Airlines Are Shrinking Carry-On Sizes, Forcing Travelers to Pay Checked Bag Fees
Your carry-on hand baggage may not be small enough anymore.
A new furor is unfolding in the skies as airlines are caught drastically reducing the maximum permitted size of carry-on bags on commercial flights.
Unnoticed by many casual travelers, the volume of an allowed carry-on bag on some popular airlines has been cut as much as 55% since 2018, the BBC reports.
The worst offender so far, according to the BBC, is the Ireland-based no-frills carrier Ryanair, which slashed allowed proportions from 55 x 40 x 20cm (21.6 x 15.7 x 7.8 inches) in 2018 to just 40 x 20 x 25cm (15.7 x 7.8 x 9.8 inches) in 2024.
To give you a sense of how small that is, a men’s size 9 shoe in the U.S. measures about 27 cm—which is too long for what the airline now allows.
Other airlines caught quietly slashing size limits include easyJet and Wizz Air, two more popular carriers for affordable European flights.
The reduced capacity has turned previously acceptable pieces of luggage into cash cows for the airlines. Passengers who have used the same luggage for years are arriving at the airport to discover their bags are no longer acceptable without added fees.
“The reduced allowances mean many common carry-on bags that would have been fine just a few years ago are now too large to bring on board without paying extra fees,” Emma Coulthurst of the vacation price comparison site TravelSupermarket told journalists covering the story in the United Kingdom.
Consumer watchdogs estimate that airlines like Ryanair make around 30% of their revenue from added fees, which isn’t unusual in the aviation industry. As previously “low-cost” airlines seek to combat inflation-impacted operating costs by widening ancillary revenue streams, those carriers are looking for ways to goose the fees collected from passengers.
There are no legal protections regarding the size of carry-ons in Europe or in the United States. The airlines control the system, so they set the rules.
So far, U.S. airlines have not been as capricious about size limits as European carriers, but international travelers are being surprised by the changes.
If you’re flying internationally, it’s now imperative that you do advance research—including by making conversion calculations if necessary—to ensure the baggage you use will be acceptable for all of the flights on your itinerary. The carry-on allowance for your flight out of North America may come with a more permissive size restriction than subsequent flights you take. And an unexpected size crackdown in the middle of your vacation will increase how much money you have to spend to fly.
For example, Delta Air Lines mandates that carry-on luggage may be no larger than 22 x 14 x 9 inches. That’s 55.8 x 35.5 x 22.8 cm—much larger than what will be permitted on European airlines that have constricted their allowances.
Make sure to take note of your bag’s weight, too, because many airlines charge various fees to check a bag depending on how heavy it is.
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