Originally Posted by
Dannyboy39
Don’t know whether it’s just me, but I’ve seen a real uptick in the number of airlines and handling agents checking gate bags on several low cost airlines, more so in western Europe. Name no names because this seems to be a trend across several of the bigger players.
It now feels like every single flight, about 30-50% of passengers are targeted to place their items in the frame to see if it fully fits. More often than not these don’t fit marginally where likely it would indeed fit in the overhead lockers.
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Probably because most of the low-cost ones have reduced the size of the 'free' permitted hand luggage (e.g. Easyjet) - the flight case I have used for 20 years (which was smaller than the previously allowed size) is now too big in one dimension, so I've had to replace it with a smaller one - or pay a fairly hefty additional fee.
No doubt many are either trying it on (in case of no checks) or don't realise their bag is too big.