Airlines Hoping New Baggage Restrictions Will Fly

Travelers accustomed to jamming their shopping spoils into overhead bins on crowded holiday flights could soon be in for a surprise: new restrictions aimed at paring down carry-on luggage.

Last week, Northwest Airlines began limiting passengers to one carry-on bag plus one small item, such as a purse or laptop. On Monday, United Airlines will try out a new policy limiting low-fare passengers to one bag on flights out of Des Moines.

And a recent American Airlines change requires attendants to determine the number of acceptable carry-ons for all flights by gauging the passenger load.

Some passengers are hoping the new policies don’t catch on.

“I prefer to carry on my bags so they don’t get broken, lost, gone through or rained on,” said Andrea Edelstein, flying out of Washington National Airport on Friday to a high school reunion in New Jersey. “I’ve had all of them happen to me.”

Carrying two leather duffel bags and a dry-cleaned dress, Edelstein said she doesn’t think the stricter limits are needed. “If people stick to the policies the airlines already have, I don’t think it becomes a problem,” she said.

But some air carriers say the rules in place are too vague and leave too much discretion to gate agents.

“It was so obvious that it was being abused,” said Kathy Peach, a spokeswoman for Northwest Airlines. “People are pleased there is a little more structure,” she said.

The airline’s new one-bag-plus policy makes concessions for certain customers, including those in business and first class, who typically pay higher prices for fares than infrequent leisure travelers.

The Federal Aviation Administration will encourage airlines to place stricter controls on cabin baggage under proposed guidelines, an FAA spokeswoman said Friday.

According to a draft of the guidelines, airlines could place agents at gates to see that more stringent definitions of carry-on luggage size and weight are observed. The FAA suggests two pieces of cabin baggage per passenger with a total weight of no more than 20 pounds.

A laptop computer and a briefcase could be carried on but not in combination with a garment bag or the typical roll-on cabin bag.

American Airlines recently asked the FAA to issue new regulations, but FAA spokeswoman Kathryn Creedy said the agency believed the carry-on issue could be dealt with faster by updating its guidelines.

“We think it’s a behavior issue,” Creedy said. “It’s one that the flight crew, the industry and passengers must work together to solve.”

Some airlines and flight attendant unions have been clamoring for regulators to take more direct action.

“In general, we believe this should be done on an industrywide basis with an FAA regulation,” said American Airlines spokesman Chris Chiames.

The holiday season is notorious for excess baggage as people lumber to gates carrying overflowing shopping bags and heavy winter coats.

“Sometimes you wonder how they got onto the plane with that stuff in the first place,” said Kathy Cerstvik, a flight attendant for Continental Airlines. She says she tries to help customers put their things away in the cabin but “if it has to be checked in, it has to be checked in.”

Plenty of travelers have lost patience with over-packed fellow passengers angling for limited space on board.

“It’s just ridiculous,” said Byron Biggs, a Washington businessman traveling to Houston on Friday. “The bags with the wheels are the worst. If they had never invented those, they wouldn’t have half the problems.”

Flight attendant unions have emphasized that it’s not just a space issue. Several weeks ago, the Assn. of Flight Attendants held a news conference citing cases of falling computers and bags.

According to the association, more than 4,000 passengers were injured by luggage falling from bins last year.