This is not going to go down well with the punters.
Jetstar to charge fees to put carry-on luggage in overhead lockers
Airline to remove 7kg weight limit for carry-on bags and introduce new fee from February 2027.
Jetstar will charge its passengers to put carry-on luggage in the overhead lockers, in a major change to the budget airline’s carry-on rules.
The airline on Wednesday announced it would remove the 7kg weight limit for carry-on bags, beginning in February 2027. There will still be size restrictions.
Base ticket fares will only include one underseat bag such as a backpack, handbag or laptop case, with passengers forced to pay an extra fee if they want to store luggage overhead.
Jetstar will no longer routinely use cabin baggage scales but will still ask customers to keep carry-on bags to 10kg so they can safely lift them themselves.
The “Priority Carry-on” fee – which covers the second, larger bag for the overhead locker – also includes priority boarding.
Jetstar says the new fee will depend on the length of the flight: $25 for Launceston to Sydney, $33 Sydney to Melbourne, and from $52 for Cairns to Tokyo, for example.
However, in its press release announcing the change, the airline acknowledged the fees may vary.
Guardian Australia checked the Jetstar website and found it would cost $86 to carry an overhead bag on a 6 February 2027 flight from Melbourne to Tokyo, and an additional $108 to carry an overhead bag on the return flight on 20 February.
The size-based carry-on baggage model is “similar to other leading low-fares carriers around the world”, the airline said.