No more bag sizers? American makes a small — but interesting — change to boarding process

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If you're returning from a trip with a few more items than you left with, American Airlines has some good news for you.

The Fort Worth-based carrier will officially remove carry-on-bag sizers from the gate area, as first reported by View from the Wing and later confirmed by an American Airlines spokesperson.

Removing the bag sizers means that gate agents will no longer ask travelers to measure whether their bags will fit right before entering the jet bridge. Going forward, the airline's employees are being told to err on the side of the traveler if they're unsure if the bag will fit in the overhead bin.

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Note that American isn't changing the size requirements for carry-on bags or its luggage policy — it's just making a seemingly customer-friendly change to the boarding process.

For its part, the airline says that the move is designed to make boarding more efficient: "As we further simplify the boarding experience for our customers and team members, American will soon remove bag sizers from the gate area."

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Bag sizers will remain in the check-in area for travelers to determine whether their carry-on will fit in the overhead bin, and oversized items will still be required to be checked in ahead of the flight, even if it needs to be done at the gate.

This change builds on American's boarding enhancements that took effect earlier this year, which include revamped groups as well as a longer boarding period that now starts five minutes earlier than before.

What American didn't say in its policy update is that it's actually matching a move made by United Airlines back in 2020, which also removed gate-side bag sizers.

While the narrative around enhancing the boarding process seemingly makes sense, I'm curious why American chose to make this move now. My hunch is that this is part of American's larger focus on premiumization — trying to make all aspects of the experience feel a bit more like a full-service airline than an ultra-low-cost one.

Whether removing bag sizers moves the needle is anyone's guess, but at least the airline seems to be reevaluating all aspects of the travel experience.

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