At the Austrian Airlines sister company Eurowings, new hand luggage regulations have been in effect for a few days. These are obviously based on those that have been practiced by the competitors Ryanair and Wizz Air for a long time. According to its own statements, the AUA has no plans to change the existing rules.

A spokeswoman told Aviation Direct regarding the maximum size of free hand baggage: “Austrian Airlines is currently not considering reducing the size of the maximum permitted hand baggage.”

Since the AUA in the economy class in the most frequently booked tariff “Economy light” collects extra for checking in baggage at the counter, many travelers try to exhaust the included hand baggage as much as possible. As with almost all airlines, the compartments can get pretty tight - if the plane is fully booked. 

When asked what actually happens when many travelers take advantage of the exemption limit for their hand luggage and also have duty-free bags and possibly women's handbags with them, the media officer replied: “Should every passenger exhaust the hand luggage limit and there is no more space on board Stow the luggage, then it will be loaded into the hold free of charge ”.