Finding room for carry-on baggage has become 'the Hunger Games' of air travel, analyst says

Flight attendant Cat Jones will never forget the day she spotted a woman carrying a wedding cake down the bridge to board her plane in Winnipeg.

When the passenger reached the door, Jones gently mentioned that the box was above the size limits for carry-on baggage.

"It was her niece's wedding and it was some sort of family friend who owned the bakery. And it was a really kind of meaningful, sentimental part of this wedding that was about to happen," said Jones, who worked for WestJet at the time.

She and her colleagues spent at least 10 minutes moving people and their carry-on baggage around the plane so that they could make room for the cake box on the floor of a window seat where it wouldn't block anyone's exit in the event of an emergency, Jones told Cost of Living. And that was just for one passenger's extra gear. 

Jones and other airline industry insiders say passengers have become carried away with carry-on baggage, leading to costly delays.  

That's prompting calls for changes to how airplanes charge for baggage, with some discount airlines like Sunwing and Spirit already beginning to flip the fee structure so passengers pay for the privilege of keeping their bags on board.

Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst with Atmosphere Research Group in San Francisco, says this change needs to happen, and that passengers should be allowed to check a bag for free.

"People would appreciate this. They would feel less nickel-and-dimed. And people who want the convenience and control would pay to bring their bags on the plane," said Harteveldt, who noted airlines would likely generate the same or more in baggage revenue. 

Plus, there would be other savings, he said.

"When the airplane is sitting on the ground, it's not making money for the airline."

Delays are happening in part because, as Jones describes it, the crew is stuck playing "Tetris" with people's backpacks, pillows, duty-free purchases and souvenirs.

Return flights from Disney trips were especially challenging, said Jones, who lives in Calgary and now works in private aviation.

"Where am I going to put these lightsabers? And massive stuffed animals. Mickey Mouse is, you know, coming in on top of the allotted, one carry-on, one personal item. It needs its own overhead bin."

Because airlines share gates and runways, there's a "domino effect" when overstuffed cabins lead to late departures, she said.