[yellottyellott]

> So you, as an important businessman, are deserving of the overhead luggage space, but the casual riff-raff should stuff their belongings around their feet?

lol what? where does he say anything about needing special treatment? everyone's in the same overhead bin lottery unless you paid for business class or whatever.

i do exactly what the parent comment said as well. you're allowed a carryon and a small backpack. you put the carryon overhead and stuff your backpack at your feet. you either sit on your jacket or stuff it in your bag before you board. important stuff (work laptop, house keys) stays in the backpack and always with you. sometimes they force you to gate check your bag, which is not ideal but fine. keep the backpack.

i traveled a medium amount for work and ended up getting a soft sided duffel. for full flights they start calling for gate checking carryons before they even start boarding. i think this is mostly to save time though, even if there was enough overhead space. i noticed you get preferential treatment with a duffel and several times where they'd let me through but make the person in front of or behind me gate check their bags if they were rollers, even though the bins were "full".

if work was paying i tried to only book direct flights. then i could gate check my bag, board last, and spend as little time crammed on the plane as possible. but my preference was to do carryon as well to save time, especially if there was a connection.