[sborsje]

When flying with Iceland Air a couple of months ago (AMS -> NYC), I was surprised how incredibly smooth the whole check-in experience was. I thought I would get into trouble, because I was carrying both a backpack and a guitar (MONO Vertigo softcase), but literally nobody asked me about it.

[jacques_chester]

In the US, most airlines charge for checked-in luggage in economy class. So passengers have reacted by taking carry-on luggage instead, leading to the long tedious loading times.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, you typically get one bag checked in as part of your ticket. So there's no economic incentive to try and shove half your possessions into a small overhead compartment.

Then it gets sillier when they gate-check the luggage anyhow. To deal with the problems caused by not checking luggage "for free", they are ... checking a random selection of luggage at the gate. In a less efficient manner. In a way that slows boarding.

The most amazing part is that this situation has now totally inverted the order of boarding. It used to be that boarding last or near-last was a privilege. Who the hell wants to sit in a cramped plane for even longer? Now it's a curse.

Small changes can have surprising consequences.