Whether it’s out of impatience or a desire to secure space in the overhead bins, gate lice swarm the boarding area with an energy that suggests they might be boarding early in the process.

She approached the counter to scan her pass when the gate agent told her that she would have to check her bag because the overhead bins on the plane were full. But they weren’t.

No matter how hard we try, I thought, we’ll never squeeze our bags into these bins. Gate checks are inevitable. The fix is in. Could overbooking luggage be the root of the carry-on crisis?

Contrary to the name, gate lice does not refer to an outbreak of parasitic insects that live on your scalp at airport boarding gates. Erlon Silva - TRI Digital via Getty Images The boarding ...

Whether it’s out of impatience or a desire to secure space in the overhead bins, gate lice swarm the boarding area with an energy that suggests they might be boarding early in the process. “It’s that ...