I had an interesting experience years ago flying to the UK from a Middle Eastern state on their national airline. My hand baggage was taken off me on boarding by a member of the cabin crew for being allegedly too large (although it looked fine to me and had travelled in countless aircraft cabins before.) I didn't argue and the CC said he would put it in a storage area in the cabin so I could have access to it on the journey. After take off, with the plane less than half full, I decided to try to retrieve my bag. My conversation with the CC went like this:
Me: Could I have access to my bag please?
CC: I had it put in the hold, sir
Me: But I wanted to get something out of and it's not locked, so I didn't want it to go through baggage handling
CC: What would you like me to do about it, sir? Ask the captain to land so you can get you bag?
Me: Yes, please
CC: That is a ridiculous suggestion, sir
Me: But it was YOUR suggestion
At that point the CC walked off and made no attempt to be polite to me for the rest of the journey. I didn't use that airline again.