Do Flybondi, Aerolineas and Jetsmart weigh and measure carryons?

They don't typically weigh or measure carry-on.

Especially if you are doing web check-in and don't have a checked bag to drop off. They won't see your bag until you are at the boarding gate and they don't usually have the time or inclination to weigh it at that point.
 
They don't typically weigh or measure carry-on.

Especially if you are doing web check-in and don't have a checked bag to drop off. They won't see your bag until you are at the boarding gate and they don't usually have the time or inclination to weigh it at that point.
Great! So they just weigh at the check-in desk? We don't need to go there if we aren't checking luggage? We do have a lap infant.
 
95% of the time you are in the clear. Traditionally my carry-on has almost always been a couple kilos over the limit. I can never seem to keep it to 8 kg for a one week trip and I don’t really trust the baggage handling system - not just in Argentina, but anywhere in the world. Remember Frankfurt last summer? Yikes.

I will share an experience that happened to my traveling companion and me in June 2022. We were departing Calafate airport for Aeroparque on Aerolineas Argentinas and the gate agent weighed our bags. I can’t remember the weights, but they were negligible.

I thought while this was happening, worst case scenario - we pay a fine, and she gate checks the bags. In fact, she made us return to the check-in counter on the other side of security to have our bags tagged and checked there. We did not end up having to pay anything, however, the whole experience was very stressful as the plane continued boarding while we ran in and out of security. Luckily, Calafate is a small airport and we made it back in time to the plane for the final boarding announcement. We had already flown on other domestic flights with Aerolineas Argentinas using the same luggage in the past week (and no, we had not purchased things to add weight in the meantime. :) Since this occurrence, I have become much more careful. We almost missed our flight, and that would have been a nightmare. Again, this was rare, but worth sharing because it is possible. I believe that most Aerolineas tickets include at least one checked bag for free. If you think you are over the limit, worth it to get to the airport a little early and drop off your bag to avoid the potential heart race. Good luck!

Side note - had our bags weighed in Chicago while checking into a Lufthansa flight last summer in Chicago. They were slightly over. Tickets were business class. Didn’t matter. The agent tried to convince us to check our bags, but I knew that would mean we would not see them for weeks. Frankfurt was losing something like 10,000 bags a day at that point, so I was determined not to check. Especially over a 2 kilo discrepancy.

I told her that, and she didn’t care. She said she would make a note on our ticket, saying that we appear to have overweight carry on luggage, so that we would be flagged at boarding. We ended up taking sweaters and jackets out of our bags and layering them on our body. The kind of thing I remember from my youth with EasyJet and Ryanair. The check-in agent told us that Lufthansa flight attendants were logging complaints about people getting on the plane with heavy luggage. No one trusted bag checking, so I can understand why. I remember getting on the plane and the flight attendant sympathizing with us for having so many layers of clothes, and telling us not to worry. Feel free to re-pack your bag and not sweat to death on the plane.

Travel seems to be getting a little better, but these nightmare stories are probably going to be our new reality. Moral of the story, travel light, and if you think you already are traveling light, remove even more things. My goal is to actually go on a trip and feel like I have packed too little. Then I know I have actually reached the limit! Still hasn’t happened yet :)
 
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I have a 45-liter soft-cased carry-on backpack bag (Tom Bihn Aeronaut 45) and nobody has ever weighed it even though sometimes it weighed over the limit. I think with backpacks nobody cares about the weight. The logic seems to be that if it's light enough to carry on your back, it's not heavy enough to weigh.
 
, did they weigh everyone’s carry-on items or only the ones that looked big?
I don't know if they weighed other people's bags. If they had time, they probably did. When we returned from Ushuaia on Flybondi in Dec., I had already paid for two items to carry on. Both were over the weight limit. One of them was only a pound or two over. I was able to put a couple of things into my personal backpack and to take it on board. For the other one I had to pay another baggage fee with no credit for the fee I already paid and had to check it in. They said I could file a complaint and try to get a rebate, but the time and effort to do that isn't worth it.
 
I don't know if they weighed other people's bags. If they had time, they probably did. When we returned from Ushuaia on Flybondi in Dec., I had already paid for two items to carry on. Both were over the weight limit. One of them was only a pound or two over. I was able to put a couple of things into my personal backpack and to take it on board. For the other one I had to pay another baggage fee with no credit for the fee I already paid and had to check it in. They said I could file a complaint and try to get a rebate, but the time and effort to do that isn't worth it.
were your bags backpacks or wheeled suitcases?
 
I have a 45-liter soft-cased carry-on backpack bag (Tom Bihn Aeronaut 45) and nobody has ever weighed it even though sometimes it weighed over the limit. I think with backpacks nobody cares about the weight. The logic seems to be that if it's light enough to carry on your back, it's not heavy enough to weigh.
good to know, this has been my experience as well. I have an Osprey Porter 46, a similar capacity/size.
 
95% of the time you are in the clear. Traditionally my carry-on has almost always been a couple kilos over the limit. I can never seem to keep it to 8 kg for a one week trip and I don’t really trust the baggage handling system - not just in Argentina, but anywhere in the world. Remember Frankfurt last summer? Yikes.

I will share an experience that happened to my traveling companion and me in June 2022. We were departing Calafate airport for Aeroparque on Aerolineas Argentinas and the gate agent weighed our bags. I can’t remember the weights, but they were negligible.

I thought while this was happening, worst case scenario - we pay a fine, and she gate checks the bags. In fact, she made us return to the check-in counter on the other side of security to have our bags tagged and checked there. We did not end up having to pay anything, however, the whole experience was very stressful as the plane continued boarding while we ran in and out of security. Luckily, Calafate is a small airport and we made it back in time to the plane for the final boarding announcement. We had already flown on other domestic flights with Aerolineas Argentinas using the same luggage in the past week (and no, we had not purchased things to add weight in the meantime. :) Since this occurrence, I have become much more careful. We almost missed our flight, and that would have been a nightmare. Again, this was rare, but worth sharing because it is possible. I believe that most Aerolineas tickets include at least one checked bag for free. If you think you are over the limit, worth it to get to the airport a little early and drop off your bag to avoid the potential heart race. Good luck!

Side note - had our bags weighed in Chicago while checking into a Lufthansa flight last summer in Chicago. They were slightly over. Tickets were business class. Didn’t matter. The agent tried to convince us to check our bags, but I knew that would mean we would not see them for weeks. Frankfurt was losing something like 10,000 bags a day at that point, so I was determined not to check. Especially over a 2 kilo discrepancy.

I told her that, and she didn’t care. She said she would make a note on our ticket, saying that we appear to have overweight carry on luggage, so that we would be flagged at boarding. We ended up taking sweaters and jackets out of our bags and layering them on our body. The kind of thing I remember from my youth with EasyJet and Ryanair. The check-in agent told us that Lufthansa flight attendants were logging complaints about people getting on the plane with heavy luggage. No one trusted bag checking, so I can understand why. I remember getting on the plane and the flight attendant sympathizing with us for having so many layers of clothes, and telling us not to worry. Feel free to re-pack your bag and not sweat to death on the plane.

Travel seems to be getting a little better, but these nightmare stories are probably going to be our new reality. Moral of the story, travel light, and if you think you already are traveling light, remove even more things. My goal is to actually go on a trip and feel like I have packed too little. Then I know I have actually reached the limit! Still hasn’t happened yet :)
Thanks so much for sharing your experience!! I totally agree-we only do carry-on travel, even when traveling for months at a time. Check out the reddit r/onebag!
 
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