Should Airlines Enforce Carry-On Restrictions?

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

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Email Christine Sarkis at editor@smartertravel.com.

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Passengers carrying on bags far too big to fit into overhead compartments. People wedging suitcases in sideways, squandering precious storage space. Long lines of increasingly impatient flyers, stuck in the aisle behind travelers with carry-ons so large they can’t even lift them. Sound familiar?

When the majority of airlines started charging for the first—and second—checked bags, overhead space got extra tight on planes around the country. Bags obviously exceeding the size restrictions routinely roll onboard as gate agents and flight attendants look the other way, unwilling or unable to fight the massive wave of suitcases coming down the aisle.

So here’s my question to you: Do you think the airlines should enforce carry-on restrictions, or just let big carry-on bags slide? As a passenger, do you think bringing on oversized carry-on bags is a reasonable response to the first-checked-bag fee, or is it an unacceptable inconvenience that unfairly impacts those passengers who do follow the rules? Are you a checker, a crammer, or one of those passengers who manages to pack light, with carry-on bags that meet weight and size restrictions? Share your opinions by submitting a comment below!

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