In the past, travelers could combine baggage allowance. Recently, this depends on the airline. American Airlines, for example, doesn’t allow combining baggage allowance. Emirates, on the other hand, allows it. In general, it all depends on the airline of your choice. Back in the day, anyone could do anything on airplanes. You may have seen videos of passengers even smoking during flights. And airlines never cared. But today, there are different rules travelers have to live by. These restrictions may or may not make sense to some travelers. But these rules are there for a reason. One of these rules is on combining baggage allowances. In previous decades, travelers can combine each other’s baggage allowances. But recently, this is something that is not always allowed. While some airlines allow it, most airlines don’t. Here, we understand more about the concept of combining baggage allowances. We also talk about whether it is actually allowed or not. Finally, we’ll name the airlines that allow travelers to combine baggage allowances. Of course, we’ll also give you the airlines that don’t. Combining Baggage Allowances for Checked Luggage These days, some airlines allow travelers to combine checked baggage. This is as long as the passengers share the same booking. For example, let us say you are flying with your friends. There are three of you with allowed checked luggage of 20kg each. In this concept, you would all be able to share 60 kg amongst each other. It does not matter if you have 10kg and your friend brings a 25kg-luggage. It is fine as long as the total does not exceed 60kg among the three of you. Airline regulator IATA has restrictions on checked baggage. IATA stands for International Air Transport Association. IATA is the country’s largest airline regulator. And they have recently made restrictions for the benefit of the baggage handlers. IATA restricts all baggage to be at 32kg or less in weight. The dimension is actually limited to 62 inches. And as expected, airlines adhere to these guidelines. Most of them anyway. And so, even if the airline allows the pooling of baggage, no single bag can go beyond these measurements. This means that if there are three of you with total luggage of 60 kg, there can only be a few bags allowed. Most airlines in the US do not allow combining baggage. This is especially true for flights that fly to or from the US and Canada. In other continents, combining baggage allowances is actually allowed. For example, airlines in Europe and Asia allow the practice. Travelers can combine baggage weight allowances. Later, we will talk more about who allows this and who doesn’t. Combining Weight Allowances for Hand Luggage Most of the time, combining weight allowances for hand luggage is not allowed by airlines in the US. For example, there is you and your friend with an allowed weight of 15kg carry-on each. In this example, you cannot expect to bring a carry-on of 10kg and your friend to bring a carry-on of 20 kg. The total of both your carry-ons is maybe 30 kg. But note that you are only allowed 15 kg each. This means your friend has an excess of 5 kg. In most airlines, the rules state that each of you can only bring this much baggage. So, if we go back to the example above, each of you can only bring a carry-on of as much as 15kg each. What friends do is usually transfer items between bags. And this is common, especially for traveling friends and family members. For example, each of you has a limit of 15kg each. On such a flight, your carry-on is only 10kg. Your friend has a carry-on of 17kg. With that said, your friend can actually have you bring the extra 2kg in your carry-on. This brings your total weight to 12kg and your friend’s weight to 15kg. The tip, of course, is only applicable if you know the person you are sharing the weight with. As always, never share baggage weight with strangers.