Norton26

Here are the details;

I am 2MM AA Plat traveling on the May 14 AA flight Jax to DFW to SFO with a First Class tix.

I had two carry on's, the larger was a Hartmann fold-over on rollers. The exact size and style that I have carried on for nearly twenty years. It looks to be the 44" Intensity Travelmaster on Hartmann's site and is listed as a carry on. The second bag was small and put under the seat.

The gate agent stopped me as my boarding pass was being swiped and told me that due to recent changes in FAA regs, I would have to check my Hartmann.

This was done totally on an eyeball basis. She did not request me to put the bag in one of those 'will your bag fit here?' sizers that sit around the airport.

I will admit the bag was full as I was going on a one week trip, but that was not the issue. She claimed the FAA regs had just changed in the last few weeks.

I now know that is not accurate as that bag does fit the sizer. I have since flown from OAK to LAS on Southwest without checking and then from LAS to JAX today on AA, again without checking this same bag.

Just so happens that my outbound flt from Jax to DFW was delayed six hours and my bag did not arrive in SFO until the next day! Isn't that why we carry on to begin with?

Here is my question; was the gate agent totally out of line to instruct me to check merely on her visual observation?

How could I have stood my ground without getting into an argument I wasn't going to win?

Your thoughts? I really want to hear from the Flyertalk community on this one.

Norton

brp

When you say 44", is this the total (L+W+D) dimension? What are the dimensions of the bag? Do they comply with the sizer (something like 21X14X10)? Most garment bags I've seen are too big.

If not in compliance, then the GA was correct, no matter how many times you've taken it on in the past. If it does comply, questionable move.

Your number of MM is irrelevant.

Cheers.

rjque

44"? That's not on the carryon list on the Hartmann site. It looks way too big.

Norton26

I looked again and you are correct, it is not on the Hartmann carry on list...

The bag is 22" across and 44" long when unzipped and opened...

But, it does fit in the metal 'will your bag fit here' sizers. And it has fit in the overhead bins for the past 20 years.

So I guess the question is, has the FAA changed the regs and does that now makes those sizers obsolete?

Norton

dayone

No.

Invoke "DYKWIA."

Ready2Go

I don't know anything about a recent change, but AA's limit for carryons is (and has been for some time) 45 inches (total of length, width, and height). Two websites I have checked say the dimensions of this bag are 20.5 x 24 x 7. That's too big.

HNL

AA gate agents are being much more proactive about enforcing carry on rules. There has not been a change in FAA policy.

jayer

Irrespective of exact measurements, if you mean two suitcase-size items as implied; then they are supposed to check one.

Norton26

Did not intend to imply that. The second bag was small and put under the seat.

videomaker

Which means it is more than AA's limit of 45 linear inches combined--and the GA was justified in making you check it.

You couldn't.

Your thread title is also a bit misleading where it says your bag is "approved." Not sure who approved it, not AA.

Mountain Trader

If I were a gate agent in this tough climate, I'd try to find a way to work with a 2MM flying in First, even he was trying to carry-on Dumbo, which the OP was far from doing.

Dave Noble

She did find a way of dealing with the oversized item; she required it to be checked ( as it should have been in the 1st place if it exceeded any of the dimensions)

Dave

brp

To the detriment of the other folks flying in first who may have paid actual money to sit there (I don't know how much the OP paid in this case,I just know that I'm also 2MM (and EXP) and, if I'm in first it means that i bought a cheap ticket and upgraded and other folks there surely paid quite a bit more then I did).

If there are going to be rules, they should be enforced consistently, within a given aircraft, anyway. A 767 can have some more leeway in premium cabin just because there's more room for everyone, for example.

Cheers.

garygleck

We took a carry on bag on 5 segments with AA last month...only at LAX were we forced to check it in...At LAX we were asked to place the bag into the "cart" and each time it fit. Only as we boarded in LA were we forced to check it in...Previously, this year the exact same bag passed and was not questioned in Hawaii, St. Louis, Dallas, Las Vegas, ...Only by a GA at LAX...Fortunately, they did not charge us...

Oceanrider

For the last 10 years or so, after an unpleasant incident in Zurich, Mrs. Oceanrider has kept a small tape measure in her carry on, usually with a copy of the relevant airline's sizing rules. I have seen her whip it out 2-3 times in Europe and at least twice in the US when confronted by a GA. Once seeing the tape measure they have uniformly backed off without even measuring. She has determined however, that this will not work in the premium security line at JFK if she is targeted. The antidote to that is simply to walk around to the non-premium line.