BA dimensions for wheeled carryon baggage?
 

We're flying BA from the USA to London and need help deciding on the acceptable underseat dimensions for a wheeled carryon. The only information from BA is 'not to exceed 46".' Luggage on sale labelled "carryon" has all kinds of dimensions that total 46 or less. We would be interested in hearing from anyone who has managed to figure this one out. <BR>Thanks

Hi Jean, <BR>I was told that the the dimensions refer to adding the length, width, and depth. Perhaps more importantly with BA, you should double check the restrictions on weight. When we flew BA USA to London in May, the weight restriction for carry-ons was 13 lbs. Since many carry-ons weigh at least 10 lbs, this can be more limiting than the restrictions on size.

Jean, <BR>BA means what they say about size/weight. They strictly enforce it and that 13 lb thing is a big issue with them (they might allow 14/15 if you do not look like you are struggling under the weight of the bag, but be careful). Most regular luggage weights too much by the time it is full, get a lightweight nylon zip type bag (we did, at Target). They weight next to nothing and you can fill them with 13 lbs of carryon! In LA (where we fly from) BA has a scale for passengers to weigh their carryons as well as the size contraption. They also had someone watching people to see how large/how heavy carryons were the last time we flew this year. We found it really was easier in the end to buy cheap nylon bags and not worry about it. 13 lbs is not alot, but it's doable.

Judy and Lori - thanks for the valuable information. We'll certainly pay close attention to the weight limit. We may even opt for lugging the carryon around the airports instead of rolling it. <BR>My dilemma is that I need to understand the underseat space on BA to evaluate what rollon depth,width,length will fit. We don't want to be restricted to overhead bin space only.

Jean, <BR>As I recall the "under the seat in front of you space" is not large enough for any type of roll on unless it is a child's size one. Assuming you will want to stretch a bit and have your legs straight out I don't think you will be able to with anything much under there. I'm pretty sure even the smallest rollon would have to go in an overhead bin. What the stores are selling and calling carryons were all bigger than allowed by BA. <BR> <BR>I really worried alot about that 13 lb limit and the size thing (we had not used BA in several years and the other airlines we traveled on were not quite so strict), but those nylon bags we bought really were great after all. We flew back Paris-London-LA and our flight from Paris was late getting into London and we literally had to run the entire length of Heathrow airport to make our 12:30 flt to LA. We thanked God afterward that we had 13 lb bags and were able to move quickly without pulling a carryon behind us. (We had 2 good sized pieces of luggage checked in and everything made the flight). <BR> <BR>I just found the dimension of one of our nylon bags ( kept the tag in case we had any troubles checking in at BA) 18" H x 12" W x 7"D which comes out to 37" overall. It held lots of stuff (I travel with lots of stuff, despite many trips to Europe I still take more than I need). It is a more or less square bag with a couple of zippered compartments too and we were able to lay it flat on the floor under the seat in front of us and then put our feet on it when we stretched our legs. 46" would have been a terribly tight squeeze! One other thing, do not take a huge over-sized purse. If it looks too large they will consider it a second piece of carryon and you are only allowed one. Other than the worry about the 13 lbs BA was fine tho, the food was even edible ... well most ofit anyway :-) It also depends where you are flying from, they were strict this spring in LA, maybe other cities they are not so picky - but I would not take the chance. My husband said to tell you that a carryon would pretty much have to go in the bin, but he also thinks mosts of them weigh more than 13 lbs.