American, Delta, United downsize acceptable limits for carry-on bag

How big is too big for carry-on luggage? It depends on what airline you fly. But some big carriers recently changed the rules for acceptable sizes. (Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg)

Three airlines recently downsized their acceptable dimensions for a carry-on bag, catching one travel pro by surprise and sending up a warning flag for others who might be caught unaware.

George Hobica of Airfarewatchdog was taking his wheeled bag through airport security when an American Airlines representative approached him and "insisted that I put my suitcase in a bag sizer," he wrote in a article for USAToday.

It was the same bag he always uses, but it failed the size test. That's because American had revised its carry-on policies to include a maximum width of 14 inches instead of 15 inches, the size of his bag.

cComments

• We all need to understand that pay toilets on airplanes are about a year away. I've stopped taking flights for anything closer than 500 miles away, and that distance increases with every money-grubbing change these parasites make to their fees and 'services'.
  DOUGDINGLE
  AT 1:32 PM JUNE 12, 2014

ADD A COMMENTSEE ALL COMMENTS

1

American, Delta and United airlines recently altered carry-on sizes to a maximum of 22 inches long, 14 inches wide and 9 inches high.

"So these very specific measurements really change the game, and will be causing a lot of headaches -- and heartaches when people learn they will have to leave their favorite, and in some cases, very expensive, bags in the closet," he writes.

Not all airlines hew to the new size limits. JetBlue and Southwest, for example, allow bigger bags that measure at most 24 inches long, 16 inches wide and 10 inches high.

www.mohanvamsi.com