Luggage Makers Carry On Over Airline Regulations

WASHINGTON —  If you think it’s confusing trying to figure out the carry-on rules as an airline passenger, think how hard it must be if you make the bags.

The Luggage and Leather Goods Manufacturers Assn. on Friday petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration to end the confusion for domestic airline passengers by mandating a standard size for carry-on bags.

Anne DeCicco, president of the group, said it has been forced to petition the government because “the airlines are not dealing with the luggage problems. The airlines have failed to fulfill their corporate responsibility.”

Faced with full flights and delayed takeoffs because passengers aren’t getting seated fast enough, most major airlines have begun cracking down on the size and amount of carry-on luggage, a move that already has rendered obsolete some luggage that will show up under the tree this Christmas. But each airline has a different standard, a situation that is driving the luggage industry nuts.

The folks in the $6-billion luggage and leather makers industry aren’t the only people exercised about the problem. The Assn. of Flight Attendants will join the call for uniform standards next week, saying the current hodgepodge of carry-on rules is a safety issue for passengers.

AFA spokesman Jeff Zack said that because of the growing confusion over carry-on luggage rules at the different airlines, “the burden is on the FAA” to fix the problem.

Both the luggage makers and the AFA argue that carry-on bags are a safety hazard because heavy objects can shift and fall when the overhead bin is open and oversize bags can block access to emergency escape routes.

The FAA doesn’t see it that way.

“It is more of a competitive issue than it is a safety issue,” said FAA spokeswoman Katherine Creedy. “If you don’t want a heavy object to fall on your head, don’t put it in the overhead bin.”

Creedy said federal regulations dating back to the 1960s already deal with the safety issues. These regulations require heavy objects to be placed under the seat in front of a passenger and require a flight attendant who has a hard time closing an overhead bin to remove items and either place them under the seat or have them checked as non-carry-on baggage.

Creedy said the new airline “sizer” boxes and templates do not address the safety issue, just the size question. She said a passenger could carry on a bowling ball because it meets the size requirements. A bowling ball would only become a safety problem if it was placed in the overhead bin, which is prohibited under current rules. .

“We don’t regulate [size] because the airlines have different aircraft and even when they have the same aircraft they often have different cabin configurations,” she said, adding that a strict regulation would prevent extra carry-ons on flights that are less than full.

The Air Transport Assn., the major airlines’ trade association, did not immediately respond to the luggage makers’ petition.

DeCicco said she doesn’t really expect the FAA to come up with a carry-on regulation. But she said she wanted to give the government a chance before going to Congress to seek a solution.