Baggage linear dimensions

[Homer]

I can’t believe I’m asking this question. My wife wants to do some, er, shopping in New York next week. We usually just check in a couple of medium sized Samsonite bags but she wants to take an empty, larger bag that measures about 170 linear cm. The thing is, all the airlines we are travelling on (VA, AA, AC) list a maximum linear dimension on their web sites between 157 and 159 cm. So on the surface it looks as though we’ll get pinged for excess baggage charges if I let her take that bag.

The thing is...I’m at the airport fairly regularly and I often see people dragging along these large sized bags (ie bigger than our standard “medium” sized bags). So are they all paying excess baggage fees or do airlines make a bit of an allowance? And why would Samsonite sell an “illegally sized” bag in the first place?

 

[ejb]

Hi Homer,

mrs ejb has a very large Samsonite and she takes it everywhere and we have never been charged excess luggage of QF.

I would doubt many staff would measure bags, I would say they work on weight mainly.

ejb