robinshe

All of our handbaggage is 55 x 40 x 23, which seems to be standard for many European airlines. After booking a transatlantic flight with KLM I have discovered that KLM allows handbaggage to be only 55 x 35 x 25. Is this likely to be a problem?

johan rebel

No, it is not likely to be.

Johan

Juntima

I have never got my hand-baggage checked flying with KLM. I guess if it is not obviously too big, there should not be a problem.

Xandrios

You will most likely be fine. I generally fly with a bag of the same dimensions and on hundreds of KLM flights I have never had an issue. I do use the priority lane though, so they may be less strict - but I don’t believe that your bag is excessively large.

CosmicGirl

The only airports where I've had issues on AFKL are CDG and YUL. I used to fly out of YUL frequently and the only time they did not question anything was when I was flying in J. They even created a scene over a puffer coat, gloves, and a hat once when it was -20°C ouside.
So unless you're flying back from YUL you will likely be fine.

KLBGO

They never check hand-luggage, wich is a good thing -- in most cases. On my last flight however the FAs was asked to help a female passenger to put her hand-luggage into the overhead comp. Is must have weighed about 25 kilos, as the FAs struggeled to get it lifted. They were laughing quite a lot afterwards and the passenger didn't get any (other) comments.

johan rebel

Depends on your perspective.

Far too often all those steamer trunks and kitchen sinks that pax bring on board cause so much chaos that the aircraft pushed back behind schedule.

Much stricter enforcement than is the case now would be a good thing.

Johan

ok986

Rollaboards are semi-regularly gate-checked on short-haul flights in AMS, esp if you have a second item (eg a purse), incl for J passengers.

johan rebel

That, in my experience, is more miss that hit. When they do, they tend to pick only on the very largest bags.

Almost always seated in one the first rows, and generally amongst the first to board, I get to see the entire parade come by. That includes plenty of big rollaboards, often with an attache case or other bag parked on top. Regardless of class of travel.

Johan

Ditto

I never had any of my luggage at the gate, despite almost always travelling with a trolley + laptop bag, even when the trolley is 55x40x20 or so.
KLM would "encourage" PAX to check-in their bags if the flight is full, but I have never seen them force PAX to do so in AMS, and in airports when they do force it (LHR comes to mind), they don't check the size.

tezzer

I couldn't agree more, little annoys me more than people with arms full of bags, filling an entire locker, designed for a row of passengers, or worse still, leaving them up at the front of the aircraft, in the lockers marked for business class only, then wandering back to take one of the cheap seats !

Fabo.sk

I've seen it. Well, not sure if it was forceful compared to LHR, but it was more than a mere suggestion or encouragement.

johan rebel

They even open J class lockers that have been closed because they are already full, happily holding up all the pax behind them and delaying boarding even further. It is one of the reasons I'm much in favor of boarding through two doors. It deprives half the pax of the opportunity.

Johan

Solevita

In March I noticed a largish family type group (I think 3 or 4 adults, 3 kids) boarding near the end. 3 or 4 rows of EC virtually empty so the overhead bins empty too. Y seemed full as far as I could tell.

They plopped all their luggage straight in the EC lockers without bothering to see if there was space at their seats (OK could have been a smart call from them being near the end of boarding).

Now, call me cynical, but not long into the flight somebody apparently wasn't feeling so good. I was just sitting with my eyes closed but vaguely heard what was happening, somebody being moved up to EC, purser asking if they're feeling any better, then 'felt' the empty row behind me no longer empty. Opened my eyes and yes it just happened to be the family that conveniently filled the EC lockers

EvD86

I would be not happy to sit nearby.. There's a maximum weight capacity for a reason, such as turbulence and crash landings...

I would love KLM to enforce their bagage rules..