British Airways, one of the foremost carriers of the world, is the latest airline to take strict measures on carry-on luggage. While load of bags does dilute the efficiency of fuel consumption, airlines have been tightening their luggage allowance rules in the wake of high aviation fuel prices. While this is one of the reason, another prominent one is that the passengers and airline staff begin to take things a bit casually and after sometime the bag sizes begin to swell in volume and weight. Airlines do charge for the excess luggage which is a good source of revenue for them. Thus, any instance of reducing the baggage allowances is viewed by passengers as an attempt to garner more revenues with least consideration about their travails. This is an ongoing tussle between the carriers and the passengers. British Airways is just a new entrant to this tug of war.
BA has announced that it will be reducing the size of 2nd carry-on luggage from the existing 45, 36, 20 cms to 40, 30 and 15 cms. There is no change in dimensions for the first baggage and it stays at 56, 45, 25 cms. The main reason for this move is to make passengers bring second baggage which can fit into the under-seat space and not in the overhead cabin. There is a tussle among passengers to fill the overhead bins which is often one of the reasons why flights get late. This move is expected to make things more manageable within the cabin.
