Why not reverse this?
I am rarely on a flight that doesn't offer free gate-check bags because the flight is sold-out and they expect to run out of overhead space. If you want to save the time it takes to check and retrieve a bag, pay for it. Of course airlines will give this free to premium class tickets and high status loyalty program members, just as they do now with checked bags.
Just wondering...
I'd pay for the overhead bin because, for me, it's not about the cost of checking a bag.
I would pay for the convenience and security of keeping my carry on bag in the overhead bin. An airline lost my checked bag once, and I do not want that to happen again.
We just flew a domestic flight (Sun Country) where there was a charge for both checked bags AND overhead bins. Carry-ons (considered your single allowable personal item) that fit underneath the seat were free, and they had sizing bins to check that they'd fit. That flight was so inexpensive that we were fine only paying for checked bags, and we'd pre-sized our carryons to make sure they'd pass the test. I also left room in my carry-on to pack my shoulder bag prior to boarding and thus meet the single-item mandate.
So you carry your bag onto the plane, stow it yourself, lift it down out of the bin at the destination and carry it off of the plane. You do all the work, the airline does nothing, but the airline gets paid for it. If I got paid for doing nothing, I'd do that all day, maybe even spend overtime getting paid for doing nothing.
Question: If federal law said that airlines had to include one checked bag in the advertised price of a ticket, but said that they could give a discount to anyone who didn't check a bag, do you think that that discount would be $35 a bag (HaHaHaHaHaHaHa)? The reason they started charging for bag was so they could show (lie) a lower ticket price but still get as much after the customer paid the bag fee. The universal free market business model is to give the customer less than he thinks he is getting and get him pay more than he thinks he is going to pay.
Reversing this could make sense! By charging for gate-checked bags instead, airlines could incentivize passengers to pack lighter and free up overhead space, while still rewarding premium and loyalty members with perks. It might also streamline the boarding process. Interesting idea!
Fear of losing a bag. Don't want to wait at carousel for bag. Everyone has a reason. A lot of people have reasons. Those are the ones taking up the limited spaces within the airport also with their bags rolling twice as wide on walkways. Jumbled up at seating areas and eateries, restrooms.
But you cannot change humanity. When traveling it is pretty much all about us, I, you. In the singular sense.
Once at our destination we are all lovey dovey, tips, courtesy, thank yous, culture respect, adapting, thinking of others. But enroute......
Travel is ferocious.
If I were charged to take my carryon on board, I would pay. Sometimes you travel with things that are irreplaceable, and other times I just want the ease. I hate checking a bag, yet always conform to the size/weights for carryon even if they are on the smaller side.
Right now it has been 2 weeks and my brother is still waiting for his checked bag to get to him. He has an air tag in it and has told American exactly where it is, yet nobody will go get it.
[shrug]
Or make it very expensive for the Airlines to lose or delay your bags. If that cost goes up and up and... eventually it would become rare to very rare.
The urgent necessity for keeping a bag with you would be much less. Not gone, but much less. The bins would be adequate again.
Of course your ticket price would go up quite a bit. And my, how the Airlines would scream.
Fear of losing a bag. Don't want to wait at carousel for bag. Everyone has a reason. A lot of people have reasons. Those are the ones taking up the limited spaces within the airport also with their bags rolling twice as wide on walkways. Jumbled up at seating areas and eateries, restrooms.
Not so. Not all of us. My bag is small. My former carryon (which I still have and may still use on occasion) is a "small underseater." My newest carryon is an "international rolling carryon," sized to meet the carryon limits of most airlines outside of North America. For airlines that are stricter, I have paid the extra charge that permits me a seat near the front and a larger carryon limit.
This is my only suitcase for my trip, and I like it that way, not just for flying purposes. It's also easier to for me, a petite senior, to manage hopping on and off buses, trains, and ferries, walking to my accommodation, etc. It's easier to stow if I have to store my luggage for a while when I have an early arrival or late departure. There are many reasons why I prefer to travel with a bag that size, and if it meets the requirements, what's the issue? Why should I have to check it, if I can be efficient enough to travel for weeks with a small bag?
I do agree that airlines should enforce their limits, though.
Or make it very expensive for the Airlines to lose or delay your bags.
That might would work short term, but, as you mentioned, the added expense to the airline would just be tacked on to the ticket price. The law of supply and demand as it relates to airlines is, "Control the supply and demand what we want".
