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Just last week, on a flight from New York to Caracas, a disgruntled flyer threatened to file a lawsuit against me, my airline and a flight attendant colleague. The reason for his threat? Because the closets and overhead bins were crammed with enough coats, suitcases and Christmas packages to sink a new and improved Titanic, we were unable to accommodate his bulging carry-on bag.

According to the litigious passenger, his roll-aboard bag was filled with 12 bottles of expensive wine, which he had successfully carried aboard a twin-aisle 767 from Paris to New York. The 767s have endless space for carry-on bags. In addition to overhead bins that run along each side of the airplane cabin, a procession of larger, deeper bins swing down from both sides of the center ceiling section.

But the connecting flight from New York to Caracas was aboard a single-aisle 757, a nightmare for carry-on bag stowage. This long, narrow tube is configured with 166 coach seats -- three more than a 767, yet with almost half the cabin stowage space. The overhead bins are smaller. There are no bins that swing down from the center ceiling section. There is no overhead space for the six passengers sitting in the last row of coach (these bins are loaded with emergency equipment and a video player). And above the four people sitting in the first row of coach, in bulkhead seats 9A, B, D and E, there is no overhead bin at all. If bins had been installed here, they would block the emergency exit door.

As a result, the front-row coach passengers, like their binless comrades in the last row, are forced to stow their bags elsewhere.

Peeved at this lack of overhead bin space, the passenger in 9A plopped down in his seat after throwing his briefcase and carry-on bag to the floor. "You put me in a lousy seat," he screamed. "This is ridiculous! Why do I have to sit in such a shitty seat!"

Although the plane was completely full, I found space for his luggage. "This is ridiculous!" he repeated, as I prepared to walk up to the front and help the purser deal with our wine-toting passenger. "Why do I have to sit in a shitty seat!"

I looked down at the fuming passenger in 9A. I looked back at 166 faces crammed together like rows of matches ready to ignite. I looked back at the guy in 9A. "This is not ridiculous," I said. "Look around you, sir. There are 166 seats and 166 passengers. Somebody has to sit here. Is there any particular reason why it shouldn't be you? Besides, you've got more leg room than anybody else on this aircraft."

Next page | "I've got 12 bottles of wine in that bag. If you check it, they're going to break"