CarryHaulDepot

Where this sits on the trip

  1. Stage 1
    Packing at Home

    How much it holds

  2. Stage 2
    The Front Door

    What it weighs when you pick it up

  3. Stage 3
    The Gate Sizer

    Whether the whole object fits a metal frame

  4. Stage 4
    The Overhead Bin

    Whether it shares a bin without a fight

  5. Stage 5
    The Baggage Belt

    What survives a chute, a stack and a belt

  6. Stage 6
    The Hotel Room

    Whether it opens flat in a small room

Stage 3 of 6The Gate Sizer

The Gate Sizer

Does it go into the frame?

What this stage asks

The frame at the gate is a rectangular steel box, usually bolted to the floor, and it is the least negotiable examiner in the whole sequence. It asks one question. Does the object go in.

It does not read the listing. It does not know what the case is called, what it cost, what the seller wrote about it or what any of us think it ought to be allowed to do. It measures the outermost points of the thing you are holding: the wheels at the bottom, the feet on the side, the fixed side handle, and the telescoping handle if you have left it up. Every one of those is part of the object as far as the frame is concerned, and not one of them is usually inside a stated body size.

Eight of the forty-seven listings here point the word approved at the bag or the cover itself, and not one of those eight is describing a permission that exists. No airline reviews luggage in advance, none of them publishes a register of approved models, and there is no body that certifies a case as admissible. The size that decides it is the figure your carrier publishes for your fare and your aircraft, and it is worth checking again close to the day. One further listing uses the word of a lock, and that one is different: the standard behind it is real, which is exactly why the other eight are worth separating out.

What the listings answer

Counted from the 47 listings gathered on this site.

  • Three listings state a full external size: two carry-on cases both stating 22 x 14 x 9 in, and one duffel stating 13.4 x 17.3 x 7.9 in.
  • Many more state a trade size instead, such as 20 in or 22.5 in. A trade size is a naming convention. It is not a measurement of the object you will carry to the gate.
  • Nine listings use the word approved, and they are not all doing the same thing. Six apply it to the bag as airline approved or airplane approved. Two print it on fabric covers, where it has nothing whatsoever to refer to. One applies it to a lock, where the standard it names actually exists.
  • Several listings state expandable without a figure. An expanded case is deeper than the case a size figure describes, and depth is the dimension a frame is least forgiving about.

What nobody states

Not a shortlist of the vague ones. These are figures that appear on no listing in the catalog at all.

  • Not statedThe size of the object including its wheels, feet and side handles. Not one listing here gives an over-wheels figure.
  • Not statedThe size of the case with the telescoping handle extended, which is how a case is usually held when it reaches a frame.
  • Not statedThe external size after expansion, on any of the seventeen listings that claim an expansion.
  • Not statedWhich airline, which fare or which aircraft the claim is supposed to relate to, on any of the eight listings that point the word approved at the bag.

Worth being careful about

  • No airline approves a case in advance. Airline approved and airplane approved are marketing phrases, not certifications, and there is no register to be on.
  • TSA does not certify luggage sizes at all. The approval scheme those words point at is a lock standard, and on a fabric cover there is no lock for the phrase to describe.
  • This site does not print cabin size limits for any airline, in inches, centimeters or anything else. Your carrier publishes its own figure. Read it before you buy and read it again before you fly.
  • Where a listing gives a figure such as 22 x 14 x 9 in, that is the body of the case. Wheels, feet and an extended handle are not usually counted inside it, and a frame counts all of them.

A stated size is the size of the body. Wheels, feet and an extended telescoping handle are not usually counted inside it, and the frame at a gate counts all of them.

Where to read next

Where it shows up in the catalog

Sources