San Francisco Chronicle Travel Editor Discusses Publicly Shaming Carry-On Abusers at Airports

Spud Hilton wants other people to see airline passengers dragging duffle bags twice the size of the carry-on baggage limit and cramming them into the overhead compartments.

Hilton, the San Francisco Chronicle travel editor and "Bad Latitude" columnist, told Press:Here that he's doing a service with the hashtag #CarryOnShame.

“I’m not actually trying to shame those passengers quite," he said. "I’m trying to shame the airline that is letting that passenger on."

Hilton said he believes a lot of the bad behavior seen on planes tends to be "justified by the dehumanization that airlines have come at us with," such as being packed in too tightly into planes and charged numerous fees.

"Instead of taking it on airlines we tend to take it out on each other," he said.

Part of the rebellion to a $25 checked baggage fee is passengers bringing on giant bags as carry-on baggage and attempting to shove them into overhead bins. Some of those pictures are posted on social media under the hash tag #CarryOnShame.

Although airlines have bag sizers at airports, airline staff will often avoid questioning a passenger's carry-on size to get everyone on the plane on time.

"They put that at a lower priority than getting a whole bunch of people in line at the gate," Hilton said. "We've already added so much time to the boarding process that they don't want to add more."

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