Luggage Size & Weight Checker
Measure the bag once, then see which of seventy-odd airlines take it in the cabin, which take it free as the under-seat personal item, and which sell you the locker separately.
| Airline | Cabin bag | Personal item | Cabin weight | Checked | Cheapest fare | Verdict |
|---|
Compiled in September 2026, and allowances change. These are the published economy figures for a standard ticket. Fare families move constantly, codeshares follow the operating carrier rather than the one on your booking, and regional aircraft take smaller bags than the same airline's jets. Check your own booking before you fly — the number that matters is the one on your ticket, not the one on any website including this one.
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The three rules behind every baggage dispute
- The measurement includes wheels and handles. Every airline says so, and almost every case is sold on its internal dimensions. A "cabin size" case measuring 55 × 40 × 20 on the label is routinely 57–58 cm tall with the wheels, which is exactly why it does not go into the metal frame at the gate.
- The sizer is the arbiter, not the tape measure. Low-cost carriers measure at the gate and mean it, because gate bag fees are a revenue line rather than an afterthought. Full-service airlines usually do not measure at all until the flight is full. Same rule, wildly different enforcement, and the difference is commercial.
- A weight limit is a weight limit even when nobody weighs it. American carriers mostly publish no cabin weight limit; European and Asian ones publish 7 to 10 kg and enforce it unpredictably. If you are flying a 7 kg airline, the laptop and the camera belong on your body, not in the bag.
Personal item, cabin bag, and what the cheapest fare actually buys
Two different things get called hand luggage. The personal item is the small bag under the seat in front — 40 × 30 × 20 or thereabouts. The cabin bag is the trolley case in the overhead locker. On Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet, Vueling, Norwegian, Eurowings, Spirit and Frontier, the cheapest fare buys only the first of those; the trolley case is an add-on, and buying it at the gate costs several times what it costs online. On most full-service airlines the cabin bag is included, which is a large part of why the fares are not comparable on price alone. The table above says which is which.
EU rules on this have been in motion since 2025, with the European Parliament pushing for a free cabin bag on every fare, and the industry pushing back. Nothing here assumes a change that has not landed.
The checked bag rules nobody reads until the desk
Two limits apply to a hold bag and people only remember one. The weight limit is usually 23 kg in economy, and it is a hard stop because of manual handling rules, not airline preference — a single bag over 32 kg is refused outright by most carriers regardless of what you pay. The other is linear size: height plus width plus depth, capped at 158 cm (62 inches) on most airlines worldwide. A large case at 81 × 52 × 32 is 165 cm and is technically oversize on almost every airline, which is why so many of them go through as "special" items without anyone saying anything.
Where these numbers come from and how far to trust them
They are the published economy allowances as of September 2026, taken from each airline's own baggage page. They are indicative and they go stale: a fare family gets renamed, a low-cost carrier trims a centimetre, a route is handed to a regional partner with smaller lockers. Use this to shortlist and to buy the right case; use your booking confirmation to decide what to do on the day. Where an airline publishes different limits by route or fare, the figure here is the common economy one.
The rest of the set
If the bag is too big, the suitcase volume calculator tells you what you lose in litres by dropping a size. The packing list generator works out what goes in it, and the camping and hiking gear checklist does the same for a trip where the bag is a rucksack.
Questions people ask
What is the standard carry-on size?
There is no single standard. 55 × 40 × 20 cm covers most European carriers, 56 × 36 × 23 cm (22 × 14 × 9 inches) is the common North American shape, and 55 × 40 × 23 cm is the widest commonly accepted European size. A case at 55 × 40 × 20 including wheels is accepted almost everywhere; anything larger needs checking against the specific airline.
Do the wheels and handles count in the measurement?
Yes, everywhere. Airlines specify maximum external dimensions and the gate sizers are built to those, so the wheels and the retracted handle are part of the height. Cases are usually marketed on internal dimensions, which is why a case sold as cabin size can still fail the sizer.
How strict is Ryanair or Wizz Air about cabin bag size?
Strict, and deliberately so. Both measure at the gate, both charge a gate fee that is several times the online price for the same bag, and on the cheapest fare the only free bag is the small one that fits under the seat. If your bag is borderline on a low-cost carrier, treat it as too big.
What happens if my checked bag is overweight?
You pay an excess fee per bag, usually a flat charge for the first few kilos and steeper above that — it is almost always cheaper to buy extra allowance online in advance than to pay at the desk. Above 32 kg most airlines will not accept a single bag at any price, because of manual handling limits for the loaders.
Are these allowances guaranteed to be right?
No. They were compiled in September 2026 from published economy allowances and they are indicative. Fare families change, routes get handed to regional operators with smaller cabins, and promotional fares carry their own rules. Always check the booking itself before you travel.
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