Southwest Airlines demanded that a passenger check one of their bags, because carrying a photo in their hand put them over their carry-on allowance.
@SouthwestAir
I just had a crazy experience on your flight! ✈️
Your gate attendant did not allow me on the plane ✈️, because I had a picture in my hand that was a 8×10 peice of paper basically.
She said it was considered a third item !
Really Bad Service pic.twitter.com/YFRofd9zaP— Dr. keith Harley Jr. (@keithharley) August 19, 2025
You’re allowed one carry-on bag and one personal item like a laptop or briefcase. This gate agent would not allow a carry-on, personal item, and a picture “that was a 8×10 peice of paper basically.” It was “considered a third item” according to the agent. And Southwest confirms the policy:
Good afternoon, Keith. We're sorry about any confusion with our carryon policy. You may carry on one bag and one personal item. If the photo was an additional item to the two mentioned, it would be considered a third carryon. Please know you can always put it in one of your… https://t.co/mQmfkYdFNv
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) August 19, 2025
This makes no sense, but you can understand why an employee might think this – at the new Southwest.
This is not a surprising Southwest Airlines experience, because:
- overhead bins are full now, because passengers are trying to carry everything on to avoid checked bag fees
- their new corporate overlords have never met a fee they don’t like – they now expire travel credits, impose basic economy restrictions, and charge for seat assignments.
Delta is specific that your umbrella and food or drink purchased in the terminal don’t count against your carry-on allowance.
Southwest, on the other hand, says that a “small camera” would count as your personal item. A neck pillow would not. But there’s no separate call out there for food.
Some gate agents make up their own policies, too. I’ve been told food counts on other airlines. I’ve been told that I had to put my newspaper in my laptop bag – or else I’d have to check it (good luck with that making it through the baggage system of the airport).
Over the weekend I wrote that a crossbody bag counts as a personal item on a plane and one of your two allowable its – but also that it shouldn’t.
The basic idea is that:
- Clothing shouldn’t count. Anything worn on your item, basically.
- More broadly, if it doesn’t take up space in the overhead or underneatht he seat in front of you, it’s not a carry-on.
A man can wear cargo pants and shove as much stuff in them as they wish. Anyone can wear a jacket, even a heavy winter coat, with plenty of pockets. You can even wear a SCOTTeVEST. Those don’t count against your carry-on allowance.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone claim that a single piece of paper was a carry-on item before.
Speaking of rigid compliance, remember next time you go 1 mile per hour over the speed limit, you’re an ‘illegal’ and it’s automatic, extrajudicial summary execution on-the-spot, right? Or is that hyperbole? I can’t tell…
Sounds to me like Southwest is going the way of Bud Light, will probably not be doing business with them anymore, just as I don’t with Anheuser-Busch.
@Doc423 — Is it ‘woke’ now, too? *clutching pearls*
Southwest evolving into Southworst.
Rigid and stupid, maybe it should be their new motto…it won’t get them to profit.
@David R. Miller — The exaggerated focus of this post (carry-on rules and idiosyncrasies) is hardly the reason for Southwest’s recent decline; that’d be the activist investors at vulture capital firm Elliott (mis)Management, who led the push to eliminate any and all of the things that passengers actually enjoyed about the airline (two free checked bags, free seats, etc.) But you already knew all of that, didncha?
If there is a covered delay, I hear SWA books passengers into Marriott. Talk about getting shafted twice.
It was a framed print !! stop with this BS…
Before, most airlines did not count umbrella, small camera, and reading material. Is a photo the latter?
Isn’t the passenger afraid of damage? I would use a folder at least
Unfortunately for Southwest, this is further confirmation that their new strategy is turning them into American.
I got a good laugh at people suggesting customer service is a factor in airline purchase behavior.
Seems like the person could have put the photo in a carry-on bag until he/she boarded if there’s an issue. If this person wants to bring other stuff on and try to get past the 2 item policy, just buy a Scott-e-Vest and wear it on. Some of the Scott-e-Vests have dozens of secret pockets, so you could even wear a tablet or perhaps a laptop on the plane. The airlines have to draw a line somewhere if they have a baggage policy. Don’t blame them – they lay out the rules and the passengers can decide to follow those rules, or fly with a more accommodating airline. Some of the discount airlines limit your carry-on to a specific weight (and those weights seem ridiculously small). But that’s how they make most of their money, by having those limits and charging for overages. Them’s the rules.
The Southwest Airlines Gate Agent who in their ultimate wisdom chose to make an 8×10 picture a carry on will be a Future Southwest Airlines Corporate Leader and Stooge.
You could chalk the interaction up to an anal retentive or power tripping gate agent.
But when you have corporate communication say that, well, that means the corporate culture has gone down the tubes.
@Too Many — Maybe it always has been…
I fly often- only twice and both at LGA in past year, has the gate agent told me I had to put my fanny pack in my backpack- That is ridiculous- doesn’t take up under seat space or overhead bin space- not very heavy at all- if I had those items in a jacket with many pockets- as my husband does using his pant pocket and shirt pocket – agent would say NOTHING-
If the boarding agent informs me that an 8×10-inch photo of the current Southwest Airlines CEO, Bob Jordan, will be considered a third item if held in my hand, requiring an additional $150 fee to carry a piece of paper my flight, I would respectfully request that the gate agent dispose of the photo of Mr. Jordan in any convenient trash bin. However, I am curious whether an 8×10-inch photo of Herb Kelleher, the co-founder and former CEO and chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines until his passing in 2019, would be classified as a third item if held in my hand, or if the gate agent might waive the baggage fee out of respect for this way-cool visionary and fearless leader of Southwest Airlines.
My favorite way of carrying things on board is a large trenchcoat full of items for sale.
People want rules until the rules inconvenience them. Yes, rules should be flexible, adaptable and applied with some degree of common sense. That said, in this situation, the gate agent is the one with the power, not the passenger. Given the dramatic shift in organizational culture at WN, I can imagine the gate agents are being monitored for their application of the rules. I’m sure some bean-counting MBA (and I have an MBA) with limited real-world experience think they know what they need to know about commercial aviation enough to tell customer-facing people how to do their jobs. And, they’ll be rewarded by some drunk with power PE executive who care for little more then their bonus.
Ahhh…the joys of capitalism in practice.