Overhead bins become hot commodity once again

Does anyone else feel like the aviation industry is constantly looping in a vicious circle?

Take the development of "luggage rules" in the last couple of years, for example:

1. People were able to bring everything on, including liquids
2. The idea of not being able to pack liquids made people checks all their bags. (Oh, the days of fast boarding with no carry on luggage!)
3. Airlines start charging for checked bags, hence you return to point 1 (with liquids in a ziplog bag, of course)

I am not looking forward to the battle for the overhead bin, as Scott McCartney, who writes The Middle Seat column at the Wall Street Journal predicts:

"To make sure they can find room, some customers already push their way through boarding queues. Passengers struggle to stuff large bags into small bins, and flight attendants often find themselves taking bags off planes and checking them to their destinations once bins fill up."

Does that mean that you can get around paying a fee for a checked bag if you "attempt" to bring it on? Apparently, if you simply can't find overhead bin space, but your luggage fits the carry on criteria (i.e. isn't too big or too heavy), you will not have to pay. If it is too big, heavy or you have too many pieces of luggage, you will still have to pay.

Honestly, there is only one good thing that could come out of this. People might just start traveling light.

Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines