I realize that alot of you in rec.travel.air travel by air perhaps once or twice a year.
As a VFF (Very Frequent Flyer), I beg of you, *please* be considerate when planning what you want to pack and what you want to carry on. Try and limit your carryons to one per person (because on top of that you'll have big winter jackets and probably a plastic bag of magazines that you bought at the airport). Put the bag under the seat in front of you and the jacket overhead.
I realize that most of you reading this are saying "oh, one more bag is not going to make a difference!" Well, let me tell you, it *does*! If every single person on a 180-passenger 757 carries on one extra bag, quite a few of you will not be able to fit *any* of your carryons. Or even worse (to you), your carry-on would be smashed by something else, possibly affecting your breakables.
If you have Christmas Gifts that you're taking with you, pack them in your suitcase. If you have something breakable, then pack it in a shopping bag and use *that* shopping bag as your carryon. Or better still, ship the gift ahead! (UPS, FedEx, USPS, *whatever*!!) You won't have to haul it through any number of godforsaken airports (from your car to the plane at your home airport, through the hub airport, and then from the plane to the car at the other end of your trip).
Myself? My husband and I have one carry on each (a normal-sized backpack and a normal-sized soft-sided briefcase). That and our jackets will be enough to suffice for our trip, and *we're* going cross-country (BOS-ATL-SEA [don't ask, it was cheap ;-]). 9 plus hours in the air, and we're fast readers, and we can *still* manage. We even pack an "emergency kit" (basically, change of underwear and toiletries) in one of our bags in case we get stranded. That and one suitcase (between us) suffices for our 10 day trip. We've shipped the majority of our Christmas Gifts ahead.
Once again, please be considerate when travelling at Christmas time!