MIAMI: Air travelers are all too familiar with carry-on bag anxiety: the
feeling sparked by last-minute and sometimes seemingly arbitrary decisions that
a piece of luggage is too large to fit in the overhead bin.
On Monday, the world's
aviation trade organization, which also focuses on weighty issues such as
flight safety and airline profitability, announced an "optimal size"
standard and an effort to get world airlines to sign on to the move.
The goal is to give airlines
and passengers assurance that compliant bags can board the plane, no questions
asked.
"It'll reduce fights
between gate agents and passengers," Thomas Windmuller, a vice president
of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said at the group's
annual meeting in Miami.
However, the new size is
slightly smaller than many current standards. At 21.5 inches (55 cm) by 13.5
inches (35 cm) by 7.5 inches (20 cm), including wheels, that is slightly
smaller than the 22 inches by 14 inches by 9 inches that United Airlines ,
American Airlines and Delta Air Lines currently allow.
IATA worked with plane makers
Boeing and Airbus to find a size guaranteed to fit in bins of planes with 120
seats or more, at least a 737 or A319. Travelers on smaller regional aircraft
still take the risk of bags being barred from boarding.
IATA said it is talking with
major luggage brands, including Tumi and Samsonite, on making bags at the new
size, which it expects will be available this year.
Manufacturer Crown Luggage of China
has already produced sample suitcases, which IATA handed out at its three-day
event.
The new bags carry an IATA
"Cabin OK" tag to tell gate agents and flight crews that the luggage
is compliant. Each tag also has a unique tracking number that will allow owners
to locate a lost bag via a website, okoban.com.
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