"In the US this can be common and the staff low key make everyone anxious about it. Like "uh oh guys, room is running out in the overhead" "might have to check your bag". It's not the end of the world, but it's an easy thing to ham up from the framework of annoyance and unfairness. You don't get the convenience because the guy in front of you got there first, and now you're waiting +30 minutes for the bag to be released from the cargo compartment. And maybe he brought 3 bags, over the limit, and you have just one smaller bag. You know what unfairness and anxiety like this generates? Sales and an arms race to board ever earlier with ever more bags at an ever higher price. If this trend continues eventually it will just be one guy with 1000 bags who pays $50,000 to board first and filling up all the bins at once. "