Flying with Budget Airlines: Carry-On Strategy

Why Carry-On Strategy Matters More on Budget Airlines

On a full-service carrier, carry-on policy is simple: one bag in the overhead bin, one personal item under the seat, no charge. On a budget carrier, carry-on policy is a revenue mechanism. Size limits, weight limits, priority boarding requirements, and gate bag-check fees are designed so that compliance is just difficult enough that a significant proportion of passengers pay fees they intended to avoid. Knowing the rules precisely — not approximately — can save £30–£80 on a single round trip.

The stakes are highest on airlines where a non-priority passenger has no guaranteed overhead bin access. On Ryanair and Wizz Air, a standard boarding passenger who arrives with a large cabin bag will have it placed in the hold at the gate and collected at the baggage belt — a process that adds 20–40 minutes to the journey and is particularly disruptive on short European hops where the entire flight duration is often under 90 minutes.

Carry-on strategy, properly executed, allows travellers to fly with meaningful luggage at zero additional cost. The key variables are: the specific airline's size and weight limits, the type of bag (hard-sided vs. soft-sided, backpack vs. wheeled), packing density techniques, and boarding time relative to other passengers. Each of these is controllable.

Carry-On Size Limits by Major Budget Airline

Ryanair's free personal item allowance is 40x20x25 cm (including handles and wheels). This is genuinely small — smaller than most "personal item" bags marketed for air travel. A standard under-seat backpack from Cabin Zero (28L, 40x30x20 cm) does not fit within this limit. Passengers who want overhead bin space must pay for Priority or Plus boarding, which grants a 55x40x20 cm bag in addition to the personal item. Always measure your bag including wheels, handles, and any exterior pockets before assuming compliance.

easyJet allows one large cabin bag (56x45x25 cm) plus one small bag (45x36x20 cm) for passengers on standard, Flexi, or Hands Free fares. However, the large cabin bag must fit in the overhead bin and the sizer at check-in gates is exactly 56x45x25 cm — bags that are marginally over in any dimension will be checked and charged. Soft-sided bags compress; hard-sided bags do not. For easyJet, a soft-sided wheeled cabin bag is almost always the right choice.

Wizz Air allows one small personal item (40x30x20 cm) free, but a cabin bag (55x40x23 cm) requires Wizz Priority or a paid PLUS bundle. Spirit and Frontier in the US allow personal items (18x14x8 inches for Spirit) free but charge for carry-ons that use the overhead bin. Southwest allows both a carry-on and a personal item free for all passengers, which is one of the genuinely differentiating features of its offering.

Bag Types and Their Trade-offs

Wheeled carry-on suitcases are the most common choice but carry inherent risks on budget airlines. Wheels and retractable handles add 1–2 cm to bag dimensions, and the rigid frame of a hard-sided suitcase means it either fits the sizer or it does not — there is no negotiation. On carriers where overhead bin space is contested (Ryanair, Wizz Air), a wheeled suitcase used by a non-priority passenger is at high risk of being gate-checked.

Soft-sided backpacks are the most versatile option for budget flying. A 40-litre pack from Osprey, Nomatic, or Peak Design can accommodate one week of clothing when packed with compression cubes, collapses to fit in an under-seat space that a wheeled bag would never occupy, and presents no wheel or frame measurement issue. For travellers who walk or hike at their destination, a quality travel backpack consolidates carry-on and ground luggage into one item.

Hybrid bags — wheeled backpacks and convertible duffle bags — offer flexibility but rarely excel at budget airline compliance. Their wheel footprint increases depth dimensions, and their multiple exterior pockets create measurement complications. If budget airline carry-on compliance is the primary concern, choose a dedicated, dimensionally reliable bag rather than a versatile hybrid that may be acceptable on some carriers and problematic on others.

Packing cubes deserve special mention. A set of compression packing cubes (Eagle Creek, Peak Design, or Amazon Basics versions) can reduce the volume of a week's clothing by 25–35 percent by eliminating air pockets. Combined with a well-chosen 35–40 litre backpack, they enable a week of travel with zero checked luggage on almost any budget airline's personal item allowance.

Weight Limits and How to Work Within Them

Budget airlines have varying weight limits for cabin bags. Ryanair's Priority bag allowance is 10kg for the cabin bag plus 10kg for the personal item. easyJet's large cabin bag allowance is 15kg on higher fares. Most Asian budget carriers including AirAsia and IndiGo set 7kg limits for cabin baggage, enforced by weighing bags at the gate in high-compliance markets. US carriers Spirit and Frontier do not formally enforce cabin bag weight limits (checking is done for size, not weight), but overhead bin space is finite and a very heavy bag may draw attention.

Weighing your bag at home is the most effective preparation step. A digital luggage scale costs £5–£10 and removes all uncertainty. Pack your bag, weigh it, then make adjustments. Common offenders that can be removed from cabin bags to reduce weight without sacrificing utility: full-size toiletry bottles (replace with travel-size or buy at destination), hardcover books (use e-reader or paperback), multiple pairs of shoes (wear the heaviest pair on the flight), redundant electronics (one device per function rather than phone plus tablet plus laptop).

Wearing heavy items on the flight is a legitimate strategy for staying within bag weight limits. A coat, hiking boots, jeans, and a camera bag worn as a personal item can collectively weigh 4–5 kg that would otherwise be in your checked or cabin bag. Budget airline staff at the gate may notice egregiously oversized personal items but rarely weigh items you are physically wearing.

Packing Techniques for Maximum Efficiency

The bundle wrapping method, popularised by packing expert Doug Dyment, reduces wrinkles and maximises space more effectively than rolling. Place a large item like a jacket flat in the bottom of the bag, layer shirts and trousers around a central core (socks, underwear, small items), then fold the jacket over the bundle. This works particularly well for business travel where wrinkle prevention matters.

Rolling works better than folding for casual clothing like t-shirts, shorts, and knitwear. Roll each item tightly and stand rolls on end in the bag rather than laying them flat — this allows you to see all items at once and access any item without disturbing the others. Patagonia and wool-based brands like Icebreaker and Smartwool compress well and resist wrinkles, making them disproportionately useful for budget airline carry-on packing.

Toiletries are almost always the most weight- and space-inefficient category. A standard 250ml shampoo bottle weighs 300g and occupies significant volume. Solid shampoo bars (Lush, Ethique) weigh under 50g and provide more washes. Solid deodorant, solid conditioner, and SPF stick sunscreen follow the same logic. For trips under two weeks, decanting into reusable 30ml or 50ml bottles covers essentials while staying under TSA 3-1-1 and comparable EU rules.

At the Airport: Avoiding Gate Fees

If you are uncertain whether your bag will pass measurement at the gate, arrive early enough to check it before the gate closes. On Ryanair, bags checked at the gate cost £25 in advance (online) or £40 at the airport counter. If you genuinely suspect your bag is over-size, adding it as a hold bag online before departure costs less than paying at the airport. Ryanair's app allows bag additions up to two hours before departure.

Gate agents vary in strictness. Early morning business routes tend to see stricter enforcement; afternoon leisure routes with full overhead bins see more gate-checking regardless of bag size. Arriving at the gate early — especially with priority boarding — virtually eliminates the risk of being forced to check a bag. Priority boarding passengers board before the aircraft is full; standard passengers board into a near-full aircraft where overhead space is exhausted.

If your bag is gate-checked involuntarily because the overhead bins are full, the airline should do so at no charge under EU261 and equivalent regulations — this is different from being gate-checked for exceeding the size limit. Know the difference: a free gate check for bin capacity is a service delay, not a fee. Document it and claim any resulting delay compensation if the baggage retrieval causes you to miss a connection.