UK budget airline cabin bag sizes 2026: Ryanair vs easyJet vs Wizz Air vs Jet2
Four airlines, four different free bag allowances, and a £70 fee waiting at the gate if you get it wrong. Here’s every size, compared — and the one bag that works on all of them.
The short answer
A bag measuring 40 x 30 x 20 cm when packed travels free on all four UK budget airlines.
Ryanair and Wizz Air allow exactly 40 x 30 x 20 cm free, under the seat. easyJet is more generous at 45 x 36 x 20 cm. Jet2 is the outlier: it gives you a 40 x 30 x 20 cm personal item and a full 56 x 45 x 25 cm cabin bag in the overhead locker, both included in the fare, with nothing to buy.
So buy for 40 x 30 x 20, measure it packed, and you never have to think about it again.
UK budget airline cabin bag sizes, compared
| Airline | Free bag (under seat) | Weight limit | Bigger bag costs | If it doesn’t fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryanair | 40 x 30 x 20 cm | None | Priority & 2 Cabin Bags adds a 55 x 40 x 20 cm bag (10 kg) | Up to £70–75 per bag, per flight |
| easyJet | 45 x 36 x 20 cm including handles and wheels | 15 kg | Large cabin bag add-on: 56 x 45 x 25 cm (free on FLEXI fares and easyJet Plus) | Fee at the gate |
| Wizz Air | 40 x 30 x 20 cm | 10 kg | WIZZ Priority adds a 55 x 40 x 23 cm bag (10 kg) | Fee at the gate |
| Jet2 | 40 x 30 x 20 cm personal item plus a 56 x 45 x 25 cm cabin bag | 10 kg on the cabin bag | Nothing to buy — it’s included | Bag goes in the hold; a fee may apply |
Checked against each airline’s published policy on 16 July 2026. Baggage rules change without much notice — always confirm with your airline before you fly.
Two things jump out of that table.
The first is that Jet2 is playing a different game entirely. Every other airline here has unbundled the overhead locker and sells it back to you. Jet2 hasn’t. On a return trip for a family of four, that difference is the price of a decent meal out — before you’ve compared a single fare.
The second is that 40 x 30 x 20 cm is the magic number. It’s the exact free size on Ryanair and Wizz Air, it sits comfortably inside easyJet’s more generous 45 x 36 x 20 cm, and it’s exactly Jet2’s personal item. One bag, four airlines, no thinking.
The mistake that costs £70
Almost every article about cabin bags — and every manufacturer’s product page — quotes the bag’s dimensions empty. The gate sizer doesn’t measure your bag empty.
A soft bag that’s 19 cm deep on the shelf can be 22 or 23 cm deep with a rolled jumper, a full washbag and a pair of shoes in it. It was never going to fit, and the label was never going to tell you.
Depth is the dimension that catches people. Height and width rarely do. This is why we measure bags packed, and why we publish both numbers.
What size bag can I take on Ryanair for free?
40 x 30 x 20 cm, with no weight limit. That’s it — one small bag that must fit under the seat in front of you. No overhead locker access, no separate personal item on the side.
The no-weight-limit part is genuinely useful and widely missed. Ryanair doesn’t weigh the free underseat bag. Pack it as heavy as you can carry. The 10 kg limit people talk about applies to the Priority cabin bag, not this one.
If you want a bag in the overhead locker, you need the Priority & 2 Cabin Bags add-on, which gets you a second bag up to 55 x 40 x 20 cm at 10 kg. The price swings a lot depending on route and how close to departure you buy — it’s cheapest online, well before the airport, and dearest at the gate.
Ryanair’s enforcement is the strictest of the four, and it isn’t close. Gate staff use a metal sizer and they genuinely check. The bag that’s “probably fine” usually isn’t, and the fee is up to £70–75 per bag, per flight — so a return trip means paying it twice. It is, comfortably, one of the highest gate fees in Europe.
Is Ryanair’s bag size 40 x 30 x 20 or 40 x 20 x 25?
This one confuses everybody, and for a good reason: both numbers were correct, at different times.
Ryanair’s free underseat allowance used to be 40 x 20 x 25 cm. In summer 2025 it changed to 40 x 30 x 20 cm. The current, correct figure is 40 x 30 x 20 cm.
The problem is that the internet never caught up. Search today and you’ll still find guides, listings and product titles quoting the old spec — and plenty of bags on sale built to it. If you’re buying, check the actual dimensions rather than trusting a headline.
There’s a subtlety worth knowing, too. The new allowance is wider but shallower — 30 cm wide and 20 cm deep, where the old one was 20 cm wide and 25 cm deep. It isn’t simply “bigger”. A bag built to the old 40 x 20 x 25 spec is 5 cm too deep for the current limit, even though it looks smaller overall. Both will usually squeeze through a sizer if they’re soft and not stuffed, but “usually” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
Does easyJet really allow a bigger free bag?
Yes. easyJet’s free allowance is 45 x 36 x 20 cm, up to 15 kg — the most generous free underseat bag of the four, by a clear margin. That’s roughly 60% more volume than Ryanair’s.
Two catches. First, the size includes handles and wheels, which easyJet states explicitly. That’s not a technicality; it’s how they measure. Second, it still has to go under the seat. It is not an overhead locker bag. If you want the locker, you need the large cabin bag add-on (56 x 45 x 25 cm), or a FLEXI fare, or easyJet Plus membership.
The 15 kg limit comes with an obvious practical caveat: you have to be able to carry it yourself.
What are Wizz Air’s cabin bag sizes?
Wizz Air matches Ryanair on size — 40 x 30 x 20 cm free — but adds a 10 kg weight limit that Ryanair doesn’t have. If you’re a “wear the heaviest things and stuff the bag with the rest” packer, that’s the one to watch.
WIZZ Priority adds a 55 x 40 x 23 cm cabin bag at 10 kg. Note the 23 cm depth — 3 cm more than Ryanair’s Priority bag, which is the sort of detail that matters if you’re buying one case for both.
Because Wizz and Ryanair share the same free dimensions, a single 40 x 30 x 20 cm bag covers both. That pairing accounts for a lot of UK budget flying.
Why Jet2 keeps winning this comparison
Jet2 is the only airline of the four that still includes the overhead locker in the base fare. Every passenger, on every fare type, gets:
- A 56 x 45 x 25 cm cabin bag for the overhead locker, up to 10 kg.
- Plus a 40 x 30 x 20 cm personal item under the seat.
There’s no Priority product to buy, because there’s nothing to upgrade to. You already have it.
This is the single biggest hidden cost difference in UK budget flying, and it doesn’t show up when you’re comparing fares on a search engine. A Ryanair flight that looks £15 cheaper isn’t, if two of you need overhead bags both ways.
Jet2 does use sizers and does check, and if your cabin bag is over 10 kg at the gate it goes in the hold, possibly with a fee. Enforcement is generally less aggressive than Ryanair’s — but that’s a reason to stay inside the limits, not a reason to gamble.
Do handles and wheels count towards the size?
Yes — assume they always do. easyJet says so explicitly. The sizer is a physical box; it measures whatever you put in it, wheels and handles included.
This is where a lot of “cabin approved” bags quietly fail. Manufacturers often measure the shell. The airline measures the whole object. A 40 cm shell with 2 cm wheels is a 42 cm bag as far as the gate is concerned.
Related trap: “cabin approved” doesn’t mean “Ryanair approved.” Many bags are marketed against the IATA guideline of 56 x 45 x 25 cm — which is Ryanair’s Priority overhead size, not the free underseat allowance. The label is true and useless at the same time.
What actually happens if your bag doesn’t fit?
You’re pulled out of the boarding queue at the gate, your bag goes in the sizer, and if it doesn’t drop in, you pay. On Ryanair that’s up to £70–75 per bag, per flight. The bag then travels in the hold anyway.
The maths is brutal and worth spelling out: one failed gate check on a return trip costs more than almost any bag on the market. That’s the whole reason this category exists.
Worth knowing: bags are also refused for being bulging rather than technically oversized. A bag stuffed so hard it won’t slide under the seat is a problem even if the tape measure agrees with you.
What’s changing in 2027?
Two things are moving, and they point in slightly different directions.
The EU has ruled that airlines flying to the EU — and European airlines flying from it — must allow every passenger a free cabin bag of at least 40 x 30 x 15 cm. That’s a minimum, not a cap, and it doesn’t come into force until 2027. Crucially, it won’t necessarily apply to non-EU airlines such as easyJet flying out of the UK — so “the EU rule” may not do what UK travellers assume.
Separately, and more interestingly: Airlines for Europe — the trade body whose members include Ryanair, easyJet, British Airways and Lufthansa — has agreed to standardise the free personal item at 40 x 30 x 15 cm, following a European Court of Justice ruling. Some airlines are still transitioning.
Notice the number. That’s 15 cm deep, not 20. Ryanair currently allows 20 cm. If the industry genuinely converges on 40 x 30 x 15 cm, a bag you buy today at 20 cm deep is 5 cm too deep for the standard everyone’s heading towards.
We don’t know yet how that resolves — whether airlines keep their more generous depth, or quietly trim to the common standard. Nobody does, and anyone telling you otherwise is guessing. But if you’re buying a bag now and want it to still be right in two years, the 15 cm depth question is the one to keep an eye on. We’ll update this page when it moves.
The one bag that works on all four
If you fly more than one of these airlines, don’t own more than one bag. Own a 40 x 30 x 20 cm bag and be done:
- Ryanair — exactly the free size.
- Wizz Air — exactly the free size (watch the 10 kg limit).
- easyJet — comfortably inside the 45 x 36 x 20 cm allowance, with room spare.
- Jet2 — exactly the free personal item size, and you still get the overhead bag too.
The reverse doesn’t work. A bag bought to easyJet’s 45 x 36 x 20 cm allowance is too big for Ryanair’s free bag, and Ryanair will measure it. Buy for the strictest airline you fly, not the most generous.
And whatever you buy: measure it packed, not empty. If you want to be certain before you’re standing at a gate, build a sizer out of cardboard — three pieces taped into a 40 x 30 x 20 cm box frame — and slide your packed bag into it at home. It costs nothing and it settles the argument.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my easyJet bag on Ryanair?
No, not reliably. easyJet’s free bag is 45 x 36 x 20 cm; Ryanair’s is 40 x 30 x 20 cm. It’s 5 cm too long and 6 cm too wide, and Ryanair will measure it. Go the other way instead — a Ryanair-sized bag is fine on easyJet.
Is there a weight limit on Ryanair’s free bag?
No. The 40 x 30 x 20 cm underseat bag has no weight limit and isn’t weighed. Only the Priority cabin bag (55 x 40 x 20 cm) has one, at 10 kg.
Which UK budget airline has the most generous free hand luggage?
Jet2, without much argument — a full 56 x 45 x 25 cm overhead cabin bag plus a 40 x 30 x 20 cm personal item, both free. If you’re only counting the underseat bag, easyJet’s 45 x 36 x 20 cm is the largest.
Are soft bags better than hard shells for the underseat allowance?
It’s the most common advice online, and it’s more complicated than it sounds. A soft bag can be squashed into a sizer if it’s marginally over — but a soft bag also swells when packed, which is what puts it over in the first place. A rigid case can’t be squeezed, but it also can’t grow. That’s a real faceoff, and we’re testing it rather than guessing.
Does the 2027 EU rule mean bigger free bags?
Not necessarily, and possibly the opposite for some airlines. The EU minimum is 40 x 30 x 15 cm — shallower than what Ryanair, Wizz and Jet2 currently allow. It’s a floor for airlines that offer less, not a promise of more.
What’s the safest cabin bag size for UK budget airlines?
40 x 30 x 20 cm, measured with the bag packed, including handles and wheels. That clears the free allowance on Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air and Jet2.
Last updated: 16 July 2026. Every one of these cabin bag sizes was checked against the airlines’ own published policies on that date.
Sources: Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air and Jet2 baggage policies.
Airlines are the final authority on their own rules, and those rules change. Confirm with your airline before you fly. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
Soft bag or hard shell?
The advice online flatly contradicts itself, and nobody’s settled it by measuring. We’re putting both through the sizer — packed, not empty — and naming a winner.
How we test →