Andrew Kelly/Reuters
TORONTO — With the busy summer travel season taking flight, Air Canada today began clamping down on carry-on baggage.
Airline staff at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport have been stationed at both check-in and security checkpoints to ensure carry-on bags meet size and weight requirements.
Bags that meet the airline’s carry-on dimensions will receive a red tag, which the airline says will help reduce wait times at security.
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Air Canada (TSX:AC.B) says carry-on bags which exceed the regulations will need to be checked and “standard fees will apply.”
The airline says if passengers get to security and need to check a bag that exceeds size limits, they’ll receive a special card to get quickly back to a check-in agent, and then on to the departure gate.
Transport Canada rules allow passengers to carry on two unchecked items.
Air Canada specifies that a personal item can include a backpack, briefcase or laptop computer measuring up to 16 by 33 by 43 centimetres and a standard item such as a suitcase measuring up to 23 by 40 by 55 centimetres including wheels and handles.
Those travelling with an infant on their lap can carry on an additional standard article.
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The airline began charging a $25 checked-bag fee last fall on its lowest-class domestic flights and on flights to and from the Caribbean and Mexico. Air Canada has charged for a traveller’s first checked bag on U.S.-Canada transborder routes since 2011.
The airline says the tagging program will expand progressively to other airports across the country through June.