Luggage: To Spinner or Not?

[Shak]

Possibly. We did get a crabby gate agent at McCarran Airport last October that insisted our bags wouldn't fit and made me put my bag in their sizer. I think it was a Sun Country flight. When it slid right in, she seemed surprised, and even a little perturbed. She didn't seem to notice that it was a bit wider than it should have been. She made my wife put her identical bag in the sizer also, I suppose because she could. Both bags went into the cabin.

 

I'm not sure if each airline has it's own carryon sizer or if they all use the same unit. I've carried the 20" wide body on multiple airlines at least 20 times without a problem so far. Although, we have been flying business class and economy comfort quite a bit, so maybe that has accounted for the leniency. On A320 aircraft there are some overhead bins that hold just one bag. I've found that the 20" fits those bins perfectly. I think some bins are less deep than others, but I've never actually measured. I've read a theory that bins aren't as deep towards the front of the plane because the fuselage narrows as you go forward.

 

I may end up downsizing bags even more for cruise travel. Not to avoid baggage fees, I don't pay them now, I just don't take much anymore.

 

It is interesting what one sees carried onto a plane these days. I've seen large backpacks and duffel bags make it on board and there's no way they would have fit in the sizer.

 

Thanks for the link. I'll give it a look.

 

I found out about sizers last year on Air Canada. At the time they were cracking down on carry on bags. Not only were they using their sizers they also at times were weighing bags. After I packed my 20 inch carry on I decided to measure it. I put my bag on the kitchen table to get accurate measurements. My bag is about 8 years old and I discovered that the manufacture didn't include the wheels or handle in the measurements. This was common at the time. While my length measurement was fine width exceeded the 9 inch measurement. There were many videos from news organizations and most of the problems people were having was their bags were too fat. I also found out those handy outside pockets on my luggage were not meant to actually put anything in them that expanded them.

 

Shak

Edited March 2, 2015 by Shak

[Beachdude]

I found out about sizers last year on Air Canada. At the time they were cracking down on carry on bags. Not only were they using their sizers they also at times were weighing bags.

 

We ran into this with Hawaiian Airline Island-to-Island flights. I never thought about weight, be we had to pay extra for our overweight carry on.

 

Burt

[port msp]

I found out about sizers last year on Air Canada. At the time they were cracking down on carry on bags. Not only were they using their sizers they also at times were weighing bags. After I packed my 20 inch carry on I decided to measure it. I put my bag on the kitchen table to get accurate measurements. My bag is about 8 years old and I discovered that the manufacture didn't include the wheels or handle in the measurements. This was common at the time. While my length measurement was fine width exceeded the 9 inch measurement. There were many videos from news organizations and most of the problems people were having was their bags were too fat. I also found out those handy outside pockets on my luggage were not meant to actually put anything in them that expanded them.

 

Shak

 

I suspect that many of our bags would no longer pass the sizer test. I too have learned to not use the outer pockets for anything other than maybe a magazine or two. From my limited observations, it seems it's the "fat" bag that gets stopped. I've watched plenty of people attempting to stuff their "fat" carryon into the overhead bin. Not only had they zipped open the expander, they'd also filled the outer pockets. They're easily twice the thickness they should be.

As far as overweight goes, I haven't had a carryon bag weighed yet. I'm sure it's coming. A coworker (former flight attendant) tells me stories of carryon horror. Bags that easily weigh 50+ lbs, brought on by people who can't lift them up into the bin. Or people shedding layer after layer of clothing because they didn't want to gate check an obviously overstuffed carryon. When stopped by the gate agent, they simply took out a bunch of clothes and put them on until the bag fit in the sizer. As soon as they boarded, they shed the clothes and stuffed the excess in the nooks and crannies of the overheads. With carryon bag size enforcement so hit and miss, I guess some people think it's worth the risk and push the limits. As I posted before, I've seen some very large bags make it by the gate agent.

I love people-watching in airports! I like to see how other people travel. I've actually stopped someone and asked about their luggage. I'm still on a quest for the perfect carryon luggage.

[julie3fan]

I've been amazed at the number of bags some people get away with carrying on, especially when more than one would have to go in the overhead bin. Makes it harder to find space for the ONE bag DH and I have for the TWO of us!