Now you can bring a heavier bag as Qantas increases carry-on allowance
By David Flynn, March 7 2019
Qantas is increasing the per-bag weight limit for cabin bags on domestic flights, with passengers now able to bring a carry-on bag as heavy as 10kg.
The new rules take effect from Monday 25 March and provide additional flexibility for travellers who have felt stymied by the current cap of 7kg per bag.
The total cabin baggage per passenger will remain pegged at 14kg across two standard-sized bags, plus a small ‘personal item’ bag such as a satchel or slim briefcase.
However, the maximum weight of a single cabin bag increases from 7kg to 10kg – with the remaining 4kg available for a second bag if need be.
Qantas says the decision follows trials which included weighing passengers' carry-on bags at the boarding gate.
This found that while nine out of ten travellers had under 10kg of cabin baggage in total, around 40% of those had a bag weighing between 7kg and 10kg.
"We’ve had feedback from our frequent flyers who said they can easily keep within the 14kg limit but would like flexibility in how they use their cabin baggage allowance," remarks Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David, who cites that most passengers on short business trips and weekends away "only travel with one carry-on bag plus a small personal item."
"Customers will now have more choice how they use their 14kg carry on allowance, by having one bag that weighs up to 10kg."
The airline is hoping for a best-case scenario which will see passengers able to bring 10kg in a single cabin-bag rather than split their load across two bags, which will in turn free up space in the aircraft's overhead luggage bins.
The new cabin baggage policy applies to all Qantas passengers regardless of cabin or frequent flyer status, although the revised rules don't extend to QantasLink's Bombardier Dash 8 turboprop aircraft, where the 7kg/bag limit remains in effect.
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 332
02 Nov 2017
Total posts 35
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Aug 2012
Total posts 126
04 Sep 2017
Total posts 3
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Feb 2015
Total posts 7
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Sep 2016
Total posts 1
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 May 2011
Total posts 220
03 May 2013
Total posts 408
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 332
06 Feb 2013
Total posts 12
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
15 Nov 2017
Total posts 53
05 May 2016
Total posts 528
It seemed very strange that you could pay extra on Jetstar to be able to take 10kg carry-on, whilst QF was still limited to a 7kg limit per bag.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Mar 2017
Total posts 19
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jan 2015
Total posts 56
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
01 Nov 2016
Total posts 91
QF
04 Oct 2013
Total posts 11
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Nov 2016
Total posts 14
Backward move. If you have that much stuff, check it in. Why the hell does anyone need 14kg of carry on that they won't/don't use on a flight as short as an hour ?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Nov 2018
Total posts 60
07 Oct 2012
Total posts 1242
This simply enables one of those bags to be 10kg instead, with the other under 4kg. This is a smart move. I gather most people would prefer to carry just the one bag plus a laptop bag. This better suits that, without costing QF a cent... It even may save them money.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 332
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 Oct 2018
Total posts 1
12 Sep 2014
Total posts 6
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
15 Nov 2017
Total posts 53
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Jun 2014
Total posts 35
13 Apr 2018
Total posts 14
12 Sep 2017
Total posts 17
Hell will freeze over before these guys would do it.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
01 Nov 2017
Total posts 24
24 Aug 2011
Total posts 588
Unfortunately QF are typically poor at enforcing boarding processes (both luggage limits and boarding priority) so I can't see this ending well.
03 May 2013
Total posts 408
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
08 Dec 2014
Total posts 35
Running an airline is often a fine balancing act between what the customer wants and what the regulator will permit. If the customer is unhappy, they will just complain. If the regulator is unhappy, they can shut you down.
24 Apr 2012
Total posts 2976
Actually, a 10kg bag is nothing new in Australia: for many years Jetstar had a standard carry-on baggage weight allowance of 10kg. They lowered it to 7kg just before they put out a hiring call for 'cabin baggage officers' to begin charging passengers what was effectively a penalty (min. $50 per bag at the gate, from all reports), for having more cabin baggage than their ticket permitted (effectively a nice profit spinner), and last year introduced the option for passengers to be able to pay extra to 'upgrade' their cabin baggage weight allowance from 7kg back to the old 10kg per bag, which Qantas said had been driving Jetstar's "ancillary strength" at its most recent financial results - seemingly nothing to do with CASA there, at least when it comes to the distinction of 7kg vs. 10kg.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Oct 2016
Total posts 51
Since when do crew lift bags, I always have to do mine... And if they're too heavy then the crew should stop and make the passenger do it. Another aspect is if the crew can't lift 10kg without getting injured they're in the wrong job.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1384
But let's now have greater enforcement on SIZE of the bags - you know the ones that don't actually fit in the overhead bins and have to go sideways filling up the bins.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 332
23 Feb 2015
Total posts 261
Who cares about bag weight (assuming crew don’t have to touch), it is the size of bags that is the problem!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
25 Nov 2016
Total posts 72
Now with a 10kg limit passengers will carry on 15kg plus.
Qantas should have just well enough alone.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Aug 2014
Total posts 76
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Aug 2016
Total posts 7
06 Mar 2017
Total posts 11
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Oct 2012
Total posts 17
06 Jun 2017
Total posts 13
This should make a lot of people happy now.
Virgin will follow Qantas now, but Jetstar and Tiger won’t.
09 Mar 2017
Total posts 7
Etihad - Etihad Guest
08 Mar 2019
Total posts 1
My 8kg overweight bag was taken AWAY BY STAFF recently at Sydney Airport.
I am an older female business passenger, and I have never had staff assist me with lifting my Qantas carryon bag into the overhead lockers - but plenty of great passengers do!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 May 2014
Total posts 11
23 Feb 2015
Total posts 261
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
13 Nov 2018
Total posts 85
15 Nov 2017
Total posts 3
1. Virgin to offer the same
2. IATA to set the standard worldwide with exemption for airlines owning smaller fleet (e.g. DH8)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Jul 2018
Total posts 3
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
01 Nov 2017
Total posts 24
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
20 Jul 2017
Total posts 3
23 Feb 2015
Total posts 261
QF
04 Oct 2013
Total posts 11
06 Mar 2017
Total posts 11
05 May 2016
Total posts 528
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
27 Jun 2013
Total posts 37
Sanity prevails for a change. It rarely does these days
22 Jun 2013
Total posts 3
qantas
23 Jun 2014
Total posts 12
31 Aug 2018
Total posts 6
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
31 Aug 2012
Total posts 194
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2344
09 Jan 2016
Total posts 44
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2344
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 Jan 2013
Total posts 1
25 Feb 2018
Total posts 1
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
27 Nov 2017
Total posts 8
Wondering what if any changes will be made to align international regs for consistency with connecting passengers.
Also interested to see if EK will change accordingly. A while back they changed to the QF 7+7kg for intl business, presumably for consistency with codeshares.
03 Nov 2018
Total posts 2
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
19 Oct 2014
Total posts 7
Within 20 minutes of the plane arriving at the gate means there's often only 5-10 mins by the time you're at the carousel. This would certainly encourage me to check bags in more often! The reward of a $25 voucher or 2500 miles is a bit of a sweetener.
18 Feb 2018
Total posts 4
If it wasn't for the people like me who check their 'cabin bags' into the hold and walk-on with a small tote bag that sits by their feet, then all of you with two, three, four bags wouldn't get to any destination because the bins would be overflowing....
One bag rule (not with additional laptop bag; that should be part of the 10kgs) enforced.
Those whose time is so precious that they can't wait at a carousel need to rethink life's priorities.... and stop barging me over in the rush to the exit.....!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
30 Oct 2013
Total posts 1
I’ve done qantas j to Europe and US without need to check anything. Which saves the airline, loaders and ME time and effort!
i doubt anyone needs to use anything like 23kg ( or can squeeze it into the hand baggage size limits ( which are probably fleet overhead bin size and weight restrictions. ) but the fact that’s its available takes away all the weight angst.
Ps the cabin luggage rules advise that passengers must be able to place hand luggage in overhead bins without assistance
PPS I am weary of anyone touching a bag in the bin above my head irrespective how small or light it looks!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Oct 2012
Total posts 6
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Dec 2015
Total posts 11
Etihad - Etihad Guest
12 Mar 2019
Total posts 1
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on Now you can bring a heavier bag as Qantas increases carry-on allowance