Espada... I understand your frustrations with the baggage issues. I believe cabin baggage is an important revenue stream for them, not sure if prices would be reduced, unless baggage prices were also reduced by competitors.
With regards to boarding earlier; boarding usually starts as soon as the flight deck crew arrive. They report for duty 1 hour before departure, they can't report earlier due to duty time limitations. It would be great in an ideal world to board much earlier, but the time rules wouldn't allow for the earlier crew report time without the crew making a night stop in TLV.