TSA should charge a $25 fee for scanning anything larger than a purse / briefcase at the airport.

If you bring a carry-on roller bag, you go into the "Large Item to scanned Line" and have to pay them the $25 bucks. If you only have a purse or "small personal item" you can go to the express lane.

With the money from all those bags, TSA can hire more people and have more lanes open and more scanning equipment.

Hopefully, it would get a bunch of people to Check their bag instead of carry on. This will dramatically speed up loading and unloading of the planes.

I think one rule for carry on should be "You have to CARRY IT ON!". If you are not able to pick up your carry on and put it in the overhead bin, DON'T CARRY IT ON!!. If you are in a wheel chair and have to rolled on the plane, don't bring carry on as well. If you are a short little grandma, and can't reach the overhead bin space ... don't do carry on. If you are a kid under 4 foot traveling alone, don't do carry on. If you have a bad shoulder, or broken arm and can't lift your bad, don't do carry on.

If you made the price difference between carry on and checked baggage about equal (or in the case of Southwest, actually cheaper!!), many many more people would choose to check their bags. Since the planes don't have enough overhead bin space for everyone to bring all their luggage (that is what the cargo hold is for!!), we need to reduce the number of carry-ons. CHARGE for Carry on at the TSA booth, and it will reduce the number of people with Carry ons.

It also reduces the number of times people bring stuff they shouldn't to the TSA check point. It would speed up the screening process.

I think some of the Business Travelers would probably still pay the $25 fee (they write it off, so who cares), but those people also usually know how to pack for TSA (toiletries already in a little bag, for example). The vacation people are the ones that will hopefully choose to check instead. The ones that don't know how to pack for TSA.

All right .... flame away!!!