Cabin bag check: does your case fit the sizer?
You enter the length, width, depth and weight of your case and see, for 24 airlines, whether it passes as cabin baggage. Not just yes or no: every no tells you which side is how many centimetres too long and how many kilos too heavy. That is exactly the information missing at the gate. There you only learn that it does not fit, and you pay the surcharge, which at the airport is always the most expensive one. Measuring at home first costs nothing and takes a minute.
Your case
How we count it
Every limit here is an editorial reference value as of September 2026. Airlines change sizes, weights and fare rules constantly and often without notice. Check the numbers on your airline's own page before you fly. This verdict is not a promise at the gate.
The result
Airline by airline 0
| Airline | Limit, L x W x D | Weight | Verdict | What decides it | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The table appears as soon as you enter measurements. | |||||
We compare the longest side of your case with the longest side the airline allows, the middle with the middle and the shortest with the shortest. You may turn the case inside the sizer, so the order of the numbers does not matter. Soft cases give one or two centimetres, hard shells do not.
Your measurements stay in your browser: the check runs locally and sends nothing to anyone.
How the check works
We sort your three measurements by size and compare the longest side with the longest side allowed, the middle with the middle and the shortest with the shortest. Inside the sizer at the gate you may turn the case, so it makes no difference whether an airline writes its limit as 55x40x23 or as 40x23x55. Weight is simpler: your figure against the airline limit. Where an airline publishes no fixed weight, the table says no fixed limit. That does not mean you can pack without end: staff may still refuse a visibly overloaded case. The fare does not change the size, it changes the price. At Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air the cheapest fare includes only the small bag under the seat in front; the large cabin bag costs extra even when it fits to the millimetre. At Lufthansa, Swiss or KLM it is included in every economy fare. That is why the column What decides it carries a note even when the verdict says fits. The verdict only as a small bag means the case is too large for the big cabin allowance but still goes under the seat in front. Tick the box for your own small bag and that escape route disappears: the space under the seat is taken.
Wheels, handle and the two centimetres
The sizer at the gate makes no exception for wheels: it measures outer edge to outer edge, with wheels, handle housing and any attached outer pockets. The number on the case label, by contrast, almost always describes the inside only. That is why the box add wheels and handle is ticked from the start: it adds 2 cm to the depth and 1 cm to the width. Untick it in exactly one case, when you measured over the wheels yourself with a tape. Otherwise you count the wheels twice and the check turns stricter than any gate. One detail often decides it: a full front pocket bulges the case out by one or two centimetres. Soft luggage can be pushed into the frame, a hard shell cannot. When the check shows a gap under two centimetres, that is not permission, it is a warning that the decision will come down to the person at the gate. Weigh the case packed, not empty. An empty cabin trolley weighs 2 to 4 kg depending on the model, and against an 8 kg limit that is already half of it.
The limits change, our numbers carry a date
Every row in the table carries the note 09/2026. That is not decoration, it is the point: airlines change sizes, weight limits and above all fare rules constantly, sometimes several times a year and rarely with notice. What reads 55x40x23 today can read 55x40x20 in six months. Our values are editorial reference figures taken from the airlines' public baggage pages on that date. They are not an agreement with the airline, not a promise and not a guarantee. Before you fly, check the numbers your airline publishes for your fare and your route. On top of that, the last word always belongs to the staff at the gate. On full flights the sizer is used more strictly than on half empty ones, and on small regional aircraft cabin bags often go into the hold without discussion even when the size is right. The check tells you how your chances stand, not how the decision will go. Differences inside one airline exist too. Codeshare flights follow the rules of the operating carrier, not the one printed on your ticket. Within one alliance the weight limits still differ. On a connection flown by two airlines, the stricter rule effectively applies to the whole journey.
What the check cannot do
It knows no special fares, no status cards and no credit card benefits. Frequent flyers and holders of certain cards may take more with many airlines; that sits in your frequent flyer profile, not here. It calculates no prices. What a cabin bag added later costs depends on the airline, the route, when you book and whether you pay online or only at the airport. The gap between online and airport is regularly the largest single figure in the whole business. It handles no special contents: liquids, power banks, musical instruments, child seats and sports equipment follow their own rules, which have nothing to do with size. A power bank belongs in the cabin and never in a case in the hold. And it does not decide for you. If your case passes at fifteen of twenty-four airlines, that only means one thing: check the one airline you are actually flying with.