Carry on question - US vs. EU

Very common. Last interEurope flight was only allowed a purse or computer bag, had to gatecheck the usual carryon size. Always check with each airline's web site for luggage info, then doublecheck in case of codesharing.

What airline/s in the EU?

Very common. Flights within Europe typically allow 1 carry-on bag. Edwin

Same experience on EasyJet and Air Malta

and Alitalia

I'm afraid that in Europe, most of the airlines only allow 1 carry on bag. The only exception I know of is British Airways. We here in the UK are used to this and just pack accordingly (leaving space for handbags, etc. in the carry on)

I'd say that that is a good reason not to fly in the EU. With trains there are no limits. They allow you to take everything on board you can carry. BTW, I flew from MUC to Düsseldorf on Lufthansa last year. I had both a less-than-regulation carryon and a netbook in a case. No problem. I was connecting to a flight to the US, but there were plenty of domestic passengers on board who were just flying intra-Europe.

Generally I would agree with Lee that trains are preferable, but it depends on one's destination. We're going from Paris to Catania (Sicily). 2.5 hrs by plane, 24 hrs by train. We'll each carry one item on our easyJet flight and combine our backpacks (carry on #2 from the US) in a large duffel bag that we check.

J Scott, With European airlines, the limit of one carry-on item of the approved size and weight is normal and most follow that rule. As you discovered, this doesn't mean one carry-on plus a "personal item", it means ONE item ONLY! I tend to follow the same travel methods that Lee mentioned and use trains whenever possible. However, in some cases it's simply not practical to use trains (ie: Rome to Athens, a route I used last year), so budget airlines are necessary. Cheers!

Whenever I fly a multi-carrier route, I check each carrier's website in advance to learn of it's baggage policies. Then I plan/pack/check/carry-on accordingly. Never had a surprise yet.