Originally Posted by
jugofpropwash
I've said before and will say again - if airlines would stop charging thru the nose for every piece of checked luggage, passengers would not insist on bringing all their worldly possessions into the cabin with them. Much easier for the attendants, and safer as well.
Usual practice seems to be to turn up at the gate and be prepared to gate-check for free if the airline requests it due to a full flight.
Perhaps what's needed is overhead bins with a central locking system so that they're locked from ten minutes before arrival (when all passengers should be seated anyway) until the seat-belt sign is switched off at the gate. That does then at least restrict people to taking whatever's under their seat and they may well have that in hand before it's their turn in the aisle.
They could be locked on departure until the seat belt sign is off too, there's always someone who gets up early.