Ok I have a really dumb question, please forgive me since this is my first overseas flight.

We will be flying from George Bush IAH to Paris on a Delta flight (operated by Air France)then onward to Italy. I checked both the Air France and the Delta websites to see what their carryon rules are...Air France limits you to 12kg whereas Delta allows 18kg.

Which one would apply to me? I would really like to avoid checking in any luggage for fear of it getting lost. Do either of these airlines frown on a carry on + a small backpack? My carry-on has a detachable backpack that I would love to be able to drag along.

Thanks for any help!

I believe the policies of the operator(Air France) would apply.I'm not an expert,so I'll be watching to see what others say.

Air France

The airline actually running the flight always gets the last word on a code-share, and that applies to ticketing requirements, luggage limits, and check-in times.

Also, be aware that AF also has a size limit, so you might have to check your bag if it's more than 21 inches regardless of how much it weighs. When I recently went to Greece, one of our bags didn't make it to Athens until about 7 hours after we did, though we had absolutely no problems coming back.

Thanks for the information, this is exactly what I was looking for.

My bag's an Eagle Creek Explorer 22". It says it's carry-on compliant but I guess it just depends on the airline. Here's to hoping they'll allow it, I'd hate to lose my clothes...

I think all airlines have size limits on carryons, also. Does anyone let you carryon something really huge just because it's lightweight?

Baggage saying it's compliant doesn't really mean anything, in my experience, they all want to claim that. I think it's pretty hard to actually fit a bag in those plastic size things they have if the bag is 21-22 inches, especially if it is fairly full, which it usually is if you are trying to carry everything on board. Maybe if you really had a 21 inch bag and that included the handle and wheels, you could get it in those. I've had 21-22" wheel-aboards rejected by several airlines who claimed it violated the size (not weight) limits.

Christina makes a good point about airline baggage limits. Some airlines (most notably British Airways) now have rules that allow you to carry on any bag that fits in the overhead compartment regardless of its weight---so long as you can lift it in yourself with no nelp. But I still doubt that you'd be able to carry on a 70-pound bag of bricks even if you were a weightlifter.

For what it's worth we had my 20-inch wheeled backpack (Tumi) and a 22-inch roll-aboard. The 22-inch roll-aboard was deemed too large, though it didn't meet the weight requirements either.

On my last trip on Air France I carefully made sure I met all the size and weight requirements and they still told me the bag was too big at the airport. I'd count on having to check it.

Thanks, I guess I may as well not worry about meeting the weight requirements. It wouldn't have been anywhere near (wow) 70 pounds...more like 28-30lbs at the most.

AF does have a 12kg weight limit for carry on luggage. The above post was in reference to BA.

what bag did AF reject? I really want to do carry on (flying AF); did anyone try the Rick Steves bag?
How did AF measure it?Thanks