Aeroflot has installed new carry-on baggage size meters at Sheremetyevo Airport. They have been redesigned from an older model to comply with the carrier's carry-on baggage standards, which were updated two months ago, according to a Travel.ru correspondent.
The new (or rather, modified) measuring devices are labeled "prototype" and can check carry-on baggage for compliance with the current standard of 55 x 40 x 25 centimeters. Unlike the original model, many of which are still at Sheremetyevo, the modified prototypes do not have the ability to weigh carry-on baggage. However, they retain outdated information on carry-on baggage dimensions—it still lists a 20-centimeter dimension instead of the current 25. So far, only a few of these devices are available—in particular, they appear to be absent from Sheremetyevo Terminal 1 (B), which opened today.
Aeroflot continues to implement very rigorous checks on carry-on baggage dimensions at Sheremetyevo's clean-air zone. For the past three months, teams of Aeroflot employees have been stationed at all or most of these entrances, measuring carry-on baggage. In addition to the stationary measuring devices, these checkpoints are also equipped with tape measures. Interestingly, the carrier has even managed to set up such a checkpoint for transit passengers who have just disembarked from another Aeroflot flight and whose carry-on baggage, logically, should already be in good condition.
Aeroflot's checkpoints have found a significant number of passengers with oversized items. They are sent to check these items in as baggage (which, if they've already exceeded their allowance, is quite expensive). For example, in the international departures area, you can sometimes see a long line of such passengers being directed to the oversized baggage drop-off counter.
Aeroflot hasn't yet published the results of these security checkpoints. It would be interesting to know exactly how many passengers they sent to check their baggage, and what percentage of those passengers had to pay for it. It would also be interesting to learn the company's expenses for setting up these checkpoints, and whether boarding and disembarking times have been reduced by reducing the number of carry-on bags.
Source: travel.ru