I agree that enforcement of carry-on should be enforced - both weight and size.
This would make for some odd situations, however. For starters, you would need to more clearly define the items which are often tolerated as not counting to your allowance. These usually constitute a woman's handbag, a book, a laptop (and cabling) and so on. Either you need stricter protocols on these items, or you lump them all into the allowance and perhaps redefine it to allow a generous amount for this normally excluded item.
I might be silly to admit it here, but I feel that 7 kg for a piece of typical business hand carry is not enough. OK - I know what you're thinking - dispense the laptop cables or get a <insert profanity here>ing iPad or netbook/ultrabook......
I can see some women crying discrimination here since most insist on carrying a separate handbag and thus are (if not already the case) automatically penalised 1 piece of allowance.
It would also stop to some degree people shopping, e.g. duty free etc., since buying something before you board necessarily increases your hand carriage amount and will more than likely push you over the limit. This is certainly not to the chagrin of anyone here for most cases, but it will matter for people outside this forum (those Krispy Kreme doughnuts need to go somewhere other than someone's lap, you know! And it's not like they occupy a little bit of space).
I have no issues with someone wearing a Scott-e-vest, even if they still carry additional hand carry on top of this. Of course, I would expect anyone who wears one to have their vest treated as another coat, i.e. it must be stowed if requested, and if so it is treated like a coat and can be folded, stacked on top of or have stuff stacked on it, stashed in a corner, pushed into position, etc. None of this "no you can't do that I have precious cargo" stuff.
It is true, however, that if
everyone brought on one piece of compliant rollaboard as hand carry, there isn't enough space to stow all of them. Someone is going to miss out and will have to consent to a gate check.
It is also true that more people are carrying everything on board as a matter of convenience and time rather than to escape baggage charges. On this forum alone, the practice of HLO is strongly advocated, whether it be for business trips or a round the world holiday. Some members look down on others who cannot manage the HLO. But not everyone can do it and not all the time....
