Flew on United last week, four legs. Each sold out (oversold). Paid to check my roll aboard into the hold, $23 one way, so a total of $46 (discounted from $50). Just had a laptop bag to carry on. Still had difficulty stowing it in the overhead cos the selfish gits that didn't check their bags tried to bring on the equivalent of a small basement full of crap.
Now, what really pissed me off was that those gits who could not find a space got their suitcases loaded into the hold FOR FREE!!! WTF???? So basically, don't check luggage (containing more than the carry on size of liquids) and pay for it, wait till you get to the plane and ask for it to be placed in the hold for free!!!
Ozzy