TSA CT Scanners Push Stuffed Carry-Ons Toward Bag Fees

TSA CT scanners at hundreds of U.S. airports now send every roller bag through a 24.4-by-16.5-inch tunnel inside a plastic bin. A bag cut to the usual 22-by-14-by-9-inch airline limit still clears that hole. A stuffed expandable, a fat wheel set, or a 24-by-16-inch cabin bag sits on the lip of it, which is how a security upgrade starts collecting checked-bag fees.

The machines are not a September surprise. They have been replacing 2-D X-ray lanes for years, and the viral warning is late to a geometric fact TSA already printed in its own airport notices.

Nearly 300 Airports Already Use These Scanners

TSA had installed 1,162 computed tomography units at 296 airports as of July 6, 2026. That is up from 968 machines at 255 of the country’s 432 commercial airports in April 2025, when Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill described the fleet to the House Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee. In 2024, the agency screened 904 million passengers, 494 million checked bags, and 2.1 billion carry-on bags.

Juneau International Airport is one small marker on that map, not the debut. On July 13, 2026, TSA said it had put two CT checkpoint X-ray machines into the Alaska airport. A spinning X-ray camera shoots hundreds of images as a bag moves through, then builds a 3-D model officers can rotate on a monitor, which is why laptops and travel-size 3-1-1 liquids can stay packed in those lanes.

The use of CT technology by our officers significantly enhances our ability to detect threats at the checkpoint. In the past, our screening technology for carry-on luggage relied on 2-D images. CT technology utilizes advanced algorithms to identify explosives, including liquid explosives and other threat items.

Peter Duffy, Federal Security Director for Alaska, TSA Juneau release

TSA began testing checkpoint CT units in 2018. The public pitch has stayed the same since: fewer open-bag searches, less unpacking, a clearer look at density and shape. The Juneau notice is also where the agency said CT units have a slightly smaller entry tunnel, that not all larger carry-ons will fit, and that it recommends checking large carry-on items with the airline.

THE CT CHECKPOINT CLOCK

1. 2018: TSA begins testing computed tomography scanners at passenger checkpoints.
2. April 2025: McNeill tells Congress 968 CT machines are in 255 airports, about 43% of full operational capability.
3. July 6, 2026: The installed count reaches 1,162 units at 296 airports.
4. July 13, 2026: Two CT machines go in at Juneau, with a public warning that larger bags may not fit.
5. September 25, 2026: TSA’s official account calls a viral “force you to check your carry-on” warning clickbait.

The gap between those last two dates is the whole media cycle. Hardware that had been landing lane by lane for years got framed as a new ban on cabin bags.

A 24.4-Inch Tunnel and a Required Bin

Analogic’s ConneCT, a TSA-certified checkpoint CT system, lists a 24.4-inch by 16.5-inch tunnel (620 by 420 millimeters). Maximum bag length along the belt is 100 centimeters, or 39.37 inches, and rated throughput is more than 660 trays an hour. Smiths Detection’s HI-SCAN 6040 CTiX, another TSA-certified cabin CT unit, publishes the same 24.4-by-16.5-inch opening.

Most U.S. airlines still print a cabin-bag box of 22 by 14 by 9 inches. Set those numbers against the tunnel and a true-to-size 22-inch bag has room. The squeeze is not the printed box. It is what happens after the bag is packed, expanded, and dropped into a bin.

CARRY-ON BOX VS CT TUNNEL

TSA’s Juneau notice adds the detail the viral posts skipped. With the new scanners, all carry-on items, including roller-bags, need to be placed into a bin instead of riding the belt bare. Bin walls take part of that 16.5-inch height and part of that 24.4-inch width. A case that slid through an older open tunnel can snag once it sits in a tray.

Daniel Velez, a TSA spokesperson, said the smaller opening is required for the imaging to work. “This design is necessary to accommodate the advanced imaging technology and ensure optimal performance,” Velez said. “TSA officers are available to assist travelers with larger items or special needs to help ensure a smooth screening process.” TSA officials have also said the new opening is less than an inch tighter than the older units.

A few U.S. airlines still advertise cabin bags around 24 by 16 by 10 inches. That printed width is 0.4 inches inside a 24.4-inch hole, and that printed height is 0.5 inches inside a 16.5-inch hole, before anyone counts wheels, a raised handle, an overstuffed front pocket, or the bin. Those bags can be “airline-approved” on paper and still fail the machine that now sits before the gate.

TSA Calls the Viral Warning Clickbait

On September 25, 2026, TSA answered a widely shared warning that new scanners could force passengers to check carry-ons. The agency’s account did not parse expandables or bins. It called the framing dishonest and pointed at the printed airline box.

This is clickbait.

Any airline-approved carry on item will easily fit in these scanners, which millions of travelers have already been using for years. https://t.co/2X68UcuBHg

— TSA (@TSA) September 25, 2026

“This is clickbait. Any airline-approved carry on item will easily fit in these scanners, which millions of travelers have already been using for years,” the agency wrote. That last clause is the part the scare posts buried. Travelers at New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Denver, and Chicago have been walking these lanes for a long time. The design is old enough that the panic is about attention, not a sudden spec change.

TSA is right about a bag that actually matches 22 by 14 by 9 inches when it is zipped. The agency is quieter about the packing habit the scanners now punish. Soft-sided expandables are sold as carry-on-compliant empty, then packed until the extra zipper is open and the sides bow. Gate agents have been uneven about that for years. A CT tunnel plus a bin does not argue. It either takes the bag or it does not.

The louder fight on X treated the hole as the insult, as if TSA should simply cut a wider mouth. That misses why the mouth is small. The gantry has to spin an X-ray camera around the bag in a compact checkpoint footprint, which is the same reason Analogic and Smiths publish matching 24.4-by-16.5-inch tunnels instead of the older, looser 2-D openings.

What Happens If Your Bag Will Not Fit

TSA has not issued a new national carry-on size rule. Airlines still set cabin dimensions and weight. The scanner is a second physical test that only appears in CT lanes, and only after you have left the ticket counter. If the bag will not enter the tunnel, you are already past the easy moment to check it.

HOW A JAM GETS RESOLVED

• Packed bulge: An expansion zipper, a stuffed front pocket, or bowed side panels can add the half-inch the tunnel no longer gives you.
• Wheels and handles: Fixed handles and oversized wheel housings sit outside the case-only numbers some brands still advertise.
• The bin: Roller bags must go in a tray, so the usable hole is smaller than the metal tunnel printed on the spec sheet.
• The workarounds: Officers may inspect the bag by hand, send it to a lane with older equipment if one is open, or point you back to check it with the airline.

Hand inspection and a second lane still beat a walk back to check-in when the flight is boarding. Checking it after security is the expensive outcome, because you have already stood in the checkpoint line and you now pick up bag-drop, a fee, and the risk of a mishandled checked bag. TSA’s own language is blunt on the large-bag case: check it with the airline, and do not force it into the tunnel.

Laptops and travel-size liquids staying in the bag is the trade travelers actually wanted. That benefit only holds in a CT lane. A mixed checkpoint can still send the next passenger to a 2-D machine that wants electronics out. The size problem and the unpacking relief are not paired for every traveler in the building.

Airlines Collected $7.4 Billion in Bag Fees

U.S. scheduled passenger airlines took in $7.4 billion in baggage fees in 2025, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported with the carriers’ annual results. That was 2.9% of $252.6 billion in operating revenue, and it sat beside $187.2 billion in fares. Every major U.S. airline now charges to check a bag for the general public.

THE MONEY BEHIND THE SIZER

• Bag-fee haul: $7.4 billion in baggage fees in 2025, per BTS.
• Share of sales: 2.9% of $252.6 billion in operating revenue that year.
• Carry-on volume: 2.1 billion carry-on bags screened by TSA in 2024.
• Checked volume: 494 million checked bags screened in 2024.

Airlines spent a decade teaching customers to cram a free cabin bag rather than pay at the counter. Gate sizers and last-minute gate-check tags were the leaky enforcement. A CT belt that will not accept a bowed 24-inch spinner does that job without a speech from a gate agent. TSA did not set out to mint bag fees, and the imaging case is real. The second bill still lands on the traveler who packed to dodge the first one.

That is the part the “rude awakening” posts got right, even when they oversold a ban on ordinary carry-ons. A bag that was always over the airline’s printed box is now more likely to fail in public, at the worst moment, in a lane that was sold as faster.

Full Coverage Is Not Due Until 2043

McNeill told Congress in May 2025 that CT machines were at 43% of full operational capability and that a full CT rollout is not expected until 2043. The July 2026 count of 296 airports with CT is not the same thing as every lane in those airports. TSA has been installing a handful of units per airport so the technology shows up in many places rather than filling a few hubs end to end.

Two travelers on the same departure board can still hit different machines. One leaves a laptop in a 22-inch bag and walks through. The next, 20 feet over, unpacks electronics for a 2-D X-ray, or watches a stuffed expandable stop at a CT mouth. Signage lags lane swaps, so the first clue is often the bin rule or an officer telling you the roller has to go in a tray.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The hole: Analogic and Smiths both publish a 24.4-by-16.5-inch CT tunnel.
• The bin: TSA says roller bags in CT lanes go in a tray, not straight on the belt.
• The fleet: 1,162 units at 296 airports as of July 6, 2026, with a 2043 finish date at the capability level TSA described in 2025.
• The perk: In those lanes, laptops and travel-size 3-1-1 liquids can stay packed.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Rejection rate: TSA has not published how often a carry-on is turned away at a CT mouth.
• Lane maps: There is no live public list of which checkpoint at each airport is CT and which is still 2-D.
• A wider tunnel: No manufacturer spec on the qualified list shows TSA moving off 24.4 by 16.5 inches.

Pack the bag to the size it will be when the zipper is closed, including wheels and the extra gusset, and check it at the counter if it will not sit in that box. The CT lane will not bargain, and the ticket counter is still the cheaper place to lose the argument.