Cabin baggage is the scourge of airline travel today. People are bringing on board increasing amounts of luggage, taking advantage of online check-in to flout the rules.

On time departures are being threatened as cabin crew have to try to shuffle bags around in the overhead compartments, trying to find space for everything. It begs the question, should airlines weigh all cabin bags?

Australia Weigh All Bags

There are four airlines in Australia. Qantas group have Qantas and their low cost offshoot Jetstar, while Virgin Australia group have Virgin Australia and their low cost carrier Tigerair Australia.

Both budget airlines have had to weigh cabin bags to ensure they are within limits since 2014. As it turns out, both of the full service airlines are now doing the same.


Qantas started several weeks ago, and Virgin Australia have also announced they will start the same from this week. This means the limit of 7 kilograms per bag will be strictly enforced.

Differentiation means that the full service airlines will put your bags into the cargo hold free of charge. The budget carriers will of course charge you for the same thing.

Is This Really Necessary?

My first experience with a long boarding due to cabin bags was with American Airlines. I was honestly astonished at how much people were bringing on board and boarding the flight took forever. The amount of crap people bring into the aircraft with them is just silly sometimes.


Having the bags weighed to keep to the limits is a good thing. It will stop people flouting the rules and more importantly, there is the safety aspect. Heavy bags are a hazard if there is an accident, not to mention the issues for crew having to help get them up there in the first place.

Overall Thoughts

Humans will always try to get a little extra when they’re not entitled to do so. European airlines such as Ryanair are also trying to combat the vast levels of baggage being brought on board, but they have not started to weigh cabin bags – yet!

What do you think? Should cabin bags be weighed in all cases or is it overkill? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by rawpixel on Unsplash.
Bags in bins via American Airlines.
Man putting bag in locker via Ryanair.