Airline Baggage Fees and Policies (with Chart)

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Luggage on the carousel

With one more airline (Frontier) changing their policies in the last few weeks to charge for checked baggage it seemed useful to look again at how airline baggage fees vary by airline. Also, the size and weight of bags you can check or carry-on are dependent on your carrier. You can click on the name of an airline to see more details on their policies. Kirsten, my assistant who did this research, did declare that she would never again fly Ryan Air after reading their official baggage policies:

8.3.2 You must not include in Checked Baggage money, jewelry precious metals, keys, cameras, computers, medicines, spectacles, sunglasses, contact lenses, watches, mobile phones, personal electronic devices, negotiable papers, securities, cigarettes, tobacco or tobacco products or other valuables, business documents, passports and other identification documents or samples.

8.3.3 If, despite being prohibited, any items referred to in this Article 8.3 are included in your Baggage, we shall not be responsible for any loss or damage to such items.

To be fair, what they are saying is that it is unwise to place valuables in checked luggage. But it does appear that they only want you to carry socks in your checked luggage.

Fees

Consider baggage fees before you book your ticket. A cheaper ticket may not really be cheaper.

Policies

Save yourself hassles and unexpected costs by checking the luggage policy of your carrier before you fly.

Airline Baggage Fees and Policies

download as a PDF

Airline Max.Carry-On Luggage Size (Length, Width, Height) Max Carry-On Weight Max. Personal Bag Size (Length, Width, Height) Carry-On Bag Fee Gate Checked Bag Fee First Bag Checked Fee Second Bag Checked Fee Checked Bag Max Weight Max Size
Air Canada 21.5″ L x 15.5″ W x 9″ H 22 lb 17″ L x 13″ W x 6″ H free not specified Free $20.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Air France 21.5″ L x 14″ W x 10″ H 26.5 lb (total carry-on + personal) not specified free not specified Free   50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Alaska Airlines 22″ L x 14″ W x 9″ H not specified not specified free not specified $25.00 $25.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Allegiant Air 22″ L x 14″ W x 9″ H ($10-$75 fee) 25 lbs 15″ L x 16″ W x 7″ H (Free) free up to $75 $20-$50 $20-$50 40 lbs 80″ (total L+W+H)
American Airlines 22″ L x 14″ W x 9″ H not specified Not to exceed 36″ total (L+W+H) free not specified $25.00 $35.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
ANA 22″ L ×16″ W ×10″ H 22 lbs not specified free not specified Free $100.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
British Airways 22″ L x 18″ W x 10″ H 51 lbs 18in x 14in x 8in free not specified Free $85(advance)/$100(at airport) 50 lbs 35.5in x 29.5in x 16in
Cathay Pacific 22″ L x 14″ W x 9″ H 15 lbs not specified free not specified Free Free 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Delta Airlines 22″ L x 14″ W x 9″ H not specified not specified free not specified $25.00 $35.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Emirates Airline 22″ L x 15″ W x 8″ H 15 lbs *Economy class ONLY 1 item allowed free not specified Free Free 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Frontier Airlines 24″ L x 16″ W x 10″ H 35 lbs 18″ L x 14″ W x 8″ H $25-$50 $50.00 $20(online)/$25(airport) $30.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Hawaiian Airlines 22″ L x 14″ W x 9″ H not specified not specified free not specified $25.00 $35.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
JAL 22″ L ×16″ W ×10″ H 22 lbs not specified free not specified Free Free 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Jetblue Airways 24″ L ×16″ W ×10″ H not specified not specified free not specified Free $40.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
LAN 21.5″ L x 14″ W x 10″ H not specified not specified free not specified Free Free 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Lufthansa 55 cm x 40 cm x 23 cm 17.5 lbs 30 cm x 40 cm x 10 cm free not specified Free $100.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Qantas 22″ L x 14″ W x 9″ H 15 lbs not specified free not specified Free Free 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Qatar 50cm x 37cm x 25cm (20″ x 15″ x 10″); not specified not specified free not specified Free Free 23kg

(depends on route)

62″ (total L+W+H)
Ryan Air 55cm x 40cm x 20cm 10kg 35 x 20 x 20 cms free not specified $21-$104 (based on weight, season, online or airport) 44 lbs not specified, will not transport anything larger than 31″ x 47″ x 47″
Southwest Airlines 24″ L ×16″ W ×10″ H not specified not specified free not specified Free Free 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
Spirit Airlines 22″ L ×18″ W ×10″ H not specified 16″ L x 14″ W x 12″ H (Free) $25-50 $100 $21-45 $31-$55 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)
United Airlines 22″ L x 14″ W x 9″ H not specified 17″ L x 10″ W x 9″ H free not specified $25.00 $35.00 50 lbs 62″ (total L+W+H)

updated April 10, 2018

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Chris Christensen

by Chris Christensen

Chris Christensen is the creator of the Amateur Traveler blog and podcast. He has been a travel creator since 2005 and has won awards including being named the "Best Independent Travel Journalist" by Travel+Leisure Magazine.

9 Responses to “Airline Baggage Fees and Policies (with Chart)”

sabretoothedchickenstour

Says:

Great post Chris. Doesn’t this stuff drive every traveller crazy! Probably why we overland as much as possible.

Saw your travel blogging tip on hostelbookers and visited your site for inspiration.

chris2x

Says:

cool, glad to know that some of those guest posts work 🙂

Travel Tip of the Day: The Carry-on Crackdowns Continue - Johnny Jet

Says:

[…] two bags. And make sure to know your airline’s baggage rules before you get to the airport! Here’s a great post on all the policies and fees of all the major carriers courtesy of Amateu…, who wrote it in to share it with […]

David Burren

Says:

Good to see an updated list Chris, but be careful about over-simplifying things!

For example Qantas don’t always give you two checked bags! That’s affected by how fancy a ticket you buy (and what FF class you’re in).
Or maybe you’ve just simplified it to only talk about the baggage rules that apply when flights are going to/from North or South America? For many airlines the rules for the rest of the world are different!

A footnote pointing out that this is a only summary might be a good idea, and STRONGLY advising people that they check their airlines’ policies for the specific routes and tickets they’re looking to buy. Otherwise someone is going to come a cropper and be very unhappy!

chris2x

Says:

thanks David for keeping me honest 🙂

Andrew Rein

Says:

When was this table last updated, and please put dates on all your content. Table contains info from Air-Tran, no longer flying.

Do you have transcripts for all of your podcasts.

Thanks for the great work.

chris2x

Says:

That post was from 2014, will look at putting in update dates.

No, we did transcriptions for a while for every episode, back when we had a sponsor covering the cost, but not for the most recent episodes. You can see transcripts at https://amateurtraveler.com/tag/podcast-transcript/

Susan Adie

Says:

Hello!
Interesting information and thank you for putting into a clear easy to read format. However – the left side where there are remarks is cut off on what I am seeing here. Is it possible to get it sent to me in a PDF format?
Thanks again! Very timely

Chris Christensen

Says:

I have added in a way to download it as a PDF

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