Carry-on bag chaos: Why airlines need to rein in overhead bin battles

I witnessed the tension among passengers fighting to fit their massive bags into overhead storage bins. It’s all getting a bit ridiculous.

Let’s go back to check-in luggage.

We are in the age of carry-on. Thanks to horror stories of bags being lost after the borders reopened post-Covid, airlines increasing fees for suitcases and the trend for travelling light, checking-in luggage is officially out.

But this approach is getting ridiculous. Passengers are now fighting for overhead locker space and are anxious to get on the plane first to make sure they can find a spot for their suitcases and many other superfluous bags.

On a flight from Cairns to Sydney last week, I witnessed this first hand. Passengers boarded the plane from two entry points – the front and rear. This made the situation worse, as people walking up and down the aisle trying to find space in the overhead bins were meeting in the middle.

Flight attendants often have to come to the rescue of passengers trying to find a spot for their luggage.

Travellers seated in rows at the back who couldn’t fit their bags above their seats were moving forward to find space while passengers from the front of economy were walking to the back of the plane trying to find an elusive spot.

The result was a pressure point of multiple people trying to get into seats and find room for their luggage. Heated words were exchanged between increasingly stressed passengers.

“Can you move past so I can get to my seat?” “I can’t find a spot for my bag! “ “Why are you shoving my bag back? It has fragile things in it, can you stop that?” “Stop opening the bins, there is no space left. Mate, can you stop it, you can’t fit in it! And why do you have so many bags?”

We can take more than just these on the plane.

This went on for at least 15 minutes until the calm flight attendants intervened, took the offending bags and magically found spots for them over the emergency exit seats. Qantas recently announced that its new planes – the A321 XLR, which are reportedly arriving in June – will have 60 per cent more overhead locker space to help alleviate the problem.

But it is not enough, especially given how frequently people try to get away with bringing bigger suitcases, backpacks and multiple other bags on board.

It’s time we ditched the idea that travelling only with carry-on implies some kind of social superiority. Can everyone start checking in luggage like they used to, so we can all get on a plane and get to our seats without this unnecessary tension?

More holiday, less stress please.

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