Cabin 21.7 × 15.7 × 7.9 in · 55 × 40 × 20 cm · 10 kg
Under-seat 15.7 × 11.8 × 7.9 in · 40 × 30 × 20 cm
Fare class: Only the under-seat bag is free on every fare. The 10 kg overhead bag requires Priority & 2 Cabin Bags, bought as an add-on or bundled into Regular and Plus fares.
Ryanair grew its free small bag by about a fifth during 2025, to 40 × 30 × 20 cm — larger than the 40 × 30 × 15 industry baseline. It is still the smallest free allowance on this list.
Cabin 22 × 17.7 × 9.8 in · 56 × 45 × 25 cm · 15 kg
Under-seat 17.7 × 14.2 × 7.9 in · 45 × 36 × 20 cm · 15 kg
Fare class: Standard fares get the free under-seat bag only. The large cabin bag comes with Inclusive and Plus fares, easyJet Plus membership, or from about £6.
easyJet states both sizes include handles and wheels. Watch the trap: an auto-allocated Up Front or Extra Legroom seat does not include the large bag.
Cabin 22 × 18 × 10 in · 56 × 45 × 25 cm
Under-seat 16 × 12 × 6 in · 40 × 30 × 15 cm
Fare class: No fare dependency. Hand-baggage-only fares get the same cabin bag and personal item — what they lose is the checked allowance.
The most generous allowance here: 56 × 45 × 25 cm is wider than the US 22 × 14 × 9 standard. BA publishes no cabin weight limit on its current pages — only that you must lift the bag unaided. It has historically published 23 kg, so treat a heavy bag with care.
Cabin 21.7 × 15.7 × 9.1 in · 55 × 40 × 23 cm · 8 kg
Under-seat 15.7 × 11.8 × 5.9 in · 40 × 30 × 15 cm
Fare class: Economy Basic on short and medium haul is personal item only — no overhead bag. Light, Classic, Comfort and Flex all include both, as does every long-haul Economy fare.
Counter-intuitively it is Basic, not Light, that drops the cabin bag. The 8 kg limit is real and enforced more than US travellers expect.
Cabin 21.7 × 13.8 × 9.9 in · 55 × 35 × 25 cm · 12 kg
Under-seat 16 × 12 × 6 in · 40 × 30 × 15 cm
Fare class: Economy Basic may carry no cabin bag at all depending on the fare picked; other Economy tiers include one as standard.
The 12 kg is combined across your cabin bag and your small bag, so moving weight into your backpack does not help. The 35 cm width is 1 cm under the US standard — enough to fail a sizer.
Cabin 21.7 × 13.8 × 9.8 in · 55 × 35 × 25 cm · 12 kg
Under-seat 15.7 × 11.8 × 5.9 in · 40 × 30 × 15 cm
Fare class: A Basic ticket is small bag only — the cabin bag has to be bought separately, up to four hours before departure.
KLM states the cabin bag size includes handles and wheels. As with Air France the 12 kg is combined across both bags.
Cabin 21.7 × 15.7 × 9.4 in · 55 × 40 × 24 cm · 10 kg
Under-seat 13 × 9.8 × 7.9 in · 33 × 25 × 20 cm
Fare class: Not published per fare tier — the allowance is set by aircraft and service type, not by Saver, Plus or Advantage.
The trap is regional: Aer Lingus Regional allows only 48 × 33 × 20 cm at 7 kg, and if you connect onto a regional leg that 7 kg applies to the whole journey. The personal item is also one of the smallest here.
Cabin 22 × 14.2 × 9 in · 56 × 36 × 23 cm · 10 kg
Under-seat not published
Fare class: Allowance varies by cabin rather than by Economy fare tier.
Virgin describes the personal item only qualitatively — a handbag or small rucksack “as you would normally use it” — and publishes no dimensions. Lower confidence: every current Virgin hand-baggage page we tried was JavaScript-rendered or returned a 404, so these figures come from a Virgin-hosted PDF scoped to bookings before December 2019. They match Virgin’s long-standing policy but we could not confirm them against a live page.
Cabin 22 × 15.7 × 9.8 in · 56 × 40 × 25 cm · 10 kg
Under-seat 15.7 × 11.8 × 5.9 in · 40 × 30 × 15 cm
Fare class: Not distinguished on the hand-luggage page; Economy and Premium Economy both get one 10 kg cabin bag plus a personal item.
Iberia warns in its own words that on busy flights “there may be restrictions on carrying hand luggage weighing up to 10 kg with you in the cabin” — a compliant bag can still be gate-checked, free of charge.
Cabin 21.7 × 15.7 × 9.1 in · 55 × 40 × 23 cm · 8 kg
Under-seat 15.7 × 11.8 × 5.9 in · 40 × 30 × 15 cm · 4 kg
Fare class: Not distinguished on the carry-on page. The EcoFly, ExtraFly and PrimeFly fare-brand page was unreachable, so fare-level variation is unconfirmed.
Turkish is one of very few carriers anywhere that puts a published weight limit on the personal item itself — 4 kg. That closes the usual escape hatch of shifting heavy things into your backpack.
Cabin 21.7 × 15 × 8.7 in · 55 × 38 × 22 cm · 7 kg
Under-seat not published
Fare class: Varies by cabin rather than by Economy fare tier.
The biggest shock on this list. Emirates Economy is one piece at 7 kg, and the policy publishes no separate personal item at all. Seven kilos is roughly an empty hard-shell spinner plus a laptop. US travellers routinely assume a carry-on plus a backpack; Emirates does not offer that in Economy.
Cabin 19.7 × 14.6 × 9.8 in · 50 × 37 × 25 cm · 7 kg
Under-seat not published
Fare class: Not distinguished on the allowance page.
The one most likely to catch you out. At 50 cm the length limit is 19.7 inches — a standard American 22-inch spinner is more than two inches too long, and the generous width and depth disguise it. Qatar also warns that a separately carried laptop bag counts as your carry-on rather than an extra. On flights departing the US it applies the usual bag-plus-personal-item pattern.
Cabin 21.5 × 15.5 × 9 in · 55 × 40 × 23 cm
Under-seat 17 × 13 × 6 in · 43 × 33 × 16 cm
Fare class: Economy Basic tickets bought on or after 3 January 2025 are personal item only on selected North America and Caribbean routes.
Air Canada states that both maximum sizes include wheels and handles. It publishes no weight limit — only that you can lift it unaided. Turning up at the gate with a carry-on on a Basic fare triggers a checked-bag charge plus a service fee, quoted at $65–78 including tax.
Cabin 22 × 14 × 9 in · 56 × 36 × 23 cm
Under-seat 16 × 13 × 6 in · 41 × 33 × 15 cm
Fare class: UltraBasic is personal item only. Econo and above include the carry-on. Exceptions apply for Europe and Asia travel, or if Extended Comfort is bought.
The only carrier here that matches the US 22 × 14 × 9 standard exactly. Wheels are included. No weight limit is published — the test is lifting it unaided.
Cabin 22 × 14 × 10 in · 55 × 35 × 25 cm · 10 kg
Under-seat 18 × 14 × 8 in · 45 × 35 × 20 cm
Fare class: On a Basic fare the free allowance is the personal item only — the carry-on must be bought, at booking or during online check-in. Higher fare families include it.
Avianca states wheels and handles are included. Its personal item at 45 × 35 × 20 cm is one of the most generous anywhere — bigger than most carriers’ under-seat allowance and matching the common US 18 × 14 × 8.
Cabin 22 × 14 × 10 in · 56 × 36 × 26 cm · 10 kg
Under-seat 17 × 10 × 9 in · 43 × 25 × 22 cm
Fare class: The policy assigns the carry-on to Executive Class, Main Cabin and qualifying frequent flyers, and does not break out Basic-fare treatment.
Unusual in publishing a linear-inch cap as well as three dimensions — 46 linear inches on the carry-on and 36 on the personal item. This carry-on policy took effect 27 June 2025. Its personal item matches United’s 17 × 10 × 9, the tightest US figure.