It’s happened to a lot of people – they bring their carry on onto the plane and when they try to put it into the overhead compartment, it doesn’t fit.
So they have to take the walk of shame back to the gate so they can gate check their bag. For others, you have a crabby gate attendant who insists your bag won’t fit in the overhead, even though you know darn well that it will (this one happened to me. And then it happened another time.). Either way, if you have to gate check a bag that you weren’t planning on checking, you run the risk of their breaking your stuff in it that you packed with the idea that YOU were going to handle it, not them (that one happened to me, too. It didn’t end well – I had to vacuum glass shards out of my suitcase).
But travel search engine KAYAK may have invented the solution for this problem, utilizing augmented reality (AR), with an app that measures your bag before you board, which can then be compared to the exact size requirements of your plane. Take a look at how it works:
*Think* your carry-on will fit in the overhead? Avoid embarrassing “um, we’ll need to gate check that” situations by using our new Bag Measurement tool. Using augmented reality, we’re able to size up your baggage and let you know if it’ll pass. Learn more: https://t.co/1B6tgle0RT pic.twitter.com/TSaCnPvfzG
— KAYAK (@KAYAK) September 17, 2018
How It Works
From Kayak’s website:
To measure your luggage, open a flight search in the KAYAK app and click “new bag measurement tool.” You’ll then be prompted to scan the floor (this helps calibrate measurements) and then move your camera around the bag to capture its size. From there, KAYAK does the math for you. The tool will alert you with the bag’s exact measurements so you know whether you can bring it on a flight as a carry-on, or if it needs to be checked.
The tool has all of the airlines’ baggage policies in the app as well, so regardless of what airline you’re flying, you can check to see if your bag will fit in the overhead, before you even get to the airport.
Personally, I’m thinking it would also be an excellent tool when you’re out of town and realize you need to buy another bag. Luggage shops may or may not have the exact measurements and chances are really good that they won’t know what the policies of all the airlines are anyway, so you could easily buy a carry-on bag that’s too big and not even know it. But not with this app!
The tool is currently available as part of the KAYAK app on iOS and Android.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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