Getting a handle on cabin baggage: How confusing are the current rules, and what is changing (or not)? | OneFootball

You know the feeling: you buy a budget airline ticket and turn up at the departure gate only to discover that you have the wrong sort of hand baggage. It might be too big for the “sizer” at the entrance to the plane. Or you may have one too many items – such as a handbag as well as a laptop case. The error could cost you £50.

Cabin baggage limits on flights are maddeningly complicated. Airlines decide their own rules on the exact dimensions and weights of hand luggage.

Many “legacy” carriers such as British Airways and North American airlines have a generous two-item allowance for cabin baggage.

But budget airlines in Europe are much more restrictive. Most charge for anything bigger than a small backpack, laptop case or handbag. They deploy different dimensions for the free cabin baggage item, and for a paid-for trolley bag.

European consumer groups say every passenger should be allowed to carry a rollalong case, as well as a “personal item” such as a handbag or laptop bag, free of charge. Sixteen national bodies from across the EU, under the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) umbrella, say They want a consistent and generous allowance for what you can take into the aircraft.

Agustin Reyna, director general of BEUC, said: “Consumers expect to see a small item and a piece of hand luggage when buying basic tickets.” In other words, every airline should share the British Airways two-piece limit.

MEPs at the European Parliament have voted in favour of the concept, though any law is still some way off. They say: “EU-wide harmonisation of the requirements on the size, weight and type of carry-on and check-in luggage for all airlines operating in the European Union would enhance transparency and consumer protection for all air travellers.”

The budget airlines are alarmed at the prospect of being forced to allow passengers to bring two bags on board. To show willing to the European lawmakers, the trade group Airlines for Europe (A4E) has moved to align on a set of minimum dimensions for a single free piece of cabin baggage. The aim is to see off the threat of legislation.

One consequence is that Ryanair is raising its free cabin baggage allowance.

Simon Calder, travel correspondent of The Independent, has been stowing his belongings in the overhead locker for a good few years and can bring you answers to all the key questions.

No. A couple of decades ago, the number of questions I received about cabin baggage allowances was close to zero. But in 2006, airlines started charging for checked baggage. As the practice spread swiftly through the budget airlines and then the “legacy” carriers, inevitably passengers started cramming whatever they could into hand luggage.

Very quickly, the overhead bins started flowing over and some larger pieces of cabin baggage were consigned to the hold anyway.

Then airlines spotted another revenue source: charging for taking larger pieces of cabin baggage on board.

They don’t agree about the exact dimensions on the free item, either – leading to all manner of disputes at the boarding gate.

Meanwhile airlines such as British Airways see their generous two-piece allowance (with, in BA’s case, a maximum weight of 46kg), as a marketing edge.

What do the top budget carriers allow?

Currently, if you normally fly on airline X, you cannot assume your bag will also be compliant on airline Y. At present the leading three budget airlines in Europe have sharply different maximum dimensions:Free bag:

When converted to litres of capacity, the differences become obvious:

Among the budget airlines, Jet2 is way ahead – allowing a giant free cabin bag measuring 56 x 45 x 25cm (63 litres) with a weight of up to 10kg, as well as a personal item (40 x 30 x 15cm, or 18 litres).

Only British Airways is more generous, with the same two-bag allowance and dimensions as Jet2, and a weight limit for each piece of 23kg. Technically the BA carry on limit is 46kg, but I'm not sure any passenger ever fully avails of that allowance.

Far from it. The big European airlines have announced a “guaranteed set of dimensions of 40 × 30 × 15 cm for the item of cabin baggage that usually is placed under the seat in front”.

That might sound like standardisation, but it’s not. The message: if you have a bag of those dimensions, with a volume of 18 litres, you are sure to be allowed to carry it on to any airline free of charge. One size will definitely fit all.

To comply with the A4E alignment, Europe’s biggest budget airline has decided to increase its free allowance by 20 per cent. It will increase the breadth of permitted bags from 25 to 30cm “over the coming weeks”.

The dimensions will soon be 40 x 30 x 20cm – a volume of 24 litres, up one-fifth from the current 20.

Already courts in Italy and Spain have come down on the side of passengers wanting to bring two pieces of cabin baggage, with fines imposed on various budget airlines, particularly Ryanair. But the carriers believe that they will win at higher courts, because the current system offers passengers choice.

Airlines say that forcing airlines to carry almost unlimited cabin baggage will snarl up their systems and send air fares soaring.

Michael O’Leary of Ryanair says officials in Brussels “accept that there will have to be restrictions”. He told me: “We can only allow about half the passengers to bring a wheelie bag on board. There isn’t space on board the aircraft for any more bags.

“So we don’t think there’s going to be any legislation that will impose a right – or impose on all airlines, ‘You must take all these wheelie bags’ – because the aircraft won’t fit the bags.”

Yes, because budget airlines make a lot of money from charging for larger items of hand luggage. Low-cost carriers refute the accusation that extra baggage charges are hidden. They say they make pricing entirely transparent.

I have some sympathy with them. Yet the airlines have brought extra attention to their policies by upping the cost of baggage to an absurd degree. On 1 October, for example, I can buy a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Cork for £16.99. But taking a larger piece of cabin baggage will cost an extra £17 – more than doubling the cost.