Baggage check

[hokiebobwise]

I am at Madrid Airport and the Air France attendant required us to check our 36L Osprey Stratus bags because they wouldn't fit in the bin. The couple in front of us, with a different check in person, wasn't required to validate or check their bags and they appeared to be much larger. Additionally, at security the guy in front had a 50L bag. So, my compostela and all other items will be away from me for the first time in 3 weeks. Just a way of remembering to let things go and let things flow.

Bob

 

[jrobasdan]

I am at Madrid Airport and the Air France attendant required us to check our 36L Osprey Stratus bags because they wouldn't fit in the bin. The couple in front of us, with a different check in person, wasn't required to validate or check their bags and they appeared to be much larger. Additionally, at security the guy in front had a 50L bag. So, my compostela and all other items will be away from me for the first time in 3 weeks. Just a way of remembering to let things go and let things flow.

Bob

I would say wear all your clothes to get past the desk and then scramble to shove them back into your bag as you’re getting on the plane. Works like a charm. A messy, disorganized charm.

 

[motero99]

I carry a small pack into itself. I believe it is called a Vita bag. I use it as my 2nd carry on and can put anything bulky in it to make the pack smaller if there is a problem. After the flight, it goes into my backpack. It is also good if I go to a market for holding things until I get back to the albergue.

 

[Steven Dwyer]

i always have the items I wouldn’t want to part with packed in a small bag at the top of my backpack so I can quickly pull it out if I need to check the backpack. Thanks for the warning.

 

[Angela Blaschke]

Happened to me too. My backpack was confiscated as being too tall for carry-on, and my husband, who was behind me and had the exact same backpack, was let through, by the same attendant. It’s just hit or miss. But they let me take out stuff I wanted on the plane, like my electronics or snacks.

 

[DwainS]

I carry a small pack into itself. I believe it is called a Vita bag. I use it as my 2nd carry on and can put anything bulky in it to make the pack smaller if there is a problem. After the flight, it goes into my backpack. It is also good if I go to a market for holding things until I get back to the albergue.

that's exactly would I did this last May. Used a grocery bag from my local store to put sandals and a few other items in and used it as my under seat bag then put back into my backpack when landed.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Yep, it's like trying to bring hiking poles on the aircraft overhead...it often depends on the attitude and mood of the person responsible for checking on things as you board the plane...kind of a "crap shoot" if you will,no matter the actual rules.

 

[WGroleau]

Every airline I have ever flown on or considered publishes online their size limits for carry ons. Anyone ever known that your bag was within the limits and had a gate person claim it is too big and you must check it? How did you respond and did that response make things better or worse?

It has never happened for me. But I’m curious.

 

[C clearly]

Anyone ever known that your bag was within the limits and had a gate person claim it is too big and you must check it?

I think I have been on short-haul flights where the particular plane's overhead bins were smaller than usual, and passengers were asked to surrender some bags at the gate. I didn't argue, and simply complied.

 

[trecile]

Every airline I have ever flown on or considered publishes online their size limits for carry ons. Anyone ever known that your bag was within the limits and had a gate person claim it is too big and you must check it? How did you respond and did that response make things better or worse?

It has never happened for me. But I’m curious.

Sometimes you will be made to gate check a carry-on that is within the size limits simply because there is no more room in the overhead bins - possibly because too many oversized carry-ons were allowed on board before you got there!

You should always be prepared with a small bag that will fit under the seat in front of you that you can transfer critical items into.

 

[dougfitz]

Every airline I have ever flown on or considered publishes online their size limits for carry ons. Anyone ever known that your bag was within the limits and had a gate person claim it is too big and you must check it? How did you respond and did that response make things better or worse?

It has never happened for me. But I’m curious.

Sort of, but not recently. My wife and I would often travel to our nearest international hub in a Dash-8 aircraft, which had quite shallow overhead lockers. If we carried a bag that was within the airlines limits for the larger aircraft in its fleet but was too large for the Dash-8 overhead bin, it would be put into the hold last, and removed on the tarmac on arrival, where it could be collected. This avoided any delay of waiting for it at a luggage collection carousel.

 

[henrythedog]

Of all the places in the world to insist on your rights and point to the rules, an airport is not a great choice.

 

[TravellingMan22]

Sometimes you will be made to gate check a carry-on that is within the size limits simply because there is no more room in the overhead bins - possibly because too many oversized carry-ons were allowed on board before you got there!

You should always be prepared with a small bag that will fit under the seat in front of you that you can transfer critical items into.

This is very common at many European airports nowadays. Many airlines now sell ‘hand baggage only’ fares, so the growth of hand baggage has been significant, and also there is a big growth in intra European shorts weekends trips ( where people just take carry on) so it’s a big issue for airlines. It can clam up boarding which can delay flights so trying to take the bag and tag it at the gate is one option to help.

Overhead bin size varies by aircraft as stated. It’s not long before the 100ml liquid rule is no more so be interesting to see what happens then!

 

[Kathar1na]

Every airline I have ever flown on or considered publishes online their size limits for carry ons. Anyone ever known that your bag was within the limits and had a gate person claim it is too big and you must check it? How did you respond and did that response make things better or worse? It has never happened for me. But I’m curious.

It happened numerous times for me. On Lufthansa flights between Munich and Frankfurt when they used a smallish aircraft with fairly small overhead lockers. It might have been this model, I used to think of it as the Rabbit Plane because the wings were fixed at the top of the plane and had a negative V shape, like a rabbit's floppy ears. Also on a more recent Iberia flight from Madrid where the ground staff went through the waiting line of passengers at the gate and picked out hand luggage at random that was to be handed over, including my backpack which had clearly smaller dimensions than the suitcases of other passengers some of which even looked larger than the allowed size for cabin luggage.

I was surprised the first time, and all the other times I did what others have described already: Quickly removed any items from the backpack that I want to have with me during the flight, like reading glasses etc. It's actually nice that you don't have to take your backpack with you into the cabin, desperately look around to find a space to store it if you are one of those who board towards the end of the process and don't have to wrestle it out of the overhead locker at the end of the flight. You comfortably leave the plane and pick up your backpack at the bottom of the steps.

 

[TravellingMan22]

It happened numerous times for me. On Lufthansa flights between Munich and Frankfurt when they used a smaller aircraft with fairly small overhead lockers. It might have been this model, I used to think of it as the Rabbit Plane because the wings were fixed at the top of the plane and had a negative V shape, like a rabbit's floppy ears. Also on a more recent Iberia flight from Madrid where the ground staff went through the waiting line of passengers at the gate and picked out hand luggage at random that was to be handed over, including my backpack which had clearly smaller dimensions than the suitcases of other passengers some of which looked even larger than the allowed size for cabin luggage.

I was surprised the first time and all the other times I did what others have described already: Quickly removed any items from the backpack that I want to have with me during the flight, like reading glasses etc. It's actually nice that you don't have to take your backpack with you into the cabin, look around to find a space to store it if you are one of those who board towards the end of the process and don't have to wrestle it out of the locker at the end of the flight. You comfortably leave the plane and pick up your backpack at the bottom of the steps.

100% right. It’s happens the vast majority of intra European short haul flights I take and I fly a lot.