Can you trust luggage manufacturers when they say a bag is carry-on size?

As fees for checked bags spread from airline to airline, more travelers began to skip checked luggage in favor of carry-ons. This has led to an increase in air rage as passengers rush for overhead bin space, forcing airlines to more aggressively monitor the size of carry-ons. Some airlines, like American, require gate agents to ask passengers with potentially oversized carry-ons to use the bag sizer before boarding.

But what if the issue actually lies with the luggage manufacturers? Can you trust that a "carry-on" bag is actually small enough to fit into an overhead bin?

After observing consumer complaints on e-commerce sites, Consumer Reports decided to dig deeper by measuring 11 popular models of carry-on bags. The team created a laser level box to take precise measurements of width, height and depth, allowing them to compare full end-to-end measurements to manufacturer specs.

The verdict? Nine out of the 11 were measured larger by Consumer Reports than by the manufacturer's listed dimensions! It seems that most of these manufacturers do not include handles or any other protrusions — such as wheels — in their official measurements. Of course, the manufacturers feel that measuring the interior dimensions of the cases make sense, because those measurements refer to the actual space you'll be able to fill with your personal items. So even if the wheels stick out a couple of inches, many luggage makers choose not to mention it – even if it could cause potential conflict with an overhead bin door.

The Big Three airlines require carry on luggage on domestic routes to be 22 inches high by 14 inches wide by 9 inches deep. So this means that many of the bags that Consumer Reports tested might not fit completely in the overhead, including examples from recognizable labels such as American Tourister, Samsonite and Victorinox. The Tumi Alpha 2 Frequent Traveler was one of the two examples whose advertised dimensions were exactly right – but although it's marketed as a carry-on, it still exceeds the airlines' maximum height requirement by a full two inches.

Consumer Reports recommends not taking the manufacturers at their word — when shopping for carry-ons, bring a measuring tape so there won't be any surprises when you're standing at the boarding gate, trying to force your bag into the carry-on sizer!