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I heard a rumour today from a BA staff member that they’re going to start charging for large cabin bags soon. Anyone else heard this?
No, but just in case BA haven’t thought of it already, please make sure to post a prominent individual thread with a clear title on the UK’s biggest Frequent Flyer website about this.
Oh, and to give it credence, attribute it to a BA staff member. Just to really scare all those readers who thought about this long ago but saw no reason to give this thought any prominence that might make the idea more digestible.
Whilst they are at it, I think they should start charging for the included meal unless you have status. Possibly go as far as to charge a little extra on if you get a Club Suite seat or a ying yang.
It can only be a good thing if BA starts to charge for the ludicrous quantity and size of bags people bring on board which is highly anti social and selfish as it clogs up security, creates unnecessary risks on escalators and greatly delays boarding. People complain about delays but fail to see their contribution to that problem at slot congested airports.
BA should of course always have been much stricter but they (sort of rightly) don’t want the confrontation and some people are staggeringly aggressive about having bags taken off them.
The current situation whereby BA asks nicely for Groups 4 and 5 to check in bags at the gate for no cost and go ahead of Group 0 is also bonkers.
Just last week I witnessed someone losing control of their cabin bag on an escalator. The bag slid very quickly all the way to the bottom and across the floor. Thankfully nobody was below the individual who dropped their bag as I hate to think what injuries that could have been caused.
I’ve never seen anyone surrendering their cabin bag being promoted higher than Group 3! I still think BA is missing a trick here – if they specified that anyone who’s already got hold baggage must check in any suitable cabin bags, it would go a long way to alleviating the situation. I think many people in Groups 0 – 3 who don’t get approached to check their cabin bags would probably be happy to do so. I’ve certainly proactively offered to do it a couple of times because we were going to be collecting checked bags anyway.
This rumour has been kicking around for a while. BA currently allows a large wheely bag 56 x 45 x 23cm free, I’d be happy for that to be charged for, but smaller bags for less.
Or they could just fit the bigger storage bins in all aircraft 🤷♀️. I was on one of these last year – it was a nearly full domestic flight and there was room for all the bags.
Well if this law does come in BA won’t be charging on european flights at least, and neither will anyone else.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20250627-the-big-change-affecting-european-travel
Well if this law does come in BA won’t be charging on european flights at least, and neither will anyone else.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20250627-the-big-change-affecting-european-travel
Do we automatically copy any new EU laws?
If the plane lands in Europe will have to follow European laws on way back.
Hopefully at least for European flights this will lead to a standardised bag size across airlines at least in Europe.
As for BA, they should start being more proactive in enforcement of bag sizes, not just main in-cabin bag but for the not so small underneath bags that don’t end up under seat.
This is where I may annoy people they should turn an official blnd eye to group zero and 1.
The cabin bag size is huge, you would be hard pressed to get anything much bigger into the overheads, so I don’t think that many people are breaching it.
I once mentioned on here that it’s possible to fit more than you’d think under the seat, but there was a chorus of disgust about the perceived unsanitariness of BA’s floors so maybe that’s who’s clogging up the bins … 😂
Well if this law does come in BA won’t be charging on european flights at least, and neither will anyone else.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20250627-the-big-change-affecting-european-travel
Unlikely as you need all 3 parts of the EU to approve it and that’s not guaranteed (the recent push to update EC 261 failed in the Parliament)
As to suggestions that this would force the retrofitting of larger lockers it could really only apply to new planes. A lot of old planes would be grandfathered in as it could cost a heck of a lot for what would likely little benefit.
@Aston100 – no we don’t.It would be simple i you were only allowed one bag
The trouble is handbags.
No, but just in case BA haven’t thought of it already, please make sure to post a prominent individual thread with a clear title on the UK’s biggest Frequent Flyer website about this.
Oh, and to give it credence, attribute it to a BA staff member. Just to really scare all those readers who thought about this long ago but saw no reason to give this thought any prominence that might make the idea more digestible.
Because of course BA would never have thought of it on their own
I’ve never seen anyone surrendering their cabin bag being promoted higher than Group 3! I still think BA is missing a trick here – if they specified that anyone who’s already got hold baggage must check in any suitable cabin bags, it would go a long way to alleviating the situation. I think many people in Groups 0 – 3 who don’t get approached to check their cabin bags would probably be happy to do so. I’ve certainly proactively offered to do it a couple of times because we were going to be collecting checked bags anyway.
The promise of Group 3 boarding is relatively new. Up to now, the bag surrenderers were boarded at that time and left to wait in the jet bridge or its surrounding area so very much before Group 0. Recent weeks this Group 3 thing has started of taking the bags off them and sending them back to sit down in the gate area. Though of course then the BA staff at LHR pull back the tensabarrier for the Group 1 line at the same time as Group 2/3 and a melee ensues as to which line is heading to which BP scanner.
I politely query the logic of “if checked luggage, then give up hand luggage”. When travelling for work, when work attire is essential upon arrival, i always bring one day’s worth of full work outfit (belt, shoes too) in hand luggage. That’s to tide me over if the checked luggage is delayed. So for me and many others in that situation, it really does matter that both bags are in different places on the plane.
Well if this law does come in BA won’t be charging on european flights at least, and neither will anyone else.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20250627-the-big-change-affecting-european-travel
Do we automatically copy any new EU laws?
Does BA fly from EU airspace to the UK?
Well if this law does come in BA won’t be charging on european flights at least, and neither will anyone else.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20250627-the-big-change-affecting-european-travel
Do we automatically copy any new EU laws?
Doesn’t matter if the plane lands in Europe needs to follow European laws at least on way back
It would be simple i you were only allowed one bag
The trouble is handbags.
Open to challenge but the flights to/from Nice are the absolute worst for this. A perfect combo of huge numbers of Groups 1-2 seated in economy, a location ripe for HBO weekends away, and a prevalence of ladies with ‘hand’bags of the designer tote variety that are neither small nor something they will be willing to put under a seat.
I am still traumatised by my last experience of BA boarding in Nice on a bank holiday Monday. Evacuating the Titanic would have been more orderly.
This has been the plan for years, I have aluded to it on here before. BA staff have openly chatted to me about it.
The old IT system couldn’t handle it, but once the new app / website is handling 100% of bookings it will happen – although, ironically, the EU may just have nipped it in the bud.
I’m sure its why BA is not retrofitting its old short haul aircraft with the bigger bins.
I politely query the logic of “if checked luggage, then give up hand luggage”. When travelling for work, when work attire is essential upon arrival, i always bring one day’s worth of full work outfit (belt, shoes too) in hand luggage. That’s to tide me over if the checked luggage is delayed. So for me and many others in that situation, it really does matter that both bags are in different places on the plane.
Agree with this 100% – I often travel with enough tech kit that I am not comfortable putting it on the floor (or will not fit safely under the seat in front), yet if the trip is also for leisure I want a bit more luggage than just an overhead bag.
Several times recently I have travelled in BA CE despite Ryanair / Easyjet having flights at better times. You need speedy boarding if you don’t want your overhead bag to be a mile behind you, I like an aisle seat and if you also want a checked bag, the price difference to BA CE is often not much. “proper” business class it certainly isn’t, but better than Ryanair or Easyjet.
(Entirely non tangible, but my last few CE flights have seen people reading paperbacks that I have later looked up and bought – In a world of Kindles it’s nice to se people reading paperbacks!)
Or they could just fit the bigger storage bins in all aircraft 🤷♀️. I was on one of these last year – it was a nearly full domestic flight and there was room for all the bags.
Even with the larger overhead bins it still takes people an age to stow that bag and an excessively large amount of baggage still causes delay and disruption.
You mentioned in a previous thread when worried about your OH being in a different boarding group (shock horror) that you needed him to stow your bag. That causes delay while someone else does it for you. People should strictly only have what they can stow themselves. Also there’s still the problem of slower security and escalator etc. safety while people have too much kit. It’s very bad for the reasonable majority to have to pander to those who have totally avoidable cabin bag incontinence.
As ever, it’s a relatively small number who cause so much trouble for the more considerate and sensible passengers.
Flight to Munich on Friday – groups 4 & 5 invited to check in bags at the gate and announced they would be boarded at the same time, well before Group 0 as a bonus for their excessive baggage.
Well heaven forbid there should be any pandering to the disabled, elderly, frail or just small!
As for BA, they should start being more proactive in enforcement of bag sizes,
In Athens last week, all hand luggage was being checked for size, including at the CE desks. I’ve never seen that before with BA, but I silently applauded.
The three groups in front of me all had outsize cabin bags that were sent to the hold after much squabbling. It was a similar story in the adjacent Economy queue. No mercy was shown, and rightly so.
As for BA, they should start being more proactive in enforcement of bag sizes,
In Athens last week, all hand luggage was being checked for size, including at the CE desks. I’ve never seen that before with BA, but I silently applauded.
The three groups in front of me all had outsize cabin bags that were sent to the hold after much squabbling. It was a similar story in the adjacent Economy queue. No mercy was shown, and rightly so.
And they were oversize having been measured in BA’s cage? Because like NL says above, the BA max size is huge. I have a Samsonite of max BA size from around 2017. It caused gasps from the BA outstation handling agents in BRU last month who moved to check it in till I had to point out that it does fit in the BA cage, much to their surprise. It is actually a liability because of its size and the need for much overhead space for it – but needs must on that particular trip so that was the case for the job
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