Plane Passenger Shocked at Backlash After Moving Fellow Traveler's 'Too Large' Carry-On in Overhead Bin

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Getty

Getty

A plane passenger is defending their decision to move another traveler’s carry-on after it allegedly took up too much space in the overhead bin.

The passenger says they were trying to help make room for another person’s bag when they noticed an unidentified passenger had placed their rolling carry-on horizontally in the overhead bin, rather than with its wheels facing out. They detailed what happened next in aRedditpost titled, “If your carry-on only fits if you put it sideways, it is TOO LARGE.”

“A woman on my flight put a CLEARLY oversized carry-on SIDEWAYS," the Original Poster (OP) began, “so I was trying to move it perpendicular to help someone else put her (appropriately sized) bag overhead, and the flight attendant was like (correctly), ‘That bag doesn’t fit.’”

After the OP says they agreed with the flight attendant that the bag didn’t fit, the owner of the item then appeared and chimed in, “Oh that’s mine, I didn’t put it like that.”

STOCK IMAGE.Getty

The passenger recalls the flight attendant then telling the woman that she’ll have to check the bag if it doesn’t fit in the bin sideways.

“I had it sideways,” the woman responded, to which the flight attendant then turned to the OP and allegedly said, “You can’t move other people’s bags to fit your own.”

The OP explained that they didn’t even have a bag in the overhead bin and the woman proceeded to move her bag back to a sideways position.

Passengers' bags stuffed in the overhead bin of a plane.Getty

“I’ve never heard of a rule saying we don’t work together to make everyone’s bags fit, including shifting ones that were already up. I was working to adjust the bags because it was an old lady who was trying to put her bag up and was unable to lift her bag up herself and I’m young and stronger.”

The passenger adds that they were flying on a Boeing 737 and that “everyone else was putting their standard carry-ons perpendicular” in the overhead bin. They note that the woman’s bag was “taking up two spots” when she placed it sideways.

“It’s frustrating that people in later boarding groups have to gate-check their bags because the bags don’t all fit when someone is putting their oversized bag in the overhead,” they conclude.

Oversized bags placed in the overhead bin of a plane.Getty

“Not all planes will accommodate perpendicular loading. Even some that say they can, don’t. My advice would be don’t mess with other people’s bags,” one person wrote.

Another added, “The last international flight I took, they even had a PSA saying the bins along the sides of the plane would only fit bags if they went sideways, and then the bins in the middle could fit them straight on.”

However, others agreed that the OP was in the right.

“The giant carry-ons that don’t fit, slow everyone down, [and] prevent anyone else having bin space seriously is my biggest beef with flying. It’s such an easy thing to fix - reduce the size and enforce it,” wrote one.

“What’s frustrating is the flight attendant chastised you instead of the space hog,” another added.

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Miami-based flight attendant Trey Antwan toldThe Washington Postin October 2023, it’s always best to avoid forcing a bag that’s too big, as it “delays us getting the flight out on time,” he

Antwan also advised against ever touching someone else’s bag, noting it’s always better to ask for permission before moving it in order to avoid an altercation.Passports and Parentingblogger Clarissa Laskey weighed in in the same article: “I have definitely been on flights where fights are broken out because someone has touched someone else’s bag, and we have deplaned,” she said.

Travel expert and advisor Nicole Campoy Jackson of Fora Tavel, agrees. She previously told PEOPLE that reaching out to a flight attendant for guidance is almost always the right move.

“I am always in the camp of getting a flight attendant involved for sticky in-flight situations,” she explains. “Tensions run high when we’re traveling” and the crew always “have more context than we, the passengers, do.”

source: people.com