The International Air Transport Association last week broached a new, smaller suggested size for carry-on bags, “IATA Cabin OK,” so more people can fit a bag into the overhead bins.
That led to a barrage of news stories suggesting that nefarious air travel changes were afoot, and became a media headache for IATA, which represents 260 global airlines.
On Friday, the group released a “clarification” on its baggage effort. A German luggage maker, Rimowa, also sought to distance itself from the controversy with a statement saying the company doesn’t support any effort to curb carry-on luggage size.
“Passengers with Cabin OK carry-on baggage can travel with a greater assurance that it will be acceptable across the different airline requirements,” IATA said. “And, when traveling on a participating airline, there is a further benefit: those bags with a Cabin OK logo will have a priority (determined individually by each airline) for staying in the cabin should its cabin capacity be exceeded and some baggage need to be moved to the hold.”
The recommendation suggested an “optimal” carry-on size at 21.5 inches tall by 13.5 inches wide by 7.5 inches deep.
Nine major international airlines planned to introduce the guideline into their operations: Avianca, Azul, Caribbean Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, China Southern, Emirates, Lufthansa and Qatar. No U.S. airlines signed on to the guideline.
Here are seven points IATA raised to target what spokesman Jason Sinclair called “all of the inaccurate reporting about this.”
• The Cabin OK effort is an industry guideline, not a new standard.
• The guideline won’t replace airlines’ maximum carry-on baggage size limits.
• Cabin OK is an optimum size for a bag, not a maximum. (All four of the largest U.S. airlines have carry-on bag maximums that are larger than the new IATA guideline.)
• Cabin OK aims to give passengers greater certainty that their carry-on bags will be accepted in the cabin. Most narrow- body jets, when fully booked, don’t have sufficient overhead bin space for every passenger to stow a bag.
• You don’t need to buy a new bag. But your current (larger) bag will still subject you to the uncertainty that it might not get into the cabin with you.
• The Cabin OK guideline isn’t a “revenue-generating scheme for the airlines,” IATA said. Most airlines don’t charge to shunt a carry-on bag into the cargo hold when the overhead bin space is exhausted.
• The plan is to help airport staff know which bags will fit. No “retro-certification” will be allowed for any existing bags that meet the Cabin OK dimension.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
