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Comment by jbandela1 | Hacker News Reader

I actually wish the airlines did the reverse: allow 2 free checked bags but charge for carryons that don’t fit under your seat.

It is the carryons that make boarding stressful, where everyone worries that if they are not at the front of the line the bins will be full by the time they board. Also, they slow boarding as people stand in the aisles looking for an empty overhead bin or else trying to play Tetris to fit their luggage into an almost full bin.

From reading the article, it seems that may get the same tax benefits as the checked baggage fees.

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In my experience the newest aircraft are solving the overhead bin space question with larger bins that are nearly 1:1 in terms of passengers vs number of standard carry-ons that they can fit in the bins.

https://www.boeing.com/commercial/737max/space-bins

Pretty sure Airbus has some similar thing.

Not saying I expect the anxiety to fully disappear/that there will never be a forced gate checking of a bag again in the future, but I do think this will become much less of a problem than it's been in the past 5-10 years.

Airlines want to optimize for all space being used on the plane, not boarding speed. Free checked bags would mean many empty overhead bins, which is wasted space. When the overhead bins are full, it leaves more space in the cargo area that they can sell to other companies who want to use it.

Not strictly true - airlines also optimise on turnaround time. There's likely a sweet spot of bins packed vs landing-to-takeoff time.

It's a pretty polarizing subject. I am in the "just check all my crap and be done with it" camp, but many people you'll have to pry their roller bag carry ons from their cold dead hands.

I will go to great lengths to keep control of my luggage in my own hands. Haven't checked luggage in many years.

You've never had the airline lose your checked luggage, huh?

Yeah, I am with you on this one. And even with that worst case scenario dodged, checked luggage experience just sucks.

After landing, instead of just up and leaving the airport, you gotta go to your baggage claim and wait for your flight to get processed. Sometimes it easily adds over an extra hour to the experience (and even the best case scenarios still take me about 30-40 mins extra at least, and that’s domestic flights).

I have a backpack that fits in the overhead. I don't pack more than will fit in there. My personal item is usually my work laptop, not letting that go. I see no reason to check anything.

If you have expensive electronics or a controlled substance prescription, you're a fool to let them pry your bag from your hands. United recently forceably checked my carryon bag (because I hadn't paid extra to be in a lower boarding group) on a long international flight (multiple connections) where I would be without my belonging for 40 hours. Pretty rough when you will start going through withdrawals after 8 hours. It was like the end of the scene from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles where the car rental lady (after receiving abuse from Steve Martin's character, which didn't happen in this case) coldly tells him, "you're fucked."

I live in a tiny city. I get the best of both worlds by gate-checking my bags. I don't have to find carryone space, and my bags are waiting for me at the gate when I get off the plane. I also get to have both a window and an aisle seat on the plane since the plane is so small.

I've had bags destroyed or lost by baggage handlers more times than I can count. No thanks. I never check bags anymore.

Indeed! It only takes a couple rounds of that mess to learn that anything you actually need has to be carried on, and once you're used to packing all of your necessities into carry-ons, it's easy to wonder "why am I bothering to bring all this other stuff"?

The only things that need to be carried on are things that you need for the first two days. After that your luggage will be found and you have it again. If you only travel for a 3 day trip then carry everything on. However for longer trips I like to have a weeks worth of clothing (particularly if it is personal so I don't have to spend time and money at a laundromat). It is very nice to have a weeks worth of clothing but not have to carry it all with me on the plane.

Actually on the way home I prefer if my luggage is lost as then they deliver it to my house for me instead of my having to carry it.

Gate check is different from checked bags. I have my bags in my possession until the door of the plane where I drop them off and someone else picks them up to put on the plane. Then when I get off the plane my bags are waiting right at the door of the plane (sometimes I need to wait 5 minutes). The small planes I normally fly have tiny overhead compartments that can barely handle a small purse.

If you live in a large city and only travel to other large cities you will never see the above.

And some folks have to put their bags in an overhead bin further back in the plane than their seat. This really slows things down when getting off the plane, as they have to fight their way back before going forward to leave.

As a previously frequent traveler on both domestic and international flights, pushing your way through to the back while everybody is standing up waiting to deplane doesn't have to slow things down if those passengers waited until enough people have deplaned.

This courtesy doesn't help those passengers who need to catch a tight connection, but if everybody else followed this more polite protocol then deplaning would be less stressful and likely quicker for everybody.

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