Carry On Size for British Airways

Be prepared to gate check your 24-inch bag. Keep your must have stuff in your personal carry-on.

Surprised that your 24-incher made it domestically. American Airlines (a BA partner) also limits carry-on to 22 x 14 x 9 inches / 56 x 36 x 23 centimeters (including handles and wheels).

I too am surprised you can get away with 24" bags on domestic airlines.

While BA's carry-on size is slightly larger than many other international carriers (56 cm instead of 55), they will not allow a 24" bag. The plane type does not matter.

I don't think there's any way you could carry on 24" bags. We've taken our 24" bags on almost all of our trips for years, domestic and international, and ALWAYS have to check them.

I fly BA Boston to Heathrow, and I just returned from my most recent trip. They are much tighter on carryon than they have been in the past. You'd be strangely lucky if you got a 24" on the flight. In fact, they are tagging the personal item with a yellow tag if there is any question that it is not within their new personal item which is supposed to be no more than 16 X 12 X 6. And, if you get the 24" on, you have to put it sideways and are limiting someone else who followed the rules, not to be harsh, but you are. Grab a change of clothes from you suitcase and just check it.

I flew BA roundtrip Seattle to Heathrow last year on a triple 7. Your 24" bag will not fit in their sizer box. Their sizer box is enclosed on all but one side. Beyond that, they want your bag to go straight into the bin, not sideways, and 24" is too long. You may as well check those bags before you even get to security.

I took this bag carry-on. I didnt expand it or overstuff it. It is soft-sided and according to the specs, the dimensions, including wheels and handles, are 14 x 22 x 9 in / 36 x 56 x 23 cm.

But the sizer box was built in such a way that I could barely get it out after I got it in. It was framed with square tubes that were inside the box. If the exterior skin was the required dimensions, a hard-sided case won't go in. A soft-sided one might go in, but might need little adjustment to come out. The tubes were about 3/4 - 1" square. If the interior measurements between the framing pieces are the right ones, either kind of bag will fit, although a soft-sided bag still might hang up on the frame. But no 24" bag of any kind is gonna fit in that box.

My goal is to be able to travel with my new backpack which is 12.5 x 20.5 x 8.5 in / 32 x 52 x 22 cm. I'm hoping that it is narrow and shallow enough to go in the bin of a CRJ700. In those planes, sideways is the only option for something that long.

And I will add to Lo's comment, the RS Rollaboard fits nicely into the sizing box.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I had pretty much assumed the bag wouldn't fit, but thought it was worth asking. I must say, the response time and insight of this forum is impressive.

I used the 24" bag on a flight to London in January and didn't have to check it, but that was Virgin Atlantic, the flight was only about half full, and I was in economy plus (traveling for work, so they paid for the upgrade). I was very doubtful about using the bag with an economy ticket in June. Looks like I'm going bag shopping. Thanks for the link to that bag Lo, I will check it out.

While you might (but probably not) be able to sneak your 24 inch bag aboard your BA flight in Oakland, I'm pretty confident you won't get in on board for the return flight. My experience with BA at European airports is that they are much more vigilant and will insist it goes into a baggage sizer.

Full disclosure about this bag, it is expandable, and the Eagle Creek website says it's pretty heavy at 5 lbs, 13 oz. Other websites may have different weights. The RS Rolling Carry-on weighs a bit more at 6 lbs, 10 oz.

Even though I gave 3 tops to charity stores and tossed some under-performing socks in the garbage, I did buy a few goodies which required me to expand it and check it on the way back to Seattle. I had no problem with that, since it was a non-stop flight. I don't like to check anything on the way to Europe.

Whether expanded or not, the Eagle Creek bag has lots of places to grab and lift it. I found that to be very useful.

You can buy that bag from a number of online vendors. Look for a discount.

@Lo, My RS Rolling bag comes in at just under 6lbs. Do you have an older or newer bag? Mine is 2 years old. Wray