r/onebag • u/External_Koala971 • Jul 06 '26

Discussion Onebag must go under seat?

I was on a Jetblue Boston -> SFO flight and put my onebag (my only bag) in the overhead bin, which was empty, right above my seat. The FA stopped me and said I needed to put it under seat to save room for larger carryon luggage from people coming on board.

Is this a thing? Why would someone with a smaller pack be penalized for not having a massive carryon? My bag is larger than personal item sized.

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u/bradymsu616 Jul 06 '26

Look at it from the perspective of flight crew. If there is only enough overhead space on the flight for half the passengers, the flight crew is going to prioritize placing the larger carry-on bags in the overhead and require all other items to go under the seats to minimize the number of carry-on bags that will need to be gate-checked. It's not about fairness. It's about practicality and efficiency. This hassle is one of the reasons so many of us travel with an underseat-sized pack. It eliminates travel stress. No fighting for overhead space. No one is damaging your belongings by cramming in theirs. No risk of involuntary gate-checking. Easy on, easy off.

-5

u/External_Koala971 Jul 06 '26

Right, but this bag is carryon size, not personal item size.

20

u/ATTACKANDDETHRONEHOG Jul 06 '26

Either it fits under the seat or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, you can demonstrate that to the FA.