janisj

VS (and BA) have a 6 kilo limit -but that doesn't apply to the OPs situation flying UA.

mcnyc

Yikes! xyz123, I'll keep that in mind. I thought it was 7kgs for some reason, not 5, not that 2kgs will change things much. Looks like we'll be checking luggage on our VS flight. But at least the flight we're taking is a non-stop flight.

suze

Hopefully Maire's happily on her way by now.

I think it is useful when taking a larger bag on board, to have it packed with the thought that it may be taken away from you (over-size, over-weight, whatever). And have anything truly valueable or difficult to replace in the smaller tote you know will be allowed. Saves fumbling around in your stuff, at the last minute, in public, should for whatever reason the 22" roll-aboard be required to be checked.

polly229

Not all gate checks are created equal. A large number of passengers were divested of their luggage at the gate on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Nurnberg (for arbitrary reasons as far as we could see since there was plenty of overhead space left over after everyone boarded and the bins were an adequate size for roll-aboards). We were told that we would retrieve it at baggage in Nurnberg, not on the tarmac or jetway, but it was never put on the plane. Furthermore, they had done the same thing on an earlier flight and those bags were not put on our flight, either. No one balked at what we thought was a typical gate check, figuring nothing would go wrong, but about 30 people on two flights arrived in Nurnberg without medicines and other essentials. Now we fold a smaller soft canvas bag in our roll-aboards to stow the essential essentials in case of a gate check that isn't a gate check as we know it.

hellokittie

I have similar concerns-flying jfk to nice. Air France has very low wt allowance and diminensions too. I am wondering: I bought a light weight unstructured bag that claims to fit the airline regs but I wonder how they will measure this soft luggage shape changing thing?

ggreen

hellokittie, I'm not sure about the weight or shape aspect and you probably will be fine. But I can attest to the difficulties of not being prepared for a gate check: I watched AF personnel making people gate-check at JFK a few years ago. This one poor young woman had the contents of her suitcase sprawled out on the carpeting in front of the jetway, frantically trying to pull out her "essential essentials"... She seemed pretty traumatized - it was not a pretty sight! Once onboard, I thought the gate-checking process was rather arbitrary, as there were plenty of roll-aboards that were at least the same size as hers being shoved into overhead compartments.

Luisah

It sounds as if it was rollaboards, not hand luggage, that was taken at the gate, especially since one poster wrote that now they pack a small canvas bag just in case.

It's hard to guess the reason those bags were taken, but I really can't imagine someone leaving their medicines in a rollaboard that had to be checked. I always carry medicines, eyeglasses, passport, anything truly essential in my purse, and other things that are good to have (a set of underwear, clean shirt etc.) go in a small rollaboard or a shoulder canvas bag. If I didn't have a purse and the luggage was being taken I'd put the meds in my pockets.

I wonder what the reasoning was if the rollaboards were within the size/weight limits. Maybe the flights were full and they anticipated lack of space?

suze

<<Maybe the flights were full and they anticipated lack of space?>>

That appeared what was going on, on my most recent flight (Southwest). It was the last few people boarding, when the overhead bins were already full, that the flight attendants were taking some rollaboards back off the plane, to be checked.