I'll freely admit that when I travel, I push the boundaries on hand baggage both in terms of weight and pieces. Why? Because I often travel with £10k+ worth of camera gear which I need to use when I get where I'm going. When an airline commits to: (a) not lose it even temporarily, (b) not allow it to be stolen, and (c) not damage it in any way - then I'll happily check my 20kg+/£10k+ of camera gear because I really don't like to lugging it around airports and onto and off of aircraft. I've learned that being a high-tier member in the frequent flyer program helps - airlines typically don't tend to pick fights with their better customers and are far less rigourous with carry on checks with premium/frequent-flyer checkin and boarding - so I try to stick to one alliance and stay a status-passenger. And quite simply, if an airline tries to inch- and pound-pinch with carry on bags I won't travel with them again - their loss not mine.
Mine my be an extreme example and I'm not suggesting I or anyone else who carries valuable gear should get special treatment or be an exception, but the process needs to support our requirements to take valuable stuff with us rather than just take a simplistic and naive one [low] size and weight fits all approach. I've had checked bags not turn up for several days on a number of occasions (FRA, MAN, MXP, DXB, KUL, BHX, MAD, come to mind), I've had contents taken from my checked bag at least once (GVA-FRA-BHX) and the items were never recovered, and I've had my bag damaged several times. Airlines have it within their remit to sort the carry on baggage problem out by providing a more reliable, quicker and secure checked baggage service - and I'd happily pay a reasonable fee to check my stuff should they do so - but they can't or don't want to do it. Until they do, I for one - and I suspect many others - will continue to haul stuff onto aeroplanes and yes, sorry, we will continue to argue with check in and gate staff if necessary too, particularly if we're close to but none the less within the rules.
The bottom line is - the checked baggage process is broken and that's why there's so much carry on. Until the airlines fix the problems with the broken process, passengers will continue to try to carry on as much as possible.
Andy
Last edited by EastMids; 23rd April 2012 at 10:14.