Originally Posted by
dmwalker
Sorry to add one more comment about baggage. I haven't flown for years now but I remember 30-40 years ago the size standard was enforced, at least at my local airport CYYZ. There was a metal rectangle representing the width and height of the space under the seat and, if your hand baggage couldn't pass through it, you had to check it in to the baggage hold, even directly from the departure gate. Was that not universally enforced at that time?
It is still fairly common to see those devices in airports. It's pretty uncommon to see them used. The only time I have seen them used in the last decade was by Qantas. I used to fly to Australia out of LAX fairly frequently, either on Qantas, or an a Delta flight that departed about the same time as the Qantas flight from an adjacent gate. They had a size gauge mounted on a scale. One of the gate agents would scan the boarding queue, and if the carry-on looked a bit large (and most do in the US) they would make the passenger fall out and put it in the size gauge. If it didn't fit or was overweight, they had to check it. I would stand there silently applauding.