary,
I know fully believe you are using your blog to take shots at American. 5/10 out of the last 10 articles are negative against American in the title. And this article makes 6/10.
I notice how you didnt mention anything about the United flight that diverted becausw 8 people were injured on board. How are Kirby’s dollars treating you? Sellout.
This is not specific to American *at all* it is a problem with United and Delta as well, as I write about regularly. “How are Kirby’s dollars treating you?” that is hilarious.
Airlines see you having to gate-check your bag as a you problem. Not a them problem. Airlines that aren’t already set up to charge for overhead bin access are not readily able to start charging for overhead bin access. The startup costs are pretty substantial.
The problem is largely, although not entirely, remedied by larger overhead bins.
I want to make sure I understand the essence of what you just advocated for when you wrote this article, Gary:
Airlines: “Pay us an outrageous fee to check your bag!”
Passenger: “No thank you; I’ll just pack my belongings into a bag that clearly and easily fits into an overhead bin.”
Airlines: “Ok then, pay us a fee to have access to that overhead bin. We know the bag will fit, and we have room to accommodate, but we’re going to charge you the privilege of loading your own bag on and off our plane.”
Did I miss anything?
I thought the same thing. I would be willing to pay extra for a better meal in first class!!! By the way, can’t they offer something different other than always salmon or shrimp for an appetizer??? I don’t like either. I’m also so sick of short ribs!!!
The german airline Condor offers it as an ad-on with your seat reservation.
I can’t even imagine how you would operationalize guaranteed bag space. There are always people who will put their bags up there if they didn’t pay. And the flight attendants can’t watch/check that everyone who is putting a bag up there paid for the privilege.
While I despise the idea of another fee, it seems to make sense. Like paying a parking fee for easy access to a venue. However, it should be a no fuss and the execution might be a lot more complicated than the concept. We all can dream.
If I’ve got my camera bag there is no way on earth that is going in the hold. I had a colleague have a 600mm F4 destroyed when they insisted that was where it was going.
You don’t need to give these money grubbing airlines more ideas for how to nickel-and-dime us more than they already do.
Could always embrace the revolutionary notion of not normalizing trashing the heck out of bags when they’re checked. Why not that?
Just what we need: more fees. Hard pass.
Nothing like coming up with new ideas on how to have us pay, Gary. Thanks for the idea, now will you cover my expenses too? Anyway, just send people down to the hold in Ballast Class, or like the old Mad magazine cartoon have them lie down by alternate rows sealed in the wing like a sardine can. I’m sure the airlines could get money from such creative packing solutions too.
The idea of allowing people to reserve bin space we be a total cluster fu&k and only make boarding of flights even more chaotic and low rent. Want to make sure you have space. Spend money to get a higher boarding group. Or get a co-branded credit card.
You could charge a carry-on fee, charge for a meal, charge for water or a seat cushion. If you do then drop the price to $49 for a one way tickets like the European airlines do(Condor).
I wounder if you can refuse to board and get a full refund if they can not guarantee your stuff stays with you like the 9,990 in cash I often fly with?
JetBlue did this by guaranteeing overhead-bin space for (at least some) Blue fares. Then I flew JFK-SJU and they made me put my bag under the seat in front of me because it didn’t have wheels. I pressed and got a $25 credit.
Back when JetBlue’s Blue Basic fares didn’t include a full-size carry-on, I wished the JetBlue Plus card had provided the option of either a free checked bag or a full-size carry-on for Blue Basic fares. That’s now moot, but if airlines start charging for guaranteed bin space, that would be a great card benefit.
Seth
Steve,
Spot on. It is either April Fool’s day (always thought it was April 1st)…. or the most moronic article I have ever had the displeasure of reading. Not sure whether to laugh or cry.
Gary, I think you are wrong about charging for overhead space speeding up boarding, I think it would slow down boarding. If I had a guaranteed space for my overhead bag above my assigned seat, I would board dead last and be fighting you to do so. That being said, the airlines should charge for overhead space and everything else. With the advent of the apps and the cabins now being cashless, the airlines should be pitching and selling to the passengers non stop, buy on board food, order your drinks from the app, everything from water to top shelf booze, with the app pitching upsells at every step. The seat back entertainment systems should charge by the minute just to be turned on and then more money based on what you want to watch.
Wow! I can not believe that I’m hearing this. In fact, I can’t remember ever in my 45 years hearing anyone ask to be charged more for anything. At least none other than the few who claim to want their taxes increased each voing cycle (virtue signaling, of course. It isn’t like they can’t send checks to the IRS as they so please. And that’s provided these people even actually exist [I have my doubts]).
What ever happened to the days when we could operate efficiently as a functional society? In soon time, airlines are going to run out of things to nickel & dime passengers over. Then they’ll start charging a deposit to breathe in-flight and there will be a change jar outside the lavatories that require a minimum deposit just to unlock and access the thing. And then after those charges, there will be a charge t I use water in the lavatory sink, a charge for using handsoap, need TP? That’s gonna cost you.
I seriously hope that, as a society, we can manage to operate well enough without having to ask to be charged even more exorbitant fees.
The entire boarding process is backwards and broken at all airlines. When airlines started bag fees, they should have charged for bringing bags on board and levied a nominal charge (or free) for checking them. Instead, we have the current mess. Exception if you paid for or earned a premium experience. Also if you’ve earned or paid for a premium experience, you should be able to board last/at your convenience and without hassles. It should be stress and time saving versus the current mess – having to queue up at the begining, jockey for position and deal with the gate lice. Exactly backwards from how it should be.
Nothing is free on an airline. The overhead space for your carry-on is paid for by being built into the price of your ticket. Unbundling it by charging a separate fee while not decreasing the price of your ticket is a money grab. If the price of your ticket decreased and the carry-on in the overhead was a separate charge, you would see fewer carry-ons and more space for those with them. I flew Blue Basic a number of times under the old rules and paid for a checked bag and an assigned seat each way. It was still cheaper than paying for the next higher priced ticket and I could carry more stuff.
I would be willing to pay an overweight fee if I were heavy, lavatory fee, overhead bin fee, napkin fee, but it should be disclosed ahead of time.
Gary, this is not new—many airlines like United’s Basic Economy, Spirit, Allegiant already charge to bring on a carry-on (and include a personal item), so what your advocating for really is the rest of the airlines to do the same. So, it’s not new, and honestly, it’s not ‘great’ but when airlines do this, usually there is less worry about overcrowded bin space.
That said, I’m with @drrichard—I personally do not want to pay more fees, so I’m fine getting ‘creative’ with the space as needed.
@BuiltInYorkshire — That’s horrible. If I had a 600mm lens (some cost more than ten thousand dollars!), and an airline forced me check the case, I’d rather hold the lens itself in my hands for the entire flight. Not worth the risk.
@derek — Bah! I like it. All good as long as the terms are transparent, and they set clear expectations. Though, would the lavatory fee be per use, or just like general access—oof, my prostate, may need to either dehydrate ahead of time for the longer flights to save a buck.
I’ve commented several times on your blog about this. Airlines should partition the overhead bins with small dividers, so each section is just large enough to only fit a properly sized carryon bag upright. Label each bin section, then just like you are assigned a seat, you’re assigned a bin number. You can pay extra for one on basic economy if available, or pay for an additional bin on other tickets. This would solve the problem of gate checking when bins are empty, allow you to board later if desired, and airlines would better monetize the cabin.
Yes the dividers would mean there is slightly less overall space, but after people realize their oversized carryon won’t fit anymore, the issue will correct itself, and the end result will be a more organized and efficient boarding and deplaning process.
Steve and Mantis nailed this.
Of course SWA did too.
@Mantis, a lot of people don’t actually use the overhead space, so allocating a specific bin to them that will be left empty wastes a lot of space and accommodates considerably fewer people overall.
I would require 50,000 loyalty points to use the bin space. At 200,000 you get 2 bags in the bin and 500,000 an entire bin.
“And customers who believe they are entitled to bring a carry-on bag on board get stuck gate checking their bag and wasting time at baggage claim at the end of their flight.”
Have the airlines ever considered… claim at gate for all gate-checked items?
The only way this works is if they allow free checked bags, or at least make the checked bag significantly cheaper than the carry-on bag. Otherwise it would be a nightmare to operationalize and would lead to arguments and more boarding delays.
An option to pay for a more premium meal sounds good in practice and I am sure it would start off nice, but you know that they will then start to look for ways to cut costs. So the death spiral will begin and before you know it you are back to slop
At the rate he’s going Gary will be suggesting an emergency fee to have the oxygen masks drop down during an emergency