Introduction
I happened to see a post by Ed at Pizza In Motion about carry-on bags, and potential of having to gate check. I haven’t experienced this, but since I have a wide-body Briggs and Riley bag, I figured this was worth some further research.
This has been reported before, although any of the other news sources I’ve been able to find don’t meet my “linkable” level. But the fact of the matter is that between twitter and FlyerTalk, there is a discussion about this. United is the primary culprit. But, I’d like to open the aperture a bit.
What airlines are enforcing
The first caveat is that airlines appear to be enforcing specific dimensions. It used to be that airlines enforced maximum linear inches. From a quite search, it looks like United is enforcing a specific dimension maximum. American still enforces 45 inches (length + width + height), however, they do state, that bags cannot be more than 22″ long x 14″ wide x 9″ tall. So they appear to be mid-ling in their enforcement.
Why airlines are enforcing limited carry on sizes
So, I’ll be candid here – unlike other bloggers (that I won’t mention), I don’t have connections with the airlines. I wish I did, it would make it easier to hunt this sort of info down. That said, if I were to offer my thoughts, I would say that for United, I see no reason. For American, I would guess that they are focused on maximizing space, since they are introducing Boeing’s Sky Interior on their 737s.
Boeing Sky Interior.
Personally, I don’t buy it, given the extra space. That said. I will say that when my wife and I flew Qatar’s 787 in March, my wide Briggs and Riley bag did not fit on its side, and had to be laid down (taking up more space). We were in business class, so it didn’t matter a whole lot, but, a data point none-the-less.
Conclusion
Should you be scared about having your bag forcibly gate-checked? I don’t know, but I’d recommend that you be prepared for it. I haven’t had a bag gate checked (excluding regional aircraft), since 2011, when a Continental Gate Agent got over-zealous, and I got onboard only to see 60% of overhead space empty–we actually took off with about 30% of the space empty. But, I’ve gotten over that, and haven’t been forced to gate check since. Perhaps your greatest fear should be an overzealous gate agent, or boarding as zone 4 or 40 (I lose track of how many different zones there are now-a-days) boarding.
Trevor,
My standard bag is a Briggs & Riley Transcend. Not only is it a big bag, it LOOKS big. It actually fits into all the domestic non-RJ overhead bins just fine because I don’t overpack it.
That being said, because it looks big it should be the target of gate agents. Since I bought the bag (I think back in 2008) it has been flagged for a sizer exactly once, by an American agent in DFW about 4 years ago. She was in a bad mood and we were there near the tail end of boarding due to a delay in our arriving flight.
Despite literally hundreds of flights since then, I’ve never had a bag questioned by an agent. I fully expected United to start flagging it when they bought all the new sizers last year. In a move that’s reflective of many of their management decisions, almost nobody has seen any real level of enforcement.
Hard to say if that’s what the future holds, but for now I’m not worried about the gate check police.
Ed, Thanks for your comment! I too have a Transcend, however its the wide-body.
I think we’ve seen a variety of pushes on carry-on over the past ten or fifteen years. I think it really does come down to enforcement, but, the first step in that direction is the move to specific dimensions rather than linear inches.
My solution to this was just to avoid the uncertainty of overhead space and checking everything except a soft bag like a backpack with whatever I want to have with me on board. It might cost me an extra 20 minutes on the other end, but that’s fine. If it’s an airline where I have status (currently US and AS, but it will be neither next year) or a credit card that gives me a free bag, I check it at the counter. If not, I bring it through security and offer to gate check it to avoid a fee – I’ve never been turned down, but if they say no, that’s fine I’ll put it up in the overhead.
Of course, I travel mostly with a toddler now so I have to check things, but even when I’m headed out on business I just check it now.
I’ve had bad luck with checked bags; I still remember back to my honeymoon, it was the first time in quite a while that I had checked a bag. The way back, we picked up some Gosling’s Black Seal rum as a “momento” which promptly got packed in the bag to be checked. The bottle was completely smashed. I think the baggage claim folks must have mistook our bag for a dance floor or something, the only part remaining intact was the bottom. That memory (approaching 7 years ago now), still flashes in my mind whenever I consider checking a bag.
That said – its a solid strategy with a toddler. I can only imagine trying to keep a toddler in check, and dragging or stowing a carry-on!
@Trevor, I like that wide-body you have. Kinda wished I’d bought it as well. We’re all in that same boat wondering about enforcement…
@awty, as a business traveler with 100 flights a year, waiting an extra 10-15 minutes for a checked bag on every flight is time that I just don’t have, let alone when they periodically lose my bag.