Lufthansa - Published carry-on Allowance

Larry we flew Lufthansa last fall ORD to FRA. Prior to boarding, the gate agents were walking around the waiting area and eyeballing passengers' carryons. Anything they thought looked too big, they manually hefted, and if they didnt like it, they took it to the sizer and gave it a squeeze. They ended up checking a bunch. I did not see them weigh any on a scale, but may have.

I usually see a sizer by the gate, but I've never had to use it. I've had my bag weighed two times, once at check-in leaving from Denver, even though I wasn't checking it. I also had it weighed at FRA.

A couple of years ago, I changed planes in DUS for ORD. A lot of people waiting to board had green tags on their bags. I assume they were checked (either for size or weight) at check-in and given the green tag to showed the met regulation. One man, who I think was also changing planes, had a huge roller bag without a green tag (it was obviously too big). He had to put the bag in sideways and then he had to use a lot of force to get the door closed. When we got to O'hare, the bin was stuck shut. :)

Thanks for this information. We are on United to Italy all the way except going we lay over in Frankfurt and have a two hour Lufthansa flight to Rome. We plan to carry on like we have done for 15 years. So hopefully they won't make us check bags for this short time. We stay within the regulations that have been around for decades. I keep reading that these have changed, but we seem to never get questioned year after year.

I posted this elsewhere, but this is from the Lufthansa website. It is called the Most Significant Carrier rule.
"Special baggage rules for travel to/from or across the USA
Under a consumer protection law issued by the US Department of Transportation, the following baggage rules apply to flights to/from or across the USA:
Consistent baggage rules must be observed for all parts of a journey to/from or across the USA (e.g. free baggage allowance, dimensions/weight of each bag, carry-on baggage).
The baggage rules set by the airline which is listed first on the ticket are those that usually apply here. If Lufthansa is listed on the first flight segment of your ticket, then Lufthansa’s baggage regulations will apply to your entire journey (outbound and return flight). "
Conversely, if your first leg is on United their rules should apply to all legs of the trip.

Within the last five years I have stood in lines two times at the counter (not gate) for Lufthansa where every piece of carryon luggage was being put in the sizing box. While I watched the ten to 15 people checking in ahead of me all had their wheel luggage rejected because the wheels and/or handle would not fit the box. A lot of grumbling and not so friendly comments. But the counter people stood their ground. Nothing was weighed. On the other hand, probably have been in ten other checkin lines for Lufthansa where nothing was checked. I think you always have to be prepared. Size is probably more critical than weight.

TravelingMom, while that is interesting, not sure what it has to do with the question under discussion. If the checkin counter staff decide that you bag is too big, it is too big.

And we have always arrived checked in online, and have not had to go to nay check in counters. We were called to Virgin Atlantic's counter in 2013 in spite of our online check-in, where there was a sizer, but they did not bat an eye at the packs sitting on our backs.