Why Qantas’ cabin revamp is a godsend for domestic travellers

“We should be like Jetstar, we should weigh everything,” the flight attendant remarked to his colleague.

It was on board a Virgin Australia flight to Sydney, and the two cabin crew members – and myself – had just watched a woman wheel her carry-on bag on board. Never mind the overhead bins. It was so big she could barely fit it down the aisle.

Finding cabin bag space on domestic flights in Australia has become a battle royale.Credit: iStock

That flight attendant got his wish. Virgin has cracked down on carry-on luggage, often pulling passengers out of line to weigh their bags. (The fact that the airline no longer allows checked luggage with its cheapest fares, meaning you’ll cop a fee if your cabin bag is too big, is surely no coincidence.)

But Virgin’s rules are applied inconsistently. I’ve had my cabin bag weighed in Melbourne to check it was under seven kilograms, only to have it completely ignored in Sydney for the return journey (when it weighed quite a bit more).

Cabin baggage has become the bane of the domestic traveller. With so many passengers now opting to travel with no checked baggage, the scramble to find overhead space for your bag upon boarding has become a battle royale.

If you end up having to place your bag in an overhead bin far from your seat, it can be doubly annoying – not only is it difficult to access your bag during the flight, but after landing you may end up having to wait until everyone else is off the plane before you can retrieve it. And being forced to place it under your seat makes an already uncomfortable situation even less pleasant (particularly for the long-legged, such as myself).

That’s why the latest news from Qantas is a godsend for domestic travellers, particularly those business travellers who make regular short trips.

The interior design for the Qantas Airbus A321XLR.Credit:

As part of the airline’s half-year results announced last week, the airline also revealed it would revamp the interiors of its workhorse Boeing 737s. This includes new economy and business class seats, to match those in the new Airbus A321XLRs that the airline has on order, along with new carpets and mood lighting.

When it comes to domestic flights, seats are seats. You’re typically not on the flight for too long and the size of the planes means there is little an airline can really do to make one seat much different from another. So those new seats aren’t a cause too much excitement.

But there was one titbit that will excite Qantas flyers – the overhead bins will be made 50 per cent bigger.

Virgin’s 737-8s have larger overhead bins.Credit:

This should go some way to alleviating the stressful Tetris-game that takes place during flight boarding and hopefully mean there’s enough overhead space for everyone’s bags.

The bad news? The changes will be made to only 42 of the airline’s 75 Boeing 737s, and the first refurbished plane won’t enter service until 2027. On the plus side, Qantas will start receiving its first Airbus A321XLR in June, with four more expected by the end of the year and 25 in total on order. The 737s, meanwhile, will be phased out over the next decade.

Baggage limits in Australia are quite strict compared with other countries. Jetstar and Virgin Australia allow bags of only seven kilograms each. Although Qantas is more generous with a 10 kilogram limit, plus checked luggage included in every fare, it’s a far cry from some foreign airlines.

Most US airlines have size limits for carry on but no weight limit (so if you chose to fill your cabin bag with gold bars, it’s no problem). British Airways applies a weight limit to cabin bags, but it’s a whopping 23 kilograms – the same weight allowance as for checked luggage on most carriers flying from Australia.

There are good reasons to apply some level of weight restriction. If you can’t lift your hefty bag into the overhead locker, you shouldn’t expect a flight attendant to risk a back injury doing it for you. Nor does anyone want 23 kilograms of baggage falling on their head as another passenger struggles to get it out of the locker upon landing.

Along with Qantas revamping its 737s and receiving new Airbus jets, Virgin Australia is now flying seven Boeing 737-8s, which also have larger overhead bins, with 39 on order. Meanwhile, Jetstar has been entering Airbus A320neos into service, which feature overhead bins 40 per cent larger than its predecessor.

It all means that the pre-flight battle over cabin bags might finally come to an end in the next few years. Unless, of course, passengers view the extra space as an invitation to try and sneak even bigger bags on board. But they wouldn’t do that, would they?