sunny16

Sorry to obsess over this...I was wondering how strict BA is about the dimensions of a carryon. For instance, if your carryon is 9 inches wide instead of 8 but it's still 13 pounds or under, will they still make you check it? Thanks in advance!

smacknmo

I flew BA to London in March and they did not check the weight or dimensions of my carry on. I just returned from another visit there but this time I was on Virgin Atlantic. VA did not check on my outbound journey ( from Newark)but on the return from Heathrow they weighed my carryon and I had to remove some things and put them in my checked luggage.
My point is that airlines have rules and they may not enforce them all the time but they may at any given time. I think that probably the weight may be more of an issue than an extra inch in the width. There was 3 of us and VA weighed each of our carryons and tagged them. They tagged my daughters laptop case but did not weigh it.

abbydog

It may depend on the departure point and how full the flight is. I flew BA from Dulles to London in December and they weighed and checked my carry on bag, but I gather from others that sometimes they don't.

Christina

I think it probably depends on a lot of things -- just random luck, how busy they are, mood, how fully booked they are, and from eyeballing your stuff it looks suspect, most likely. They do not weight and measure everyone's carryons, which would be a waste of time if they view them and don't think they are a problem. I have flown BA to London from BWI, and back from London into BWi (and Dulles), both within the last few years. I have never had my carryon bag weighted or measured in London or the US. I've also flown Virgin, and they didn't, either.

However, my carryon bag is not really that large and I think would fit within their requirements. I don't think it's 8-9 inches, probably more like 6 inches wide, although perhaps 14-16 inches long and maybe 12-14 inches in height. It could be 8 inches wide, I don't feel like going to measure it, unfortunately.

gail

I was one an almost full flight 2 weeks ago Boston-LHR on BA. They appeared to ignore carry-ons. On the return (full) flight, there were quite a few annoyed people being forced to gate-check larger carry-ons. It appeared that they did this visually, as I saw no scale or template.

I doubt with your small size overage it would matter. It was nice to be on a flight where people did not bring refrigerator-sized carryons and try to stuff them in the overheads. Made for much faster on and off the plane.

elaine

a few years ago I had a small (about 16" high) carryon and was not allowed on it with it because when weighed it came in at 13 pounds. I had to put a few essentials in a shopping bag and leave the rest in the bag, and check it. Have a lightweight nylon foldable totebag tucked inside it, just in case.

sunny16

Thanks, everyone! I guess I will just play it safe and try to find a small, light bag.