Tips for traveling with carry-on bags

Every airline passenger is entitled to overhead space, right? Wrong. On a typical domestic flight, six passengers share luggage bins that fit four wheelie bags, at most, leaving some fliers out of luck at a time when more of them are opting to lug their bags, rather than check them, to avoid airline fees.

There are also more passengers competing for that space because planes are again filled to near-record levels, the result of carriers' flight reductions and a rebound from the recession.

Boarding lines, rarely speedy, now often move in reverse when the last luggage bins fill and passengers are forced to back off a plane and return to the jet bridge to check bags.

The next obsession, at least for passengers of Spirit Airlines, may be cramming items under airplane seats. The Florida discount carrier said last week that it would charge customers as much as $45 each way to place bulky items in overhead bins. Other airlines will watch Spirit's experiment.

NEW FEE FALLOUT

Carry-on bags didn't become the primary source of luggage for passengers until carriers introduced fees for infrequent fliers and then raised them to $25 to check a first bag and $35 for a second item. United, among the first to adopt the fees, has seen the volume of checked bags fall for 25 consecutive months, said Cindy Szadokierski, United's vice president of airport operations planning and United Express.

Every major U.S. airline except for Southwest Airlines has introduced such fees since 2008, and no wonder. The 10 largest U.S. carriers collected $739.8 million in baggage charges during the third quarter of 2009, double prior-year totals, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

OVERHEAD SHORTAGE

Since the start of last year, the number of bags checked at the boarding gate by Chicago-based United Airlines has risen nearly 50 percent, while the volume of bags checked at ticket counters has dropped 18 percent. At American Airlines, more passengers now carry on bags than check them.

One year ago, when many flights were only two-thirds full, only four people sat in the six seats that share a bin.

Now, "in effect, you have 50 percent more contention for overhead space. What's fine for four people isn't for six," said aviation consultant Robert Mann, president of R.W. Mann & Co.

Both the fees and space constraints can contribute to a breakdown in social conventions.

"It's survival of the fittest," said Shelly Casale, a software consultant from Des Plaines, Ill., as she boarded a recent United Airlines flight at O'Hare International Airport bound for Boston.

NEW SOLUTIONS

As planes fill and tensions rise, carriers are exploring ways to ease congestion. American offers a valet service so travelers on its Eagle regional jets can easily hand off bags that don't fit overhead.

Airplane manufacturer Boeing Co. is finding a growing market for the new luggage compartments that it created for its 787 Dreamliner and revamped for its 747 and 737 jets. The hinged bins handle far larger bags than current compartments, giving every traveler access to overhead space. They were designed before baggage fees were commonplace. Dozens of airlines have purchased the new 737 interiors, said Kent Craver, Boeing's regional director for passenger satisfaction and revenue.

COMPLAINTS UP

Carry-on complaints to the U.S. Department of Transportation more than doubled last year, according to data compiled by the Chicago Tribune. They accounted for less than 1 percent of the total placed with the department and were offset by the fact that U.S. carriers lost 942,000 fewer checked bags in 2009 than in 2008.

Still, the complaints show people irked and sometimes victimized by the bad behavior of other passengers or airline workers: belongings jammed in overstuffed bins falling out and striking travelers on the head, jewelry stolen from bags checked at the gate, and airline workers arbitrarily enforcing bag size limits.

Flight attendants, forced to be both baggage cops and peacemakers, say they are paying a heavy toll. More than 80 percent claim they pulled muscles or felt pain while dealing with bags or bins, according to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.

Overhead space typically starts to become a concern for flight attendants about halfway through boarding, said Sara Nelson, a United flight attendant and spokeswoman for its flight attendants' union.

The stress builds as the plane fills, since neither flight attendants, pilots nor gate agents want to be blamed for a late departure.

"Everybody," Nelson said, "feels the pressure."

TIPS FOR TRAVELING WITH CARRY-ON

1. To lessen the risk of theft, don't pack iPods or jewelry in any bag that won't fit under an airline seat.

2. Don't overstuff outer pockets of roller bags, a magnet for airline staff trolling for oversize carry-ons, according to Tom Parons of Bestfares.com.

3. Don't test your carry-on in a bag-sizer at your departure gate - use an empty gate instead.

4. Avoid being in the last group to board. On some airlines this means buying seats at the rear of a plane. On United, passengers who buy window seats board in Group 2. United also sells passes for its priority security and boarding lines.

5. If your bag doesn't fit in the cabin, don't worry about a fee. Airlines hardly ever assess a charge for checking luggage at the gate.