Airline baggage - piece or weight system

Hi,

Does anyone know why US flights or itineraries involving US flights use the piece system eg 2 x 32kg per pax whereas flights for the rest of the world use the weight system eg 20kg per pax in economy?

The only reason that I can think of is that the US CAA insist on this requirement and that all carriers flying to US must comply - is this correct?

Given the fact that the piece system also applies for trips involving US flights, why don't airlines make this the global standard - I guess the cost of the extra fuel load may play a part here.

Cheers,

Sahajesh.

Nobody know the answer to this one??

[mitchja]

All trans-Atlantic scheduled flights do have the 2 x 32Kg even for economy (VS included).

I guess it's down to different health and safety/manual handling rules in effect in different countries.

Other than that I'm not sure.

Regards