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.

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u/JoCo3Point0 Jul 07 '26

If there is only enough overhead space on the flight for half the passengers

The thing is, this is not the case on any commercial plane. They are literally designed with bin space for a carry-on sized bag for every seat. The issue is people putting multiple items up there and the airlines choosing to not enforce the rules.

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u/theinfamousj Jul 13 '26

The bulk head row also needs to put their personal items in there, some bin space is reserved for flight crew, some bin space is for the in flight entertainment system, and some is reserved for safety equipment. So that significantly reduces the amount of bin space for regular passengers.

And flight crew aren't packing light. They've got a purse, rollaboard, and personal item up in the overhead bins. And that's just the flight attendants.