Forced To Pay $62 For Carry-On That Fit The Sizer—Millions Watch Passenger’s Showdown With Airline Over ‘Absurd’ Policy

A 27-year-old flying from Manchester Airport in the U.K. to Lisbon was wrongfully charged $62 (£48) for a carry-on bag even though it fit in his airline’s baggage sizer at the gate. He recorded video about the incident that’s been viewed over 5 million times.

In it, he shows that his black carry-on bag slid smoothly into the sizer. Yet an employee insisted on the charge anyway. “£48 for that is ridiculous,” he’s heard saying in his video. An employee insisted the bag didn’t qualify as a free carry-on, though, since it should “freefall” into the sizer without resistance.

In retaliation for the pushback, the staffer reportedly threatened to terminate the passenger’s boarding pass if he didn’t pay up – and delete the video. He paid, and deleted much of his recording but some clips remained.

@jakehughesss easyjet staff made me delete all of this footage or i wasnt allowed to board… loll #viral ♬ original sound – Jake Hughes

While the airline pays out commission to flight attendants for onboard sales, I’m not familiar with gate agents receiving a part of bag fees collected, though many viewers wonder if that’s what’s going on here.

According to easyJet,

We are investigating with our ground handling provider at Manchester airport to understand why Mr Hughes was charged for his bag which appears to be in line with his allowance, and we have been in touch with him to refund the charge.

Since easyJet makes its money more on fees than fares, they’re known to be a stickler for carry-on bags. Here’s a man who had to prove his bag fit in the sizer at the gate. It barely fit, and he shoved it in so hard, it got stuck for good.

@hotasfo_o dont die for easy jet #fyp #viral #plane #funny ♬ original sound – sam

I’ve had my own run-in with an American Airlines gate agent who demanded I check something that fit in the sizer. I wish I’d had the same gusto as one journalist who called the police on an aggressive gate agent demanding he check his carry-on that fit.

Because it’s Europe, airlines might soon be required to transport all carry-on bags free as the EU considers declaring cabin baggage a human right. Airlines in Europe are often far stricter with carry-ons than the U.S., even the major legacy carriers, enforcing weight limits not just limits on size. And that, to me, is indeed a human rights violation.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Asian and EU carriers are much stricter on carry on bag size AND weight (I have NEVER been asked to weigh my carry on by a U.S. carrier and probably only had my bag sized once).

    Any idea why? Just easier/better to board the plane faster vs. collecting some extra revenue and arguments that go along with it?

  2. This line got me good, Gary: “Because it’s Europe” … Right, like, the EU actually may force ‘big businesses’ to treat us more fairly. Meanwhile, for consumers in Trump’s America, as Elon Musk told advertisers in November 2023, we are going to basically be told by these companies to: “Go. F—. Yourself.” Clearly, they won, and we’re all going to pay the price. It all reminds me of that cartoon/meme with the tattered businessman huddled around the fire in an apparent dystopian near-future, telling the kids: ‘Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time created a lot of value for shareholders.’ That feels more and more likely to be our destiny. So, I expect this next era to be nothing but unchecked greed and corruption, like the airlines letting go of valuable crew while expanding executive pay through stock buybacks, and an eventual recession followed by yet another bailout for the wealthy, while the ‘working class’ wrongly blame ‘wokeness’ or some other boogeyman for their woes. Would love to be wrong about all this.

  3. A “human right”? Boy, there’s a new one. For a citizen of the United States, I suggest that the author read the Declaration Of Independence. Your rights are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Note…”pursuit” not guarantee. There’s nothing in the Constitution Of The United States that offers “carry on luggage” as a right, either. So, get your stuff correct before pontificating about your luggage as a “right”.

  4. what recourse or options are there if you buy a piece of luggage that is sold as suitable for carry-on and then when you get to the airport you are told “no”…. I have a Tumi roller that might fit on wide-bodies but cant imagine it fitting on smaller places….was sold as a carry-on option. It mainly just sits in my closet.

  5. Why do Low Cost Pax always seem to have these issues? Aha- it’s the Carrier’s. easyjet, Ryan, Jazz… all shyte carriers. The $14.95 saved by flying in these rebranded coffins is not worth having a Jetblue style abrupt parking in the Everglades.

  6. @Armadillo – Don’t airlines publish a standard size?

    “Standard” may be a luggage company’s definition, but some airlines say handles and wheels are included in the sizing.

    I will say there are some flights where one side of rhe plane has space smaller than the other side, so natter what, a gate check-in may happen.

  7. Human rights violations go on worldwide and to categorize cabin baggage as one of them is an offensive, and frankly, stupid comparison. Grow up.

  8. The carry on situation is out of hand – the amount of stuff people manage to get on as “carry on” is absurb and those of us who comply with the rules & regulations are penalized as we wait for these selfish entitled people stuff their bags into overhead bins and worse when deplaning as they struggled to get them down again. Flying has become a real pain not only because of the carry on situation but the food passengers bring onboard and their rude behavior, airlines should start to regulate the carry on problem, it would make boarding and deplaning so much smoother and less stressful.

  9. many carriers are “stealing” fees today. A year ago one Canadian airline tried to charge me $20 to sit next to my travelling companion as she “saw we have booked together.”
    There is no safety issue. Its a maximum revenue issue/cheat if you have to. Avoid the carriers that follow this policy

  10. So, free carryon bags are a human right? Does the EU have people sitting in some hidden room somewhere making up the stupidest things a human being can say? Like a Guinness World Record for stupidity or something?

    It reminds me of a video I saw years ago, where police pulled over a “Sovereign Citizen” for speeding. After he declares that our laws don’t apply to him, he says he has a constitutional right to “pursuit of happiness” and speeding made him happy.

    This is the world we live in. Birth should come with a mandatory straight jacket these days.

  11. The airlines have it all wrong. The way to fix all this “baggage stuff?” Make checked in bags free and then charge for all carry on’s outside of a purse, baby bag, or a standard backpack or satchel (laptop bag).

    I spent 1/2 of my life working in an international airport for airlines and the government, I can tell you for a fact, this move would speed up security tremendously, speed up boarding, speed up offboarding, and the only people that will hate it are the passengers due to the additional time spent in a baggage claim. The passengers hate these policies anyway so at least adopt a policy that has a direct benefit to the operation other than fees, time is money.

  12. Europe: carryon bags are a human right!
    Also Europe: You posted something on FB that hurt someone’s feeling, off to jail with you!

    Who needs freedom of speech when you have carryon bags!
    US leftists love to say “bbbbut in Europe” about every issue. Maybe time to stop worshipping them. Oh, btw, in Europe abortion is restricted after 12-14 weeks. I guess they are all fascists and Nazis!

  13. I’ll never fly EasyJet again. I got moved out of my seat which I had paid a decent amount for because the flight attendant wanted someone else to sit there. When I attempted to move forward a row she threatened to throw me off the plane unless I moved back and took a worse seat.

  14. There was a guy on a QF Australian domestic flight get on with, what I’ll call a Santa’s bag (thick a 1m sphere). It had no shot of fitting in an OH bin. I later talked with the FA, and she could not figure out how the GAs let this happen. To the crew’s credit, they realized figuring out a way to gate check it would delay the flight. So, it was placed in the lav for take off/landing and allowed on the empty seat next to him in flight.

  15. @ 1990

    “So, I expect this next era to be nothing but unchecked greed and corruption…” Given your attitude and expectations, you’ll probably not be disappointed.

    “Would love to be wrong about all this.” Change your attitude and outlook and perhaps your hope will come true.

  16. Win Whitmire: Armadillo was making an unfunny reference to the ValuJet crash of 1996.

    He butchered the reference.

  17. Frontier Airlines is bad. The gate attendant refused a carry-on that was way too large, but then the passenger was allowed to take things out of the bag until it fit in the guide. Then he was allowed to pick up all the discarded items and board the plane?! Ridiculous.

  18. @Daniel, I’m glad you pointed this out. More so the weight than size has to do with safety. Should a 15kg bag fall out of an overhead bin during turbulence, it could severely hurt someone. In addition, you have people asking crew member to life their bags into the bins, this fall outside of their scope, but if a bag is weighing the same as an exit door, those repetitive movements may cause a workplace injury.

  19. Easyjet is easily the worse airline I have ever been on. My wife’s passport was stolen in Milan a fews days before we were to depart; she got a new emergency passport & had the police report. She did not have the visa in here new passport and the GA for Easyjet said she could not LEAVE Italy until she got a visa. Fortunately the airport police thought differently.

  20. @Win Whitmire, if you actually read, the author states the EU views luggage as a human right, not himself. Settle down capital stormer.

  21. @Armadillo of the Air, You save much more than $14.95. Other airlines have lowered their prices a lot because of low-cost airlines. So, when you fly on British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France or whatever, and only pay a little bit more than with easyJet, this is thanks to easyJet. Without low-cost airlines, you would probably pay 5 to 10 times more.

  22. To be fair, “free checked bags” isn’t a panacea either.

    I’ve seen more than one person on Southwest with several large carry-ons that probably should have been checked, but weren’t.

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