Anyone here who has flown out of JFK with cathay know if they are strict with carry on baggage? we flew with cathay out of JFK last year but i totally forgot.

i looked at the allowed dimensions and each of our hand carry items are off by a bit. do you think the ppl at JFK will let it slide? i mean do they actually measure the dimension or just look at the size and weight? last year i just remember bringing a tennis racket (w/ case) and it was definitely exceeded the allowed length. but it was thin and obviously not heavy.

i know they're strict with the check-in items cause last year we had balikbayan boxes and one was 71 Ibs. we ended up opening it and another until it was exactly or below 70 Ibs. kind of embarrassing especially with ppl staring like "what the heck are in those boxes?" haha if you're filipino, you'll know this year there's 5 of us and we have 10 checked in items all together. and each of us will be carrying a hand carry.

If you have status, they usually look the other way. Also depends on how full the flight is. At this time of the year, it shouldn't be too full.

Thanks!! I just hope they are feeling generous this Saturday *crosses fingers*

oh and we're flying on Economy

When you leave HKG, the airport is very strict. If you have status, you can ask CX to tag your bag to get through the airport guards. It still depends on how big your carry-ons are. It also depends on whether HKG is your only destination.

HK won't be our final destination, we will be transiting only. will our hand carries still be a problem there?

No. Hand Luggage is screened for passengers joining at HKG only as far as I know.

Then it depends on the other airports and the airlines you will be flying on. Unless changed recently, the transit security does not care about the size/weight - just make sure the sizes are reasonable.

thanks guys for the responses and help. im so stressed because my travel mates aka my family, are bringing too much. and most of our luggage that will be checked in is so close to 70 Ibs like around 65-68 Ibs. I'm scared that the weighing scale at JFK might be different and say our boxes are over 70 (I hope not). as for the hand carry, there's 5 of us and each of us will have one. one of the hand carries is a nike duffle bag which is over the allowed length by like 3". that's why i was wondering if Cathay at JFK is strict. if we are unable to get some of our baggage on/below the limit, how much does Cathay charge??

well we leave saturday morning (flight leaves 10:10AM). since we live in Jersey about 1 hour away from JFK, we will be leaving the house around 5AM. i hope everything will be fine. like i said, i really dont feel like opening boxes (that are taped) and then moving items from box to box infront of other passengers. its embarrassing.

Well, best way to avoid embarrassment is to make sure you don't go over the 70lbs limit. Most of the items you are bringing to Manila can be bought at Manila.

we're not going to manila. straight to cebu from hong kong

My gf and I flew to CEB from LAX a couple weeks ago. We did not bring balikbayan boxes but no one questioned our carry-ons (each one of us had slightly oversized roll-a-boards).

They did weigh our carry-ons on the way back at Mactan...one of them was 43 lbs (40-pound limit, I think), but they let it slide with a smile.