#128 Carry-On Luggage Placement

I have been doing a fair amount of travelling lately. Primarily I fly coach, but I have also had the pleasure of flying first class as well. Regardless of where I'm seated, I feel that it is only courteous to abide by the unspoken rules of air travel with respect to carry-on luggage: only place your item(s) above or very near to your seat.

Including users' opinions, this article points out that everyone is entitled to any overhead bin located within their respective class. While I am willing to agree that this might be the case, I do not think it is fair or courteous by any means.

My particular gripe regarding this issue describes people who are seated near the rear of the plane, who feel that inserting their luggage near the front of the plane will help them get off the plane more quickly. I'm not talking about people who board the plane at the very last second, and place their luggage in the only space left - which happens to be near the front of the plane. I'm talking about people who voluntarily board the plane in random order, and obviously and deliberately place their luggage much farther forward on the plane than where they are to be seated.

I do not feel this behavior leads to any increased efficiencies whatsoever. In fact, quite the contrary.

Many bags look the same these days. Foolishly, luggage manufacturers continue to produce pieces of luggage which are black and/or grey, with zippers in the same locations, with rollers and a telescoping handle. My issue is not so much over the design of current luggage, but rather their individuality, namely their color (or lack of color variety). It is now more complicated to select your bag from "your" overhead bin since now you have several options.

Some people are a bit vertically challenged, and have a hard enough time putting up and pulling down their own luggage, but now they have to contend with people who have a sense of entitlement regarding their luggage placement when it comes to the simplicity of the boarding and deplaning the aircraft.

Often times, these people who are placing their luggage forward in the cabin are concerned that they are not going to be able to fit their luggage near their seat because perhaps their luggage might be a bit oversized. Here's a tip: most flight attendants are more than pleased to gate-check your bag for you, especially on a full or very-full flight. If you're near the rear of the plane, the luggage handlers will likely retrieve your bag and have it at the gate for you by the time you actually reach the front of the plane!

Some people are worried that if they gate-check their bag, it might get lost. Quite the opposite is true, actually! There's a better chance for your bag to get lost if you fully check your bag (at the ticketing counter prior to the security checkpoint) as opposed to checking it in the gate. Never gate-checked a bag? Here's what happens: a luggage handler, from outside the aircraft, climbs up the stairs outside the skyway, retrieves your bag, and safely places it under the plane. When you land, the same thing happens in reverse order. It's not going anywhere! Seriously!

Everybody on the same plane has probably paid more money than they wished in order to take the flight that they're on, and since everyone is already on edge with security issues and personal space, people should just suck it up and be courteous to others, no matter what that might require. If that means bringing a smaller bag and less stuff, so be it.