Airlines set to reduce size of carry on luggage

Ziggy | 17 Jun, 2015 08:36AM | Leave a comment
Passengers are set to be hit with new stricter controls on the size of carry-on bags under plans being drawn up by the industry trade body representing leading airlines.

New guidelines have been drafted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which acts for 260 major scheduled carriers, currently accounting for 83 per cent of air traffic.

If all airlines adopt the proposals, the new limit would see the maximum size of a carry on bag cut to 21.5 inches tall, 13.5 inches wide and 7.5 inches deep.

However, currently individual airlines vary.

The size set by British Airways, for example, is currently 22 inches tall, 18 inches wide and 10 inches deep.

BA also allows passengers to take a second smaller personal bag on board and even that, at 18x14x8 inches, would exceed the new limits recommended by IATA.

A spokesman for IATA stressed that the proposals were guidelines and that airlines were free to set their own limits.

However, seven carriers have already said they will follow the new controls: Air China, Avianca, Azul, China Southern, Emirates, Lufthansa and Qatar.

-telegraph.co.uk