American Airlines baggage allowance

iwanttoberich

Does anyone know if American Airlines is very strict on their baggage allowance? On the website it says maximum dimension for free checked baggage is 62 inches (total of length, width and height). My bag is just 2-3 inches over. Do they actually measure each bag? It's difficult to get an accurate measurement when the bag has pockets and the little bump when it's packed. If it helps, I am flying out of Manchester.

luci

It probably wouldn't be AA, but whoever is checking in the bags, eg Servisair.

I had a case that was over the 23kgs allowance when checking in at LAS for an AA flight and had to move stuff to hand baggage to bring within the allowance.

stoneman

iwanttoberich wrote: »

Does anyone know if American Airlines is very strict on their baggage allowance? On the website it says maximum dimension for free checked baggage is 62 inches (total of length, width and height). My bag is just 2-3 inches over. Do they actually measure each bag? It's difficult to get an accurate measurement when the bag has pockets and the little bump when it's packed. If it helps, I am flying out of Manchester.

We have never once seen a tape measure at an AA counter lol. Our cases are huge, they hold 110Ltrs and are definitely bigger than their dimensions.
Weight allowance is another thing, they regularly let us go for the odd couple of pounds over, but seeing that you can stuff as much weight into your cabin roll along (well almost) you can always transfer some to that if they feel the need to pull you. Mind I find AA check in staff the best there are, always willing to have a laugh and actually like dealing with British people.

GibbsRule_No3

I've had to pay twice for the weight of my smallish suitcase. (Just bigger than cabin size) £30 each time. I've often looked at people with much larger cases and wondered if they get charged.

ferf1223

jeepers - what have you had in the case? Our biggest case just fits the dimensions, but weight wise it's been fine 90% of the time.
We like the "extra" carry-on allowance as we just stick the heavy stuff in our carry-on.

Like others we have been let go with a pound or two over the weight limit for our checked baggage...but were about 6lbs over on one case coming back once and had to shift some from that one to another.

Tojo_Ralph

iwanttoberich wrote: »

Does anyone know if American Airlines is very strict on their baggage allowance? On the website it says maximum dimension for free checked baggage is 62 inches (total of length, width and height). My bag is just 2-3 inches over. Do they actually measure each bag?

For Economy travel, I have never heard of anyone who has had hold luggage that has been within the weight restriction, then having it rejected based on the dimension restrictions as when packing "normal" travel goods folk invariably go over the weight limit long before they think about breaching dimension restrictions.

The reason for this is simple, a 62" HxWxD restriction (very common) on case size will likely come with a 23KG weight restriction and a case totalling 62" is going to be a 27" ish case (pretty standard for a checked case). A case that size is going to be anywhere betweem 80 litres and 110 litres depending on design (case, holdall, wheels, etc) and thus when full it is invariably going to be nudging the 23KG limit.

Even with s 62" restriction I would expect 100% of major airlines to take a 31" case totalling something in the region of 67" and approx 120 litres as long as it was within the weight limit.

iwanttoberich

Thanks for all the replies. Tojo Ralph, your explanation is brilliant. I honestly never thought of it that way.

American_Airlines

We understand measuring bags to make sure they are within the baggage allowance is no easy task.

As a recap, our checked baggage allowance is up to 62in /157cm (length+width+height).
If it's between 63-126in / 158-320cm (length+width+height), a $150 fee charge will apply.

Thanks for flying American and have a great trip,
American Airlines Europe

iwanttoberich wrote: »

Does anyone know if American Airlines is very strict on their baggage allowance? On the website it says maximum dimension for free checked baggage is 62 inches (total of length, width and height). My bag is just 2-3 inches over. Do they actually measure each bag? It's difficult to get an accurate measurement when the bag has pockets and the little bump when it's packed. If it helps, I am flying out of Manchester.