Recently I wrote about how I was a bit confused about the wording that airlines were using regarding what you can take on an airplane with you in a recent booking that I made. Because of my connecting flights being somewhat close together by design, I didn't want to check any bags. I'm not a big spender when it comes to be travel but I find that if I limit myself to carry-on only I will almost always be a lot more sensible with what it is that I bring with me.
Therefore I had a carry-on and a laptop bag. The airline had told me that i was allowed only a "personal item" on the flight but I dug deeper and found out that personal item for this particular airline meant a carry-on bag. I don't like that they did this and I feel as though they were intentionally being tricky with their wording to discourage me and others from actually bringing a bag on board.
I have a sensible sized carry on bag and really, if any place is selling anything that doesn't fit in these very standardized size parameters, never shop there again. Airlines are constantly changing things but they will not change this because the uproar would be immediate and harsh. You'll be fine.
However, airlines are also in the business of making money and therefore they will have rather absurd regulations about how much the bag can weigh including the contents. Often this will be as low as 7kg and with my bag, which was intentionally purchased as a lightweight option, the bag alone is 4kg so that doesn't leave me with a great deal of luggage. I wasn't trying too hard to get it under 7 kg because I travel a lot and I know that they generally don't actually even weigh it or if they do, they are just making sure you aren't trying to "take the piss" and have 40kg worth of stuff in the bag. Mine clocked in at around 9kg and I was prepared to move things to my laptop bag and even wear them if I had to. Thankfully although I did put them on a scale, they never mentioned anything to me about the weight. This was with a regular budget airline and not the truly bottom tier ones like Ryanair or Spirit. I would imagine those clowns would weight it all the way down to the gram.
The explanations that i have heard from airlines about why there is a limit at all vary, and are all likely bullshit. I have heard that they need to know the weight so they can account for the amount of fuel they need to bring along (obvious BS because they are bringing a lot more than they need,) I have heard that they need to know the weight so they can balance the plane (this one is particularly stupid since they have no idea where you are going to put the bag as well as the fact that I weigh 90kg and the kid next to me might weight 20 but we have the same bag), and I have heard, finally, the one and only semi-truthful statement ever made by an airline about this situation ever.
While the real reason is that they want to make more money - come on now, we all know this is true - someone came along and stated the only sensible other reason that I have ever heard: People are bringing too much stuff on the airplane and they don't have any more space for storage in the passenger part of the aircraft.
FINALLY! Something that actually makes some level of sense! This is true when you think about it because each overhead compartment normally encompasses 6 seats and if each person in those seats had a carry on rolling suitcase, there wouldn't be enough space unless they were all very small. All of these bags are designed specifically fit into that tiny legroom spot that we all get but nobody actually wants to do that, do they?
So I can finally look at something an airline said and agree with them. The weight limitation of 7kg is still absurdly low and I think that a dimensional restriction would probably be less full of shit. For me, I think that if my bag fits into the dimensional specifications and I am capable of lifting it, I should be able to bring it on board with me..
But I am finally going to get on the side of the airlines with a statement that they made because this is the only one that I have ever heard from anyone that has ever sounded like anything other than an excuse to hide the fact that they are simply fleecing us as often as possible.
Unfortunately I can no longer find the article about which airline actually said this: If I could, or I do in the future, I will name them so that I can go out of my way to try to support them as much as possible. It certainly wasn't Spirit Airlines though, of this much I am certain.