Air Côte d'Ivoire offers unusually high hand-luggage allowance in first class

Passengers flying in Air Côte d'Ivoire's La First cabin can bring two pieces of hand luggage weighing up to 18 kilograms each, for a combined total of 36 kilograms. The allowance applies to the airline's two Airbus A330neo aircraft, which fly between Abidjan and Paris.

According to the report, the airline lists this cabin-baggage allowance as a specific feature of its first-class product rather than leaving it in fine print. Business-class passengers on the same airline face a much lower combined limit of 18 kilograms.

A comparison with other carriers shows how unusual the policy is. Lufthansa and Swiss allow two bags of eight kilograms each in first class, still less in total than a single bag on Air Côte d'Ivoire. Emirates and Singapore Airlines permit two seven-kilogram bags. Air France caps first-class hand luggage at 18 kilograms combined, while British Airways allows 23 kilograms.

The report notes that the generous limit comes with practical constraints. Two bags weighing up to 18 kilograms each still have to be carried through the airport and then lifted into overhead bins or under seats once on board. That may prove harder in practice than the stated allowance suggests.