Carry-On Size Limits by Airline in 2026: The Verified Table

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The verdict

1. Measure your bag with the wheels and handles attached, because that is how every airline in this table measures it. A case sold as "22 x 14 x 9" is usually 23 to 24 inches tall once the spinner wheels and the telescoping handle housing are counted, and that is the number the gate sizer sees — so buy on the exterior spec, not the marketing one, and see current prices on eBay with that number in hand.
2. Three boxes cover almost all of it: 22 x 14 x 9 in in the US, 24 x 16 x 10 in on Southwest and Frontier, and roughly 55 x 40 x 20–25 cm in Europe. Buy for the smallest box you actually fly and everything else fits inside it.
3. Weight, not size, is what stops bags in Europe. Lufthansa publishes 8 kg and easyJet 15 kg — and a modern spinner is 4 to 5 kg before you pack anything. British Airways is the one to check yourself: two independent reads of its baggage page disagreed on whether its 23 kg figure is a cabin-bag or a checked-bag limit, so we are not printing one. When the bag itself is the problem, ship the bag instead with Luggage Forward and fly with a personal item.

Every row below was re-opened on the airline's own page on 22 September 2026 unless the table says otherwise, and each figure carries the date it was checked. Airlines change these pages without announcement, so the checked date matters as much as the number.

How to Read This Table

There are two dimensions for any wheeled bag and they are not the same number.

Listed (case) size is the packing body only. It is what most product pages lead with, and it is the smaller number.

Exterior (overall) size includes wheels, feet, handle housing and any external pocket bulge. Airlines mean this one. United says it plainly — "be sure to include the handle and wheels" — as do American ("including handles and wheels"), Alaska ("these dimensions include the wheels and handles"), JetBlue ("including wheels and handles"), Southwest ("Wheels, handles, and any attachments count toward these dimensions"), Frontier ("including handles, wheels, and straps") and easyJet ("including any handles and wheels").

The gap between the two is usually a couple of inches of height. Travelpro, to its credit, publishes both for the Platinum Elite carry-on: 21 x 14 x 9 in case, 23.5 x 14.5 x 9 in overall. The second number is the one the sizer tests. If this distinction is new to you, start with our explainer on why a "22 x 14 x 9" bag often does not fit, then check your own bag against a specific airline in the carry-on size checker.

US Carry-On Size Limits, 2026

Two things stand out. Southwest and Frontier publish the largest US cabin box at 24 x 16 x 10 in, which is two inches taller, two inches wider and an inch deeper than the 22 x 14 x 9 standard — a bag bought for Southwest will not necessarily clear a United sizer. And Delta adds a linear-inch rule: 45 linear inches total, which a 22 + 14 + 9 bag hits exactly, leaving no slack for an overstuffed front pocket.

US Personal Item Limits, 2026

This is the table that surprises people. Three of the seven US carriers — Alaska, Delta and Southwest — publish no numeric personal-item size on the carry-on pages we read in September 2026. Each simply requires the item to fit under the seat in front of you, which in practice means the agent's judgement and the seat pitch decide. If any of them publishes a measurement elsewhere on its site, it is not on the page that tells you the rules. Meanwhile United publishes the tightest measured personal item in the group at 17 x 10 x 9 in, and it is the one to build around if you fly Basic Economy; we take that allowance apart in what actually fits United's personal item.

Frontier is the outlier in the other direction: its free personal item is a generous 18 x 14 x 8 in and may weigh up to 35 lb, which is more weight than several European carriers allow for a full cabin bag. The detail matters enough that it has its own page — the Frontier personal item, measured — and it is the main reason budget-carrier flyers now shop for a personal-item bag rather than a carry-on, a shift we cover in the post-Spirit personal item guide.

Europe and Long-Haul Limits, 2026

British Airways is the most generous cabin allowance in this group and easyJet matches it on dimensions — but easyJet's free allowance is the under-seat bag only, with the large cabin bag either bought or bundled, and adding it at the gate costs £60.

Lufthansa's 8 kg cap is the constraint that catches US travelers, because a typical four-wheel carry-on is 4.5 to 5 kg empty. Ryanair's depth is the other trap: at 20 cm the overhead bag is shallower than a standard 9-inch US carry-on, so a bag that clears every American sizer can still be refused. If your flying is mostly European, our guide to choosing a carry-on for 55 cm limits works through which US-market bags actually clear.

There is no global standard underneath any of this: in the table above the cabin-bag depth runs from Ryanair's 20 cm to British Airways' 25 cm, and the cabin weight caps we could verify run from Lufthansa's 8 kg to easyJet's 15 kg. The widely repeated claim that 55 x 40 x 20 cm is an "IATA standard" is simply wrong — that is Ryanair's own limit, and it is stricter than most.

What Changed in 2026

Spirit Airlines is gone. The carrier ceased operations on 2 May 2026, and its 18 x 14 x 8 in personal item — for years the reference point for budget-carrier packing — is no longer a live allowance. We removed the row rather than leave a dead airline in a size table. American and Frontier publish the same 18 x 14 x 8 in personal item, so the bags people bought for Spirit are not wasted.

United's Basic Economy is the fare to watch. United publishes that on most Basic Economy trips you may bring only a personal item; a full carry-on is included only on flights to South America, across the Atlantic or across the Pacific, or if you hold Premier status, a qualifying MileagePlus card or Star Alliance Gold. This is the single biggest gap between what a fare looks like at checkout and what you can bring aboard.

JetBlue still publishes no cabin weight limit, stating only that you must be able to lift the bag into the bin unassisted. Among US carriers that is now the norm rather than the exception — none of the seven publishes a weight cap except Frontier's 35 lb.

Rows We Could Not Re-Verify

Honesty about coverage matters more than a full-looking table.

Ryanair could not be re-opened. Both the main cabin-bags page and the Ryanair help center refuse automated requests, so the Ryanair row carries our dataset's July 2026 values and is marked accordingly. The 20 cm depth and 10 kg cap are long-standing, but treat the free under-seat bag dimension as unconfirmed and check it on the airline's page before you fly.

Allegiant is not in the table at all. Its bag page sits behind a bot-verification wall that we could not pass, and we will not publish dimensions we have not read on the carrier's own page.

Everything else here was read on the airline's page on the date shown.

The Three Traps That Actually Stop Bags

The wheels. Expect a couple of inches of height above the listed case size — Travelpro's own numbers go from a 21 in case to 23.5 in overall. On a 22-inch limit that gap is the whole margin.

The expansion zipper. Expandable carry-ons are sold on the closed dimension. Briggs & Riley, for instance, publishes its Baseline domestic carry-on as 22 x 14 x 9–11.5 in exterior — the 11.5 in is the expanded depth, which is over every US limit until you compress it again.

The fare, not the bag. A compliant carry-on does not help if your fare does not include one. Frontier's base fare is a personal item only; United Basic Economy is a personal item only on most routes. Check the allowance attached to the ticket before you check the bag against the sizer — and if the answer is that your bag simply will not fly for free, compare that fee against shipping the bag door to door, or pick a hard shell built to the limit and see LEVEL8 carry-ons.

For the bags themselves, our roundup of budget weekend carry-ons and the suitcase versus travel backpack comparison both list exterior dimensions rather than case dimensions, for exactly the reasons above.

FAQ

What is the standard carry-on size for airlines?

In the United States the common limit is 22 by 14 by 9 inches including wheels and handles, published by United, Delta, American, Alaska and JetBlue. Delta also caps a bag at 45 linear inches, and 22 plus 14 plus 9 meets that exactly, leaving no slack. Southwest and Frontier are larger at 24 by 16 by 10 inches. In Europe the numbers are metric and smaller: Lufthansa publishes 55 by 40 by 23 centimeters, Ryanair 55 by 40 by 20 centimeters on Priority, British Airways and easyJet 56 by 45 by 25 centimeters. There is no worldwide standard.

Do carry-on size limits include wheels and handles?

Yes. United, American, Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest, Frontier, British Airways and easyJet all state it explicitly on their baggage pages, in wording such as including handles and wheels, or wheels, handles and any attachments count toward these dimensions. Measure the bag at its widest point in every direction, with the handle housing and the wheels included.

Which airline has the biggest carry-on allowance?

Among the carriers in this table, Southwest and Frontier publish the largest cabin box at 24 by 16 by 10 inches. Frontier caps the carry-on at 35 pounds, and its base fare does not include a carry-on at all, so the largest box is not automatically the cheapest one to use.

What is the weight limit for a carry-on bag?

Most US airlines publish no cabin weight limit at all; JetBlue states only that you must be able to lift the bag into the overhead bin. Frontier is the exception at 35 pounds for both the carry-on and the personal item. European carriers do enforce weight: Lufthansa 8 kilograms, easyJet 15 kilograms, Ryanair 10 kilograms on the Priority cabin bag. British Airways publishes a 23 kilogram figure, but two independent reads of its baggage page disagreed on whether that is a cabin-bag or a checked-bag limit, so we do not list it as a cabin cap.

What happened to the Spirit Airlines carry-on rules?

Spirit Airlines ceased operations on 2 May 2026, so its published allowances no longer apply to any flight. The 18 by 14 by 8 inch personal item that Spirit used is still a live size on American and on Frontier, so a bag bought to that spec remains useful on budget itineraries.