American, Delta, United Reduce Carry-on Bag Sizes

[fountainhall]

The LA Times reports that these airlines have reduced acceptable carry-on baggage dimensions. In future, they have to be max. 22 x 14 x 9 inches. This includes the space for handles and wheels - not good for bags with 4 independent wheels at the base. Width on American used to be 15 inches but bags this wide are now being denied cabin access when detected.

Confusingly, other US airlines like JetBlue and Southwest continue with 24 x 16 x 10. International airlines also have different limits тАУ e.g. BA 22 x 18 x 10 and Korean 21 x 15 x 7. But many other trans-Pacific carriers (JAL, Cathay Pacific, Eva etc.) have the same limits as the new ones for AA etc. - 22 x 14 x 9. My guess is this will soon become the industry norm with baggage checks becoming more frequent.

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/ar ... -80471004/ (http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-80471004/)

[christianpfc]

The question is if these rules are enforced. During my travels in Europe, I often had cabin luggage that exceeded permitted weight and size by up to 20 %, but always got in on the plane unchecked. I saw others with oversized cabin luggage as well. Sometimes I had two pieces where just one was allowed (that's easy to detect, you don't have to weigh or measure, just count).

I always had an emergency plan, first slowly approach the counter to see if other's cabin luggage is checked, and then abandon stuff that is less worth than the exorbitant surcharges, or stuff all small stuff into my pockets to get past the checkpoint.

[fountainhall]

My experience in Asia is that it is only sometimes strictly enforced - and then only on the low cost carriers. Legacy carriers seem not too care too much. I remember a flight on Tiger Airlines to Hanoi where on-board bags were checked in Singapore for both weight and size before boarding. I also suspect this is to cut down on coach passengers in the US taking too much on board and therefore hogging too much space on the overhead racks. Lots of passengers on US internal flights don't bother checking in any luggage because this incurs extra charges.