# Allowable carry-on bag sizes to shrink



## CHamilton (Jun 9, 2015)

Attention business travelers: Your carry-on bag is probably going to become obsolete



> Here’s the latest annoyance in airline travel: A call for carry-ons to be officially smaller.
> If you travel often for business — and love your handy-dandy carry-on that’s probably about, oh, the most common approved size of 22 inches tall by 14 inches wide by 9 inches deep — you may have to upgrade your equipment, according to this report by AFP. The largest global airline association, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is proposing new guidelines for carry-ons: the new bags will be about 21 inches tall, 13.5 inches wide and 7.5 inches deep.


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## AmtrakBlue (Jun 9, 2015)

I already have had to stop using my carry-on because at least one of my airlines now includes the handle in the measurement and my handle sticks up a few inches above the 22".


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 9, 2015)

Sounds like the Luggage Cartel made a deal with the Airlines! Buying Samsonite might be a smart investment! LOL


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## the_traveler (Jun 9, 2015)

When my friend was flying to Europe and he was looking for luggage, I was confused by the description. One said Carry On ... 22" and another said *INTERNATIONAL* Carry On ... 21" - I couldn't figure out why there were 2 sizes when the same plane is used? :huh:

Many years ago, I took a Continental flight from IAH to EWR that continued to Europe. Later this year, I'm flying On a Delta flight from SLC to ATL that continues to Europe. So on those flights, passengers boarding in IAH or SLC going to EWR or ATL can carry on a 22" bag, but those boarding in IAH or SLC going to Europe can only carry on a 21" bag! :huh: It doesn't make sense!


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## jis (Jun 10, 2015)

The problem is not in taking a 22" to Europe from the US. Very unlikely anyone will stop you. However it could get exciting trying to get that same bag into the cabin as carry on on the way back, depending on the airlines involved, or for that matter on internal European flights.


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## SarahZ (Jun 10, 2015)

As the author says, I doubt this would be an issue if they actually enforced the carry-on size limit at the gate.  The "legal" carry-ons fit in the bins just fine if everyone plays by the rules and doesn't try to stuff a huge carry-on plus everything they own into one bin.


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## jis (Jun 10, 2015)

Actually enforcing smaller carry-ons would not be an annoyance at all. It would be a blessing IMHO. Enough of all these people insisting on bringing their kitchen sink along as carry-on. And this here is a mostly business traveler speaking.


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## SarahZ (Jun 10, 2015)

jis said:


> Actually enforcing smaller carry-ons would not be an annoyance at all. It would be a blessing IMHO. Enough of all these people insisting on bringing their kitchen sink along as carry-on. And this here is a mostly business traveler speaking.


Truth. My carry-on is well within the new restrictions, and I've used that for many week-long business trips.


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## CHamilton (Jun 17, 2015)

Airlines halt plan to shrink carry-on bags


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## Ryan (Jun 18, 2015)

CHamilton said:


> Airlines halt plan to shrink carry-on bags


For now...

""Cabin OK is a voluntary program for airlines and for consumers," he continued. "This is clearly an issue that is close to the heart of travelers. We need to get it right. Today we are pausing the rollout and launching a comprehensive reassessment of the Cabin OK program with plans to further engage program participants, the rest of our members, and other key stakeholders."


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## CHamilton (Jun 18, 2015)

> IATA's announcement Wednesday probably means the suggested smaller size standard is dead, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group.
> 
> "I believe this program is as dead as free steak dinners in coach," he said.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/ct-airlines-smaller-bags-0618-biz-20150617-story.html


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## Ryan (Jun 18, 2015)

I'll believe that when I see it (or don't).


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 18, 2015)

CHamilton said:


> Airlines halt plan to shrink carry-on bags


Translation from Corporate speak to English: 
Our customers raised hell about this, so we're suspending this scheme till we can come up with a better one so we can increase revenue by charging for carry-on-luggage!


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## CHamilton (Jun 22, 2015)

> By agreeing to the guidelines the airlines are essentially promising that the bags will fit on board. And we’ve all been on plenty of flights where bags have been gate-checked, even with most passengers in compliance with the sizing rules. Because even in an ideal scenario there isn’t enough space and things don’t work out so well. And if passengers go out and buy new bags which are “certified” to be Cabin OK and still end up gate-checking them that’s a pretty awful customer service problem.
> 
> In the end it is all about messaging. And IATA screwed that up pretty badly on this one. Not because having a common marking for acceptable sized bags is a problem. But because the promise being made – that the bag would fit on board and even near the passengers’ seat – was impossible to deliver upon. And that would fall at the airlines, not IATA.
> 
> Oops.


http://blog.wandr.me/2015/06/how-iata-missed-on-the-cabin-ok-bag-project/


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## Anderson (Jun 22, 2015)

There's a whole lot of "oops" to go around here. One part is what the article mentioned. The other is that I think we can all see a "magical" shift to where the allowable carry-on size formally drops to the "Cabin OK" size and/or gate dragons enforce that size as the cap on their own (there are rumors of this happening on occasion as-is).


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## jis (Jun 23, 2015)

Two days back in Berlin Tegel it was interesting to watch someone drag in their proverbial kitchen sink and try to board with it as carryon. The guy at Security said "You vill check that in ". There was argument that well I brought it from the US in the cabin so why do I have to check it in. The response was "You vill check that in or ve vill investigate and you vont make this flight". And so yes, it Vas checked in. 

These same guys gave me the once over royal treatment in the special enclosure swabbing the insides of my carryon several times too. But that is par for the course when your lottery number comes up. :/


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## Devil's Advocate (Jun 23, 2015)

One of the most annoying searches of my personal space and effects occurred in Frankfurt. The security staff were surprisingly rude and shockingly invasive, but the actual catalyst for this absurd search turned out to be a sudden demand from our own TSA instructing other governments to aggressively search anyone who had the temerity to travel to the US during some sort of news deflection cycle.


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## jis (Jun 23, 2015)

In this case it was also some heightened alert decreed by the TSA/DHS gang. They are expecting some retaliation apparently because the number two guy of Al Qaida was killed last week or something like that. The Germans specifically don't went to be in the embarrassing position again of having missed something after having done so in the Pan Am 103 incident. So passengers get a lot of royal treatment and personal free massages when such decrees are issued by whoever. it gets way more interesting at grossly under-equipped airports like Tegel, while they dick around trying to build Brandenburg, now estimated to be 2019 and several 100 million Euros more. But no one really expects to see it go into service in 2019 yet.

Speaking of Pan Am 103, today is the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Air India Emperor Kanishka (747-238B), which was the result of a complete cluster foxtrot by the Canadians at Toronto, where they missed two sets of bombs in checked baggage. The other one fortunately exploded on the ground. If the Air India flight had not been delayed that one would also have exploded on the ground in Europe.


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 23, 2015)

So your "trusted traveler" status didn't do you much good with the "papers please!" blackshirts in Berlin!

Sounds like the Germans still have some of the East Berlin border goons still working @ the Airport!

Could it possibly have been due to amatuer profiling ( works well in Israel as you know),instead of your lottery number coming up?

And as for the White Elephant @_Brandenberg, it's Germany's version of the "Big Dig" in Boston or any major construction project by the Port Authority!


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## Anderson (Jun 23, 2015)

jis said:


> In this case it was also some heightened alert decreed by the TSA/DHS gang. They are expecting some retaliation apparently because the number two guy of Al Qaida was killed last week or something like that. The Germans specifically don't went to be in the embarrassing position again of having missed something after having done so in the Pan Am 103 incident. So passengers get a lot of royal treatment and personal free massages when such decrees are issued by whoever. it gets way more interesting at grossly under-equipped airports like Tegel, while they dick around trying to build Brandenburg, now estimated to be 2019 and several 100 million Euros more. But no one really expects to see it go into service in 2019 yet.


That explains all the extra soldiers running around Penn Station yesterday.

(No, really, there was obvious extra security in there...they didn't have their M-4s [i think I _might_ have seen that _once_ before] but there were more than usual)


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## jis (Jun 23, 2015)

jimhudson said:


> So your "trusted traveler" status didn't do you much good with the "papers please!" blackshirts in Berlin!


Trusted Traveler as in the Global Entry Program is a US ICE/CBP program. It has nothing to do with German Security. The GOES Id can be submitted to the TSA PreClearance program to get TSA Pre status, and that has nothing to do with German Security either.



> Sounds like the Germans still have some of the East Berlin border goons still working @ the Airport!


No they were nothing like the East German Border Security guys at all. They were just very no nonsense business like, as Germans tend to be.



> Could it possibly have been due to amatuer profiling ( works well in Israel as you know),instead of your lottery number coming up?


I don't believe so. One that was picked before me was a blonde as can be middle aged woman, and the one after me was someone who could pass for Chancellor Brandt. I have no idea what the criteria used were. It could very well be that as soon as one of the special inspection guys finished with the last one they just picked up the next one who was first on line even.



> And as for the White Elephant @_Brandenberg, it's Germany's version of the "Big Dig" in Boston or any major construction project by the Port Authority!


It is actually way more hilarious than that. That is why the mention of it makes any German cringe a little.


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