>"United claims the move, announced last month, does not amount to a new fee. Those who want to stow their hand luggage overhead can still do so if they choose the standard economy fare, it says."

Until they artificially restrict the number of standard economy fares and you have no choice but to buy the basic fare and be subject to this new level of absurdity. This is how it starts.

Rather than innovate and make more money by selling a better product the airlines in the US anyway have settled on a strategy of removing basic provisions and then selling them back as an "upgrade." It's insulting.

I'm tempted to say I just will vote with my feet. But the airline industry at least in the US has seen massive consolidation in the last decade and the choices for the consumer are becoming less. It's often just not practical to "vote with your feed" and the airlines know this. United merged with Continental which gave us this behemoth who is instituting this policy.