Did you know that the garment bag is considered a carry-on bag, and not as a personal item bag? But this issue seems to hardly matter, since it is rarely enforced.
One Mile at a Time recently pointed out that most U.S. airlines consider the garment bag to be a carry-on bag, meaning it shouldn't be possible to bring on a carry-on bag and a garment bag. But most people seem to consider it as a personal item, anyways, and for the most part, there is nothing to worry about.
Ben Schlappig discovered this issue during a routine security check when an agent stopped him:
I’ve always been under the impression that a small garment bag with just one suit counted as a personal item. Sure, if you have one of those massive garment bags that’s the size of a bag that’s your carry-on, but a small garment bag could easily be folded up in such a way that it could fit underneath the seat in front of you, and also fit within the personal item size parameters.
So to settle the question, we asked JetBlue flight attendant Joshua Zweighaft if he considered it as a personal item or a carry on bag. The answer was this:
Personal item.
Expect us to dig deeper into this at some point.