American Airlines has quietly changed its bag-check policy. If you travel with large luggage, plan accordingly

If you’re a frequent flier, likelihood is you’ve been seized by the worry that your carry-on bag is just too big for the overhead compartments.

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Now, for American Airlines passengers, it’s even more important to make sure that your bag is within the scale restrict before boarding. This week, the airline announced that it’s getting rid of its bag-sizers at gates.

American Airlines told the news station KTLA that it began eradicating the metallic sizers, which generally enable prospects and gate brokers to resolve if baggage will match in the airplanes’ overhead bins, on October 6.

According to the airline, the transfer is meant to simplify the boarding course of—bypassing the bottleneck that sometimes kinds when a number of passengers need to examine the scale of their luggage.

How will luggage be checked for measurement?

Starting this week, gate brokers will likely be accountable for visually assessing whether or not carry-ons are the suitable measurement.

According to American Airlines’ web site, prospects are allowed one personal merchandise, which ought to be 18-by-14-by-8 inches or smaller, as effectively as one carry-on, which can not exceed 22-by-14-by-9 inches. The airline famous to KTLA that bag-sizers are still obtainable in airport lobbies for passengers who would really like to use them.

“Team members will continue to monitor carry-on baggage in the lobby and at the gate, and oversized items will still be required to be checked in ahead of the flight,” the airline said.

This procedural change is only the latest update in American Airlines’ current effort to get passengers boarded quicker.

In late 2024, the company started cracking down on “gate lice”—passengers who swarm the gate before it’s their time to board—by implementing a new boarding cross technology that makes an audible beep if fliers strive to board in the flawed group, sending them back to the end of the road.

Other airways are more and more targeted on streamlining their boarding processes, too.

Over the past a number of years, the air travel industry has grow to be reliant on charging prospects for an ever-expanding record of ancillary charges to enhance earnings, forcing the U.S.’s greatest corporations to compete on offering the most fascinating perks. For Southwest Airlines, that’s meant scrapping its iconic open boarding system in order to implement an eight-group boarding course of with premium seating choices.

American Airlines didn’t immediately reply to Fast Company’s request for further particulars on its new bag-sizer coverage.

This post initially appeared at fastcompany.com
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