BA reduces size limit of personal item

FYI, I have the original Euro Flight Bag ('Avanti' I think it was called). It's very soft-sided, so just don't pack it full ;-)

The slow, down hill slide to sitting naked on the plane continues.

Frank, you are optimistic, I think more people will fit standing up.

...as they patiently wait to use the single toilet on a jumbo jet.

I am happy about this. People carry too much on so it takes too long to deplane. They only changed the size of the personal item, not the carryon anyway. I'd like to see more people check their bags, let go of their possessions. It can be freeing. Maybe this will help that movement. Pack light, but check your bag.

Frank,

You know if having to travel naked speeds up clearing security and customs, I'm for it. ;-)

But don't give the airlines any ideas. They might have us standing naked in the plane squeezed tight enough together that seat belts or other restraints become unnecessary.

I think the main reason for this is profit, of course: the more weight limits are reduced inside the cabin, the more cargo weight the plane can hold, which pays better than baggage fees anyway.

I think the main reason for this is profit, of course: the more weight limits are reduced inside the cabin, the more cargo weight the plane can hold, which pays better than baggage fees anyway.

Also, reduce the weight of an airliner and its fuel consumption drops, enough that it makes a substantial difference in the operating cost.

"I'd like to see more people check their bags, let go of their possessions. It can be freeing."

Freeing, huh? My second flight after I embraced Rick's carry on philosophy, I had a flight to Frankfurt with a 1 hour change in an eastern airport. Our flight left Denver an hour late due to deicing, and they were predicting our time of arrival as about the time the Lufthansa jet was to take off for Germany. I mentioned this to the FA, who checked the manifest and found that there were 13 of us trying to make the connection. When we arrived, they asked everyone to remain seated until we got off, met us at the gate with a van, and took us directly to the Lufthansa jet, which we just made. In our party were three businessmen who had checked everything. They were walking around, hands free, fat, dumb, and happy. I imagine when they got to Germany and found that their bags had stayed in the US, they were still fat and dumb, but no longer happy.

What is freeing is packing really light. Not only so light you can carry it on, but so light you can carry it easily.

If I have to fly naked, I will DEFINITELY want to have antiseptic wipes for the seats, never mind the tray tables!!

How much do you think they will charge for the toilet? =P

These days if you arrived at the plane at the last minute on a late connection there is a good chance that it is already rammed full of hand baggage and yours would go down the chute into the hold apart from the personal item.

BA has suffered from its own lax implementation of its prior policy.

Lee, I'm one of those people you are calling "fat and dumb" because I prefer to check my luggage on nearly all flights that I take. I agree with wray that the flying public's tendency to try to drag every thing they can on to an airplane has added the boarding and deplane chaos, to say nothing of the delays the pack mules cause at security check points. I always carry the essentials and few clothing changes in my small carry-on in the unlikely event of lost or delayed luggage. In the last fifty years of air travel I've only had my luggage delayed maybe three or four times, and then it caught up to me within 24 to 48 hours. The only time that didn't work out so well for me was years ago on a return flight to the east coast from Seattle where I had purchased a whole fresh salmon at Pike Place Market and stowed it in my checked bag. When I got to my home airport my bag, and the salmon, were no where to be found. This was on the old Frontier Airlines, a great old airline. They did their best to find my bag, but it took several days before it was located. I'm sure by then they found it by smell alone. Before returning my luggage they had the bag steam cleaned, my clothes laundered, and gave me a voucher for the salmon. So I continue to check my luggage, sans seafood. :>)

On a 2001 trip from Rome to LAX, with an overnight stopover in London, BA lost one of my bags in Rome. We of course noticed the problem at the London stopover. They didn't find it by the time we left London for LAX, so we got a nice seat upgrade out of the deal. When we got home, I put in a claim for the bag and contents. Six weeks later BA's check arrived. That same day, so did my bag with all its contents.

(Yes, I sent the check back!)

The slow, down hill slide to sitting naked on the plane continues.

The future of commercial air travel:
1. Hospital gowns
2. General anesthetic
3. Pallets

Returned yesterday on Delta from Europe and at AMS check-in, the agent weighed both my carryon and personal item together. Total was 16.7 kilo, so I was okay. This was the first time this has occurred.

Zoe....were you actually flying on a Delta plane or KLM (Delta Codeshare?)

Delta doesn't have weight restrictions but KLM does.

In economy class, the weight restrictions for carry-on AND personal item is 12 kg/26 lbs. In business class, the restriction is 18kg/40 lbs.

KLM weighs both items.

I think most of us come in somewhere between Lee and Terri Lynn in our packing, and all of it is fine as along as it doesn't start interfering with other people. I think we all like the challenge of having what we need on vacation and have a light bag according to our own set of goals. But packing one way or another does not make one person superior to another as everyone's needs/wants are different. We all just like talking about it. I don't think I've been called a name since I was in…elementary school? What's with that? Wray

Frank, it was a Delta flight, not a codeshare. That's what made me think it was unusual. Bags were weighed but not measured.

Wow, Zoe. That is interesting and slightly alarming...just because I would not expect an actual Delta flight to weigh. Um, guess for my own informational purposes will have to start figuring the weight of my carry on as Delta is my international carrier of choice and I like to go thru Amsterdam. Planning on that for 2016 and Rick's GAS (or Switzerland).

I'll bet it was a KLM employee who was servicing the flight and forgot that Delta has no weight limits.

Still, 26 lbs for total carry-on is fairly lenient.

The employee was in a Delta uniform. I didn't think to ask why both were weighed, didn't matter since they were good to go.

I'm resurrecting this question which got sidetracked.....has anyone had their personal item measured?

No personal experience yet but we fly on BA later this month. It is my understanding that the new guidelines start August 18th but anyone who purchased tickets prior to that date can bring on items that fall within the old guidelines (received an e-mail to that effect and it states this on their website as well). I have printed copies of both just in case I need them.

I'm in the camp of packing light but checking a smallish rolling suitcase. I take a small carryon with important stuff that later is used for bringing home goodies plus a normal-sized purse. I'm not concerned about any of the dimensions or weight of these items as they're all light, but do worry, as others have posted, about where these restrictions are heading.

"...has anyone had their personal item measured?"

Frank II, lots of guys have measured their personal item, but I don't think this is the time nor place to discuss that.

But thanks for the info on BA; I'll be flying with them within the year.

;-)