Map of Riyadh

Whenever leaving for a far-away land or just visiting your friends across the country, there is only one constant problem that all travelers have when using airplane transportation, the constant struggle to adapt to the jungle of rules and regulations regarding carry-on flight luggage. Sometimes it really feels like the airlines are deliberately trying to make our life more complicated than it really is, adding dozens of options, surcharges and things we have to do in order to get on their plane. Instead of trying to generalize these rules, the companies are always looking on ways to be more different and special, each one having its own size, length, weight or content rules, prices and taxes that it would take an accountant to sort out.

Regarding to what passengers can bring on board, there are certain items that are prohibited everywhere, mainly for security reasons, like liquids and other sorts of dangerous things, but after that, everything is open for debate. Each company has another way of handling your carry-on luggage, from one small piece of hand luggage, to several small pieces or one large backpack, it surely becomes extremely confusing if you use several different airlines. There are even extreme cases, when people try to bundle as many things as possible in a rather small suitcase, creating tragic-comical situations sometimes. Other companies have weight limits to their carry-on, leaving people constantly making life-changing decisions on what to take and what to leave home. Never mention situations when people have to change airlines during the same flight, that is when the real problems start.

The next big problem and grey area that many airlines exploit are the taxes for carry-on luggage. Some companies include these charges in the total price of the ticket when you buy it, but others only show them at the final step of the booking, sometimes being as high as the ticket itself for low-cost companies. Never to mention the extra taxes if some unlucky traveler did not read all the regulations and the luggage is bigger or heavier than their limits. Of course, all these rules for carry-on luggage on airplane transportation should exist, but everything should be more transparent and generalized. Nobody want to travel in a plane with luggage lying everywhere and this is why there is always the option to check their luggage and never worry about them until arrival, unless it happens to land on another plane, which also happens sometimes. If you want to make sure your suitcase has the right dimensions you should check the carry on size restrictions of your airline.