Luggage size for Checked Baggage only

[BillVas]

I check my baggage often with Amtrak so that it is carried in the baggage cars. But can you have a suitcase that say is 31 inches long and wider than what is allowed with carryon??? I have thought of this, since my girlfriend brings too mcuh luggage with us.

BillVas

 

[earthrise]

I took a standard size Samsonite suitcase on board the Crescent in coach. I put it in the overhead bin and no one said a word about it.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

only if your trying to check it then they will measure it. but has long as your carrying it on yourself don't need help are not struggling with it and it fits overhead they don't care.

 

[the_traveler]

As you're boarding the SWC in LAX, they can't tell if you're going from LAX to CHI (where there is checked baggage service in both cities) or from LAX to Kingman, AZ (where there is not)! So as long as it's reasonable (not 6' long and takes 3 people to carry it), I doubt they will give you problems.

They may say something if you check it and they weigh it, and it's a pound over (I've heard stories like that!), but they also may not. If you carry it on, they probably will not at all.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I check my baggage often with Amtrak so that it is carried in the baggage cars. But can you have a suitcase that say is 31 inches long and wider than what is allowed with carryon??? I have thought of this, since my girlfriend brings too mcuh luggage with us.

The official maximum dimensions for checked luggage are a maximum of 50 pounds, 3' x 3' x 3' per item. For a carry-on, it's the same 50 pounds, but the maximum dimensions are 28" x 22" x 14".

For checked luggage, you really do need to be within the limits; for carry-on luggage, if you can easily carry everything in one trip without assistance, they probably don't care if you're not strictly within the limits.