AirTran's Luggage Measurements

[briananddeb]

About a month ago, there was a thread here about one person's experience with AirTran's unique procedures for measuring checked luggage items in what appeared to be an attempt by AirTran to collect excess baggage fees. The person posting told how the gate agents were measuring from the floor to the tip top of the bag's carrying handle and using other "creative measurements" to try to get a total measurement over the allowed 61 inches. The post was in reference to flying out of Baltimore (BWI) if memory serves.

Our experience flying out of Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) on March 24th was just the opposite. The AirTran agent that checked our luggage didn't weigh them but lifted them and said she was using a "lifting measurement" to determine that they were well within the weight requirement. No tape measures were used. And the guy ahead of us had a bag half the size of a bathtub which he checked with no problems at all. It was HUGE!

And I have no doubt that the person flying out of BWI had exactly what they stated happen to them. I'm just saying that it is not an AirTran-everywhere procedure. At least it sure was not for us.

 

[dudspizza]

About a month ago, there was a thread here about one person's experience with AirTran's unique procedures for measuring checked luggage items in what appeared to be an attempt by AirTran to collect excess baggage fees. The person posting told how the gate agents were measuring from the floor to the tip top of the bag's carrying handle and using other "creative measurements" to try to get a total measurement over the allowed 61 inches. The post was in reference to flying out of Baltimore (BWI) if memory serves.

Our experience flying out of Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) on March 24th was just the opposite. The AirTran agent that checked our luggage didn't weigh them but lifted them and said she was using a "lifting measurement" to determine that they were well within the weight requirement. No tape measures were used. And the guy ahead of us had a bag half the size of a bathtub which he checked with no problems at all. It was HUGE!

And I have no doubt that the person flying out of BWI had exactly what they stated happen to them. I'm just saying that it is not an AirTran-everywhere procedure. At least it sure was not for us.

It can even vary by counter agent. Our bag was bigger than our friends bag. Ours didn't even get a second look, but theirs was measured. This was MSP. We were checking bags at the same time with different agents.

Duds

 

[maxiesmom]

First, let me say hello to a fellow Michigander!!

At GRR the scales are built into their counter. If you had to set your bag up on the lower part of the counter, they were weighed. Maybe the scale was broke, but I bet most agents can guess if you are overweight just by the feel of the bag.

By the way, measuring from the floor to top of the handle is not creative measuring. That is the standard, and the measurement you need to pay attention to when purchasing a piece of luggage.

Also, you can check large luggage. Youjust pay extra for it.

 

[briananddeb]

First, let me say hello to a fellow Michigander!!

At GRR the scales are built into their counter. If you had to set your bag up on the lower part of the counter, they were weighed.

By the way, measuring from the floor to top of the handle is not creative measuring. That is the standard, and the measurement you need to pay attention to when purchasing a piece of luggage.

Also, you can check large luggage. Youjust pay extra for it.

Correct and correct. But the ticket agent stepped ahead of the scales and just lifted the bags onto the scales all at once, where she put the airline routing tags on them. And the fellow with the ginormous bag didn't pay any excess fees; we were right there.

And I'm not trying to be argumentative; just wanted to point out that there is quite a difference in baggage check-in procedures by sharing our experience, which was the exact opposite to what happened to others in BWI who flew AirTran.

 

[aubriee]

I fly out of DFW, but think you may be thinking about a post I made in this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2669433

I carry that duffel every trip and know it is well below Air Tran's 61" minimum, but that morning you could feel the tension in the air. It was like they had been chewed out by their supervisors and were out to just get anyone they could. Thanks to being so small my bag made it past their measurements, but others that should have didn't. They were doing anything they could to add inches to peoples' bags that morning. There were angry people everywhere. Duffels like mine that don't sit up on their own, they were leaning against the wall with several inches between the wall and the base of the bag and then measuring from the base of the wall to the edge of the bag (including those several inches of empty space). They were then pulling their tape measure straight up, no where near touching the bag itself and if your bag happened to have a soft cloth handle that was mashed down, they pulled it up as high as it would go, trying to add a few more centimeters. It was just a really strange experience that morning. Yes, I'm sure they caught some bags that were really oversized, but they were measuring bags like mine that weren't even close, trying to fluff out the cloth duffels to make them as big they could, pulling up cloth handles to make them stand taller, and leaning then against the wall and adding in the extra space between the base of the bag and the wall to get their measurements.

I've flown once since then and didn't see anything like that and in fact my bag didn't even get a second glance that day. It was just business as usual. That one time was the only time I've ever seen the agents act like that or felt any tension in the air. I still think they got chewed out that morning by their supervisors and were just scared to let anybody get by.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Please note..

Luggage measurements are from farthest point to farthest point... Wheels and handles are included. Measurment of them is NOT an attempt to rip you off. Failure to measure them by the luggage industry may have been since by now they KNOW and continue to exclude this on their measurements.


it's the measurement of the suitcase as packed not Empty without extras. Airlines are cracking down. I could not believe how much luggage Delta took Friday at LAX!

And just because "a DIS poster got away with it" does not mean you will. (Do you think AirTran is going to be impressed with that complaint?)

 

[aubriee]

Please note..

Luggage measurements are from farthest point to farthest point... Wheels and handles are included. Measurment of them is NOT an attempt to rip you off. Failure to measure them by the luggage industry may have been since by now they KNOW and continue to exclude this on their measurements.


it's the measurement of the suitcase as packed not Empty without extras. Airlines are cracking down. I could not believe how much luggage Delta took Friday at LAX!

And just because "a DIS poster got away with it" does not mean you will. (Do you think AirTran is going to be impressed with that complaint?)

Do you work for an airlines or something? You argued the point on the other thread and I kept telling you it wasn't that they measured the wheels, handles, and bulges that made their measurements wrong. I have no problem with them including those things. They should be. It's standard! My problem was with them including the empty space between the wall and where the bag started, with how they kept pulling the soft cloth handles up and then ran their fingers over and over them trying to make them stand up just a little taller, with how they kept trying to pull the loose material of the duffles out making them pouf out, then measuring that, and with how they were holding the tape measure well away from the bags and counting that measurement. If they had simply run the tape measure over the bag actually touching them, they wouldn't have come out with such huge measurements on everybody's bags that day. Again my bag is no where near the 61" limit and made it through, but the way they measured it, it was still showing up several inches bigger than it would have if they had measured correctly. The people checking in in front of me were all three told their duffels were oversized and sorry but there is no way they were. I guess you had to be there, but it was obvious that day they were not measuring bags correctly and were trying to add every centimeter they could to the measurements. People with hard sided luggage weren't having a problem because there is no way to add to those bags' measurements. You measure from the floor to the top of the handle and side to side, including any handles and bulges. It was only the duffels that they were trying to make as big as possible. I have just never seen them act that way. Now some people did have some huge bags and they were correctly charged the fee for the oversized bags, but others like the people checking in just ahead of me, should not have been charged and wouldn't have been if they weren't counting the lean. There is no way that empty space between the base of the wall and where the bag starts should be included in the measurements.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Paragraphs are good. I got bored with that rant and quit reading early

However I was not responding to your post (sorry to disappoint you ). I was responding to the first poster's comments implying that measuring wheels to handles is incorrect

 

[kaffinito]

Paragraphs are good. I got bored with that rant and quit reading early

However I was not responding to your post (sorry to disappoint you ). I was responding to the first poster's comments implying that measuring wheels to handles is incorrect

You might want to try using the "Quote" feature to avoid future confusion then.

It's a button to the bottom right of the post.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

You might want to try using the "Quote" feature to avoid future confusion then.

It's a button to the bottom right of the post.

Good point, but I hated to repost that long rant that I didn't really bother to read.

So the statements I made in post 8 are in response to the statements in post 7.

 

[Dan Murphy]

You might want to try using the "Quote" feature to avoid future confusion then.

It's a button to the bottom right of the post.

Good point, but I hated to repost that long rant that I didn't really bother to read.

So the statements I made in post 8 are in response to the statements in post 7.

But I think, OCC, that kaffinito was referencing your post # 6 responding to post # 5, rather than your post # 8 referencing post # 7.