carry on bag size question...

I would say to check your bags and carry on tiny bags with your essentials. Then when you reconnect with your bags, put the small essential bag into your main bag. It is freeing not carrying all your stuff everywhere, IMO.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/airport/baggage/carry-on.html

What do you want us to say? Everybody on the same flight has to follow the same rules. Soft luggage may be able to squeeze in the sizing box, but you are pushing the limits by 1.5 inches. Air Canada has been in the news recently that they are cracking down on carry-on luggage.

Check-in, gate check-in or pack lighter.

Hi Travemom,

If you're flying on one ticket with a change of plane, would you not just check your bag(s) at Philadelphia and then pick it/them up upon arrival at Vancouver? I would suggest calling Air Canada to ask them what the procedure is. Also, there may be more information on their website under checked baggage; from experience I know that it sometimes take quite a bit of digging around on the website to find the information you are looking for. :)

I hope you have a great trip, the Pacific Northwest is beautiful, especially at this time of year!

travelmom,

I don't think you're "out of line" with this question. After all, this is the transportation section.

I don't have a definite answer on whether your bags will be OK for carry-on, but having flown Air Canada a lot I suspect they won't make an issue of an extra half inch.

You may find it interesting to have a look at this Blog that covers the sizing question with another brand of luggage. The largest of their bags that they tested was 22" x 14" x 9" and it meets the regulations (as long as it's not overpacked).

Thank you for your responses. I apologize for venting here and for our lack of knowledge of this current event - we have been working like mad and must have missed it Happy we are not in Toronto with 3 kids trying to figure all of this out. The airlines certainly are within their rights to change and enforce any rules that they wish for their business - we were just taken off guard.

Karen - as I understand it, we are flying from US - Canada and must clear customs and retrieve any checked baggage in Toronto - our connection point - then re check the same bags on to our final destination of Vancouver. I will go back and make sure that is the case - when we were doing carry on it didn't apply so we didn't pay too much attention to that issue. We are so short on time that this is our biggest worry about checking the bags. Air Canada issued the tickets on approved routes and it is just at their minimum connection time - but with carry on we would not have had to worry about waiting for bags to come up. We are not sure if we leave the bags behind if they are delayed coming up and make it to the gate on time to check in and board the flight -- or if we wait for the bags and risk missing our connection.

Ken - thank you for understanding. There is some sqiush in our bags - they are not overpacked or stretching in any dimension. At under 18lbs. with hiking boots and all we are running pretty lean. We are still hoping some relative or friend will come through with a smaller bag - we know we can fit in 1/2" less no issues but without the compression, the things are spreading to the full 22" (those boots!). We were planning on arriving at PHL with plenty of time - try out the sizers - and then go from there - but another fear is that they will be fine and fit in PHL but then in Toronto (where we hear they are really cracking down) run into issues and be sent back to the beginning to have to check the bags - especially with a larger full plane and us running in from a connecting flight. That is why we are searching for first hand experiences - we did read that even with the "red cleared carry on" sticker from one airport we will be rechecked going through Toronto. If we had more time in Toronto with the layover - we wouldn't worry so much.

Again, I apologize for my complaints - I realize that everyone is being squeezed by the airlines. Had I known about 1/2" overage we would have made different plans (different flights with longer connections, different airline, or researched and purchased smaller regulation bags) -- my mistake.

I don't have a suggestion about your bags, but I would wear the hiking boots instead of packing them. My word, my boots would take up a huge portion of my small RS wheelie!

Have fun hiking!

Thanks Pam - in the middle of the night we came up with that same AHA moment - we were not thinking straight before. We were just thrown for loop so close to the trip.

While the thought of going through security and trekking on the plane in our hikers seems a bit silly, this morning we swapped out our hikers (I wear a size 11.5 -I'm a big lady) and tada... no issues squishing down that backpack! Also that lowered our weight significantly. The kids can keep their hikers in their bags - they are not nearly as large and their bags had extra room. Now, in all honesty, after getting stickered and through security, we are likely to pull off those boots and throw on our light weight city shoes - - we know that our bags will fit in the overhead even with the hikers inside since the bag can squish upwards, sideways, ect... (unless of course it is a full plane since we all know there is not enough overhead space for everyone on the plane - even within the limits). We are now confident that the bags will fit in the sizers IF they allow them to be folded over/sides squished -- should be no problem.

We are still frustrated that this is even an issue - with all airlines pushing different sizes, different rules, and different enforcement. We are bracing ourselves to NOT to worry or even look when priority and first class flyers board our plane with 3 and 4 bags all stuffed to the gills while the staff looks the other way as we are worrying about 1/2" in one dimension of a perfectly legal bag in all other ways.... sigh.

The other option is to mail our hiking boots to our second destination hotel in Seattle (not confident they will make it to Vancouver on time and will not be using them in the city there ---). There are a lot of things that we can buy along the way if needed - hiking boots is not one of them (my size is tough and they are already broken in).

I sympathize with you but one persons 1/2 inch is another persons 1 and 1/2 inch. I am more frustrated by people who bring more then carry on size into coach and hog all the space then with first class passengers bringing their bags on board. Pack light, read about packing light. The tip about hiking boots is in all the literature about packing light, at least the literature from people with experience. My hiking boots are always the most comfortable shoes I own. Why would you buy hiking boots that you can't spend the day in, yet think you are going to hike for miles in, over potentially rough terrain.

PS: Put some of your stuff in the kids bags if you have to.

I would not want to chance the boots not making it if you mail them. I, too, wear that size and have trouble with fit. Mine are comfortable as well so I wouldn't mind wearing them on the plane. You may encounter a sizer at the gate so I would not swap them out.

Today's fliers need to always keep in mind that their carry on luggage can become mandatory gate check luggage at the discretion of the airline gate crew. You can follow every rule and still be required to gate check.

I saw a huge variation in how strict different airlines and different gate crews were on my recent trip.

An American Airlines gate agent pulled my sister out of the boarding line and made her put her small purse in her carryon bag, even though she was flying first class. It was embarrassing to my sister and completely unnecessary since we ended up with a practically empty overhead bin. This was at the start of our trip and we weren't feeling fond of this agent.

Later, we were flying coach on Alaska and we were wishing with all our being that the same American Airlines agent was there to bring some order to the madness. There were seemingly no limits or controls and boarding was a nightmare. People stuffed luggage that was clearly beyond the limits and would move other people's belongings to try to shove in just a little more. One family had 6 roll a board bags and literally stopped boarding for 10 minutes as they stuffed and shoved bags the length of the plane. This was after an announcement had been made allowing for free checking of any bags.

United Airlines started requiring gate checking after a certain number of passengers had boarded.

The summary is that you can't predict with certainty how things will go with carryon luggage. You can count on being able to bring aboard a small bag that fits completely under the seat. After that, anything is possible.

It's already been covered, but I was also going to recommend wearing as much 'large' clothing as possible to make your bag more squishy. I would never check my backpack; for one thing, it's irreplaceable, and for another everything I've ever checked was torn, bent, and/or had grease on it. If my backpack gets grease on it, so do I :-(

And as general advice, when in the gate area, always act as if your bag weighs practically nothing! If you are making an effort to drag it around, it will look heavy and by association, too large. Also, do everything possible to avoid looking overstuffed. Your bag, that is. I, personally, can't do much about looking overstuffed (sigh).

(That effort to reduce the luggage size by 1/2" really irked me! Really? 1/2"? I figured up how many more bags you could fit into the overhead compartment. I came up with approx. 6 MAX (probably only 3) for the airplane I usually fly on...if that. And that's assuming the compartments are all replaced with one long compartment, running front-to-back - no dividers every 3rd or so bag as they are now. So as my airplanes are now (individually-installed bag compartments holding 3-4 bags), it would make absolutely no difference in actual # of bags onboard - still just the 3 or 4 bags in a compartment. But those compartments would now have gained 1.5" of space...

Airlines - just stop it. Really. Stop. Put the luggage fee back into the fares and stop nickel-and-diming - or $25-$50-ing - us.)

I think the suggestion to wear your hiking boots to leave more room in the bags makes sense. I assume like mine they are the heavy duty sort designed to protect your feet in rough terrain- you may raise a few fashionable eyebrows at the airport; but so what? Alternatively, since your backpacks are likely somewhat compressible, you might try using a luggage strap or even an old belt you can cut a few extra holes in to cinch [ i.e. squeeze] your bags down that extra inch or two. It can take a long time to connect in Toronto: I once nearly missed my flight even with an hour and a half connection time. Don't dawdle.

It seems to me that the right to carry on luggage should be a more valuable than the right to check in luggage. By bringing luggage into the cabin, you take away space from other passengers. As illustrated in a post above, it also slows things down for others. In an international transfer, more carry on luggage also results in additional time for x-rays and inspections slowing things down for everybody.

IMO, things would be much better if they allow people to check in one free 22" bag and charge any passenger who wants to carry on anything over 15" to max of 22". That way any business people or those who want the privilege of having their luggage with them all the time and not have to wait for luggage pick up should pay for it. There would be way less carry on. Youe may still carry on a personal item like a laptop or small bag. Frankly, I much prefer checking in and not having to carry luggage with me during lengthy stopovers or transfers.

I'm with you funpig!

I just wanted to add a follow-up. We completed our trip and had no issues with our carry-on bags - we ended up getting them down to size. We all wore our hiking boots and even though we left Philadelphia on a 94 degree day we each wore our fleeces. Our bags were well within the Air Canada sizer and they did weigh my husbands bag (we believe because the straps got caught on the sizing bar when he was pulling it out making it seem like it was heavy) -- it was fine. We received our red sticker/tag indicating our carry-ons were compliant in PHL- since we were under sized we took off our fleece and put them in as well. No issues.

The first flight was good but there was morning traffic at the gate with planes leaving late and we sat for almost 30 minutes waiting for our gate to open up. It was a tight transfer and we (along with another family and a third couple) were met by Air Canada employee after we deplaned and they took us to a special line at customs and hurried us to our connecting gate knowing that we had to make the connection - the other family had to go retrieve luggage and recheck it -- we were sent straight to the gate. It was an amazingly pleasant experience and we were impressed with Air Canada.

Once at the gate, much of the plane had boarded and we were at the end of the line of the final boarding zone since we were cutting it so close. We were amazed to see that the dozens of people boarding ahead of us were not having their carry on bags checked for size or weight, were not tagged as approved, and many had obviously oversized bags - shockingly so - and many peope had 3 (and more) bags. Some of the bags were mid-size - not even close to standard carry on size let alone the new leaner sizes. So we guess that the initiative to size all bags did not last long or is being applied hit or miss. We stood there in our hiking boots with our backpacks and felt a little silly for worrying about it and uncomfortable in our boots with such little foot/leg room. As we boarded the plane as one of the last groups we were told there was no room in the overhead bins and it was good we didn't have wheeled carry ons - the flight attendants looked at our bags and said they would find room. They somehow managed to move things and get our 5 bags relatively close to our seats. The family of 6 that went through customs with us just made it on the plane. Not sure if their bags ever made it or not but we were happy to have our bags with us.

To the suggestion about paying for carry on bags -- I would gladly pay if it guaranteed us overhead space and freedom of traveling knowing we had our luggage - We don't carry on to save $, we do it for convenience.

So glad it worked for you and you made your connection!

travelmom,

Thanks for the feedback. It's great to hear that everything worked out.

"We were amazed to see that the dozens of people boarding ahead of us were not having their carry on bags checked for size or weight, were not tagged as approved, and many had obviously oversized bags."

Air Canada has been rolling-out the new carry-on rules in stages, beginning several months ago with Pearson Airport in Toronto. You didn't specify which airport you were referring to in the above sentence, so not sure why they didn't check? It's also possible that the new rules were in place at that airport, but things were backed up so they decided to speed things up by not going through the whole procedure of checking sizes.

I guess the best thing you could do is to contact aircanada upfront. Also check the carry-on luggage rules because it contains most airlines their weight and size limits. It's indeed a bummer that IATA keeps on changing the carry-on limits. Just keep it as it is and let airlines decide but don't limit it. It really depends on the type of plane and the available space so in my opinion a standard rule shouldn't be applied.