What's the free cabin-bag size in 2026?
Will your bag fly free?
Cross-airline cabin-bag check. Enter your bag, see if it fits — or what fee to expect.
Estimate only. Gate enforcement is at the agent's discretion. Always verify on the airline's site before flying. This tool is not the airline and is not affiliated with any carrier.
What's the free cabin-bag size in 2026?
Under the EU's 2025 provisional air-passenger-rights deal the free under-the-seat personal item is set at 40 × 30 × 15 cm — and Ryanair, Wizz Air and most low-cost carriers voluntarily allow a slightly larger 40 × 30 × 20 cm at no charge. A larger overhead cabin trolley (typically 55 × 40 × 20–23 cm) is the part that costs extra on budget fares, either as a paid add-on or, if you turn up oversize at the gate, as a steep gate fee.
Full-service carriers are the opposite: a Lufthansa Economy fare — including Economy Light — includes the 55 × 40 × 23 cm / 8 kg cabin trolley for free; only the new Economy Basic fare (on flights from 19 May 2026) strips the trolley out as a paid extra. Check your own bag against the right airline below — sorted-axis comparison, no implicit rotation.
| Airline | Free bag | Larger cabin bag |
|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | 40 × 30 × 20 cm | 55 × 40 × 20 / 10 kg with Priority |
| easyJet | 45 × 36 × 20 / 15 kg | 56 × 45 × 25 / 15 kg on premium fares |
| Wizz Air | 40 × 30 × 20 / 10 kg | 55 × 40 × 23 / 10 kg with Priority |
| Lufthansa | 55 × 40 × 23 / 8 kg (Economy) | Free in Economy; paid only on Economy Basic |
Last updated 12 June 2026 · Data verified 11 June 2026 against Ryanair fees, Lufthansa baggage, EU 2025 cabin-bag agreement.
How this checker works
Pick your airline and fare, then enter your bag's length, width, depth and weight in centimetres or inches. The checker compares each axis against the airline's published cabin-bag allowance and draws the result to scale: a bag that fits sits inside the allowance box, while any side that overflows extrudes past the line with the exact overshoot labelled.
Every allowance in the dataset comes from the airline's own official baggage policy page — never from forums or aggregator blogs — and each airline entry carries the date it was last verified together with a link to that source. If a ruleset has not been re-verified recently, the tool says so and points you to the airline's current page before you pack.
Fee figures show the published gate or check-in charge for an oversize or overweight bag on the selected fare, converted to your display currency. They are indicative numbers for planning, not a quote: airlines change prices by route and season, so always confirm the final amount with your carrier before flying.
Cabin bag fit & fee — FAQ
What size bag can I take on a plane for free?
On EU low-cost airlines, the free bag is the small under-the-seat item. The EU's 2025 provisional standard sets this personal item at 40 × 30 × 15 cm; in practice Ryanair and Wizz Air voluntarily allow a larger 40 × 30 × 20 cm, and easyJet is more generous still at 45 × 36 × 20 cm. Anything bigger — the wheeled cabin trolley that goes in the overhead locker — is a paid extra on a basic fare. Full-service carriers like Lufthansa include the larger cabin trolley free on standard Economy fares.
Does my carry-on fly free on Ryanair?
A bag up to 40 × 30 × 20 cm flies free on every Ryanair fare as your personal item under the seat. The 55 × 40 × 20 cm / 10 kg wheeled cabin bag in the overhead locker is only included if you buy Priority & 2 Cabin Bags (or a fare that bundles it). Turn up at the gate with an oversize bag and no Priority and Ryanair charges a gate bag fee — confirm the current amount on Ryanair's fees page before you fly, as it changes by route and season.
Is the Lufthansa cabin trolley really free?
Yes — on standard Lufthansa Economy fares (Light, Classic and Flex) the 55 × 40 × 23 cm / 8 kg cabin trolley plus a small personal item are included at no charge. The one exception is the newer Economy Basic fare (sold for flights from 19 May 2026), which removes the trolley and offers it as a paid add-on instead. If your fare is Economy Basic, treat the trolley as a checked-style extra, not a freebie.
What happens if my bag is 1 cm too big?
Gate enforcement is at the agent's discretion. Soft, squashy bags within about a centimetre of the limit usually pass, because they compress into the sizer; hard-shell cases do not and are far more likely to be pulled. This checker flags a bag that lands inside a 1 cm borderline window as 'may be measured at gate' so you can decide whether to repack or pre-pay rather than gamble on a busy boarding queue.
Soft bag vs hard shell — does it matter at the gate?
It can. Airlines measure against a rigid sizer box, so a fabric holdall that's a hair over the limit often squeezes in where a rigid suitcase of the same nominal size will not. The published limits are the same either way, but the real-world pass rate differs. If your bag is borderline, a soft bag is the safer bet — and either way, weighing and measuring at home beats discovering the problem when there's a fee desk between you and the jet bridge.
Why do the fees here differ from the airline's own page?
Because airlines change cabin-bag and gate fees frequently and price them by route, season and how you pay (online pre-purchase is far cheaper than paying at the gate). The figures in this tool are indicative planning estimates, not a quote. Always confirm the exact charge on the carrier's official fees page — linked from every result — before you book or board.
Related travel tools
Sorting your cabin bag is one step. These BorderTrip tools cover the rest of what airlines check at the gate and on board:
- Airline luggage restrictions checker — look up cabin and checked allowances, prohibited items and liquid limits across airlines.
- Power bank airline compliance check — confirm your battery's watt-hour rating is allowed in the cabin before it gets confiscated.
- Travel adapter & wattage matcher — match your chargers and appliances to the plug type and voltage at your destination.
Travel gear
Gear that helps your bag pass the gate sizer — checked items we use ourselves.
- A soft cabin bag sized to the 40×30×20 cm free limit: cabin bags that fit the sizer
- A pocket luggage scale to weigh before you leave home: digital luggage scales
- Packing cubes to compress a bag back under the limit: compression packing cubes
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