I saw this post yesterday and wanted to chime in on my recent experience when we flew to Hawaii.

Pack tight and light
This is so true, Myra and I had small carry-ons and when we got to our seats we were in our seats in less than a min of getting to our section. We saw an old lady that had HUGE f*cking bags and kept trying to lift them to the overhead compartments. No one was helping her. The nice Brian would’ve said, someone should have helped her, the mean Brian would have said, G-Dammit why did you pack a heavy back when you can barley lift your purse.

Be first in line
Being first in line when they call you’re rows is probably a good idea, we really don’t care too much about the pillows and blankets, but the overhead compartments are sometimes hard to come by.

Don’t hold up the flight
This comes back to the first point, people that have heavy or large carry-ons that hold up the line of passengers getting to their seats really pisses me off. Check your shit in. Another thing that holds up flights are people that come late to the gate, most of the time it can’t be avoided because of security, but if you can get there on time or at least by boarding – shouldn’t be a problem.

Mind your manners
The article says,

..don’t put your luggage in the bin above someone else’s seat. That’s an old trick used by in-the-know passengers on back-to-front boarding airlines. (If you store your bag in the front of the plane, you’re guaranteed a spot for your luggage.)

Myra and I were one of the last people to board the plane, since our flight got redirected. The front of the plane was fully seated and they still had space in the overhead bins – so I dropped my bag off. No one wanted to hit me, and there were no altercations. If we run into the same situation again, I’d probably do it again.

Better yet, bring nothing (or close to it)
I’ve always stuck to this tip, I usually only carry my laptop with a few electronics to keep me busy during the flight. Myra suggested I pack a carry on with “essentials” if my luggage were to get lost. Good idea, but when we got to Hawaii and looked in my carry-on I wouldn’t have lasted even a day with the stuff I put in there

Take a look at the article below
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24525193/