Questions and Answers

Hey Lucky, I love your blog, and wanted to share this. Was told by an American Airlines agent on a flight from Chicago to San Diego, that my bag did not fit in the box. This after the entire plane boarded, and then deplaned and moved to another plane due to American’s error. Seems like it fits to me. Ironically, another similar sized bag was allowed to board the plane after mine was gate checked.

On top of that, after we reboarded The flight attendant also announced that “some passengers were upset that we wouldn’t a broken plane 500 mph.. sorry about that.” Seemed pretty rude after you made everyone an extra 2 hours late.
Seemed pretty ridiculous so I thought I’d share. See picture below.

Best,

Aaron Filous

Sent from my iPhone

Hey Aaron, your picture did not attach.

I’ve been in this situation before, with both American and Delta. I know my bag fits, since I fly dozens of times each year on anything from regional jets to long-range. Unfortunately, the airport/airplane is not the place to make your stand! I’ve found it best to just let them gate-check my bag (it’s free) and will typically message customer service afterwards. That usually gets me 2,500 bonus miles or something of similar value.

Are you referring to fitting in the sizer? If you’re directed to place your bag in the blue sizer before boarding and it is too large, then it obviously “doesn’t fit.” Lots of gate agents just eyeball luggage and make the call. It’s not a question of fitting into an overhead bin – most luggage can pass that test. Frankly, I can fit myself in an overhead bin, but I wouldn’t fit into a sizer! They can be very fussy on this point.

[USER=1566]@Gia[/USER] [I]”I can fit myself in an overhead bin, but I wouldn’t fit into a sizer! “[/I] LOL…. Reminds me when during my compulsory military service the cheapest way to get home was on the midnight mail-train from the capital, where we gave some money to the train driver and he let us ride in the extra, darkened carriage the mail-train had. There were so many of us (young soldiers) in that carriage, that on two occasions I had to sleep on the overhead luggage rack……..

Hand luggage allowance doesn’t always mean that if it will fit or not. It’s more about sharing the space with your fellow passengers. A full sized check in bag can fit into a 787 overhead bin, but if everybody had that, they would run out of space really quick! If your bag does not fit in the sizer, it’s not within your allowance.