Delta often asks the passengers to help close the bins on the widebodies. The way those planes are made it's hard to close the bins from the aisle, you need to be IN the aisle seat. That said they will stand on you to close them if you think that's "beneath" you.

Honestly, is it that much of an "issue" that you have to do something?

And I would like to associate myself 100% with DutyFree! I travel a lot. I do pack a carry on. My rule is that if I (a female of about 5'4" without a lot of upper body strength) cannot get it SAFELY in an out of the overhead without help it's going UNDER the plane. There have been times due to "shopping" it got checked :) Safely means that I am not losing control on either the lift up or down.
Ladies don't assume "the kindness of strangers" is going to help you out.

(And Ladies it's TWO bags not TWO plus the purse!)

CarolA, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I will not help those who are carrying oversized bags when they can't lift them, and I am really unhappy about those who have rollaboards, computer bags, and huge tote purses.

Why should I put my small carryon under my feet so someone else can put their entire wardrobe overhead. We each have a ticket.

What if the airlines charged for carryons and allowed unlimited checked luggage?

Just had to add a reply - I fly almost exclusively with carryon and sometimes need a little help getting my bag into the overhead bin. I am 68 year old lady who dislocated her shoulder and broke her upper arm about 6 months ago and still cannot raise my arm above a certain height. My bag is never heavy - always less than 25 pounds, and I can normally handle it fine. It's just that last little push that sometimes gives me trouble. So thanks to all of you helpful men and women who graciously give an old lady a hand. Yes, I am working out to improve my arm but it takes time. I also do not like the folks who come aboard with heavy bags or lots of them - I see it all the time - and can understand your frustration. (And back pain.)

I can't reach the doors on the overhead bins if they're open - I can barely get a bag in there if forced to. If they're waiting for me to close things up before they'll start push back, it's gonna be a long day.

I was on a flight yesterday on AA from Barcelona to JFK. There's a woman who somehow managed to bring on 3 huge bags with her - one large suitcase (at least 21" or 22"), plus TWO bags the size of those LARGE Longchamp purses. How on earth they let her get on with so much cr*p is beyond me. She alone hogged an entire overhead bin with the suitcase + 1 bag, and the other bag went to the floor space. Her suitcase was so large and her bags were so heavy that she had trouble closing the overhead bin.

After she had it closed (with the help of a nice man), other pax who got on later opened it hoping to find an empty space. Every person who opened it REGRETTED immediately, cuz it almost caused everyone a strain and a hernia in order to close it back up. And the woman was oblivious to that - she could have told those pax that the bin was full before they attempted to open it!

Anyway, I only travel with a 19" these days and it never weighs more than 22 lbs. I'm only 5'2" but I can lift it up and take it down from overhead bins without any problems.

"People"-even bags that weigh 20-25 pounds are STILL quite heavy for someone to put over their heads in a bin!