Lufthansa Carry-on Bag Weight

I've flown Lufthansa 10 times (five times over, five times back). My bag was weighed twice. Once it was under, once it was over but they didn't stop me. There has often been a sizing box by the gate, but I have never seen it used. Six times I had an RS convertible, right at the size limit; four times it was an OPEC bag, which is a little smaller. I think as long you are not obviously over, i.e., wheeled or bulging sides, they are going to go by size rather than weight. But, just to be safe, be underweight and undersized.

Hi ESH, I agree with Lee. We've flown Lufthansa many times, as recently as 3 months ago, and have never had our carry-on's even looked at as far as weight and size go. That said, we keep within the limits they set anyway. Better to be safe than sorry. Paul

I think the reason Paul's haven't been checked is because they stay within size/weight limits. We flew Scandinavian Air last summer (owned by Lufthansa and has the same carry-on limit). We keep our bags legal (including their rule that one means one, not one plus a personal item) and it was never weighed. I always check in electronically, print my boarding pass, and go straight to the gate. At the gate, I watched the agent select bags to test. He only chose people who had either more than one item per person or whose carry-ons were clearly packed too full. He barely glanced at our carry-ons that were legal and within the weight limit.

Our experience with Lufthansa (four trips) is that they are more concerned about size than weight. But it is also depending on the gate or checkin personal. We have watch many rolling bags being rejected because they will not fit in the sizing box but have never seen a bag weighed.

Hi Brad, I meant to add that we've seen many people (on every trip) bringing carry-on's that were bigger than ours, some with wheels, some that are 2 bags "together". Never saw one be checked in the "sizing box" and from what we've witnessed, never saw one weighed. It's incredible, but again, we'd rather be safe than sorry. We've flown Lufthansa in '10, '09, '06 and '05. Paul

Our experience in September, flying SFO to Prague: My carry-on luggage was within size limits but was over on weight so I had to check it through. At the gate, we noticed
that carry-ons were being weighed with little hand held scales....

In general, if you have more than the limit, you should always be prepared to check and be happily surprised if you don't have to check. Don't count on someone's prior experience as the airlines themselves can be inconsistent in enforcement. Sometimes it depends on whether or not the flight is full. There was a period of time where I was flying regularly within Europe on the same airline. I always brought the same bag which was within the size limit but over the very low weight limit that they had. Sometimes the airline made me check it and sometimes they didn't. I could never figure out the logic. Even if you bag is the correct size, you still may end up having to check it if it won't fit under the seat in front of you and the overhead bins are already full. This doesn't happen as often on international flights as there is usually a fair amount of space in the overhead bins, but I fly a couple of times a month now on short haul flights and about 50% of the time the bins fill up before the last passengers are on board. One way to be prepared is to pack your most essential items in a smaller bag within your carry-on. If the airline makes you check, you can always pull out the legal size bag. I do suggest that you always have at least a change of clothes with you along with essentials like meds.