American Airlines is preparing to remove its metal bag sizers—the rigid frames used to call out suitcases that exceed the airline’s official carry-on dimensions—from boarding gates, shifting instead to a policy that allows gate agents to make judgment calls about whether a carry-on is too large to bring on board.
“As we further simplify the boarding experience for our customers and team members, American will soon remove bag sizers from the gate area,” the Fort Worth–based airline said in a statement. Going forward, staff members will instead be asked to err on the side of the traveler if they’re unsure if the bag will fit in the overhead bin.
While intended to streamline boarding and ensure overhead bin space is used efficiently, the sizers became notorious for sparking last-minute bag checks and heated exchanges as passengers attempted to squeeze their luggage into the unforgiving metal templates.
While American isn’t changing the size requirements for carry-on bags and personal items (it remains a maximum 22 x 14 x 9 inches, including handles and wheels, for suitcases, and 18 x 14 x 8 inches for personal items, such as purses and backpacks), it appears the airlines will prioritize flexibility over strict enforcement going forward. Instead of requiring travelers to prove their bag fits, agents will visually assess luggage and only intervene and check the bag to the final destination when it is clearly oversized.
Though the sizers are being removed from the gate area, the airlines said they will still be available at the check-in desk for customers who wish to confirm the baggage is appropriately sized for the overhead compartment.
Some travelers may welcome the flexibility, while others could be concerned about inconsistency or worried that more lenient enforcement will lead to fuller overhead bins and more gate checks overall. It’s worth mentioning that United Airlines also removed bag sizers in the gate area in 2020.
This isn’t the first boarding change American Airlines has made this year. Earlier in 2025, the carrier revamped its boarding process by reshuffling boarding groups and adjusting when certain fare classes and credit card holders are allowed to board. These tweaks are also aimed at tackling what frequent travelers jokingly (and sometimes not so jokingly) refer to as the “gate lice” problem—when passengers crowd around the boarding lanes well before their group is called, clogging the space and making it difficult for those actually boarding to move through. American has tested ways to control that congestion with new technology that publicly shames passengers who try to jump the line (when passengers attempt to board the plane before their assigned group, the boarding system produces a noise, alerting the gate agent, who then tells the passengers to rejoin the line and wait their turn) and altered gate agent scripts that more directly ask passengers to step back until their group is called.
