I just landed in PRG after flying SEZ-DXB-PRG on EK.

The carry-on enforcement was brutal and shocking at DXB. The situation was so unusual that I stopped by here to see if there was any dialog about it.

I routinely fly with a Rimowa Pilot Case that counts as my "carry on" and a Tumi Alpha laptop case that counts as my personal item. I've flown hundreds of thousands of miles on many airlines all around the world in this configuration and have not once been stopped. The Rimowa is a few KG over the published limits for most airlines but no airline has ever weighed it except for very small aircraft. They're usually satisfied with the fact that it's obviously smaller than allowable size for a carry on.

We checked in at SEZ and everything was normal. I boarded the 777 to DXB with my luggage and nobody said a word.

We had a long layover at DXB so I checked these carry on bags at left luggage and went into the city for a while. Upon returning to the airport, and going to the gate area, all passengers were forced into a line and their carry on bags were individually weighed on a digital scale.

Passengers with more than one carry on were denied entry (i.e. the normal "one carry on and one personal item" rule did not exist with EK) and even something as small as a laptop case was cause for denial of entry. If anyone raised a question, they pointed to the word "1" on a sign posted above the scale, and if anyone pushed back, they pulled the passenger out of the queue and told them to protest in another area but they were steadfast and brutal about enforcement of the "1 item" with no exceptions and no allowance for what other airlines accept as a personal item.

If a bag weighed even a fraction of a KG over 7 KG, they would lecture the passenger on the weight limit. If it broke 8 KG, they'd be more harsh. And, if it approached 9 KG or higher, the passenger was denied entry.

I tried to fight this at the front line, but my protests fell on deaf ears. I was told to go back to the check-in counter to check a bag and make sure the remaining one was under 7 KG. I protested at the check-in counter but the agent didn't budge. I saw a supervisor, and she didn't budge, saying this is the rule, and that's it.

I was on a very long trip and carrying a lot of valuable and critical electronic equipment. Nothing in my carry on could safely be checked. So, I spent almost half an hour carefully selecting 7 KG worth of stuff that I could carry with my Tumi Alpha, and put the rest into the Rimowa then checked it.

When I got through the entrance control, I made a point of observing what other passengers were carrying. It was obvious that at least 40% of all passengers in the gate area were in violation of this rule, having either a bag that was obviously more than 7 KG in weight or having a full sized carry on and also what a normal airline would consider a "personal item" as well. None of these passengers could have gotten through the entrance controls at DXB, so from this and from my experience, I conclude that this rule is not being enforced at most airports outside DXB and that it is not enforced in DXB for connecting passengers provided that such passengers don't leave the airport and re-enter, as we did.

This was my first time flying EK and the experience was fantastic in all respects except for this. I can't fly with only 1 item and a weight of < 7 KG, so as a result of this policy, I most likely will never fly EK again.

Based on the fact that this issue was recently raised in this thread, it sounds like this is a new policy.