easyJet's cabin bag rule is short enough to fit on a boarding pass and still catches people out every day at Gatwick, Geneva, Milan and Berlin. The reason is not the rule. It is the gap between what the rule says and what people assume a "cabin bag" is. This guide closes that gap: the two sizes, the one weight, which fares include what, what happens at the gate, and nine packing tricks that make the free allowance work harder than it looks. ✈️
Everything here is the 2026 policy as published at the time of writing. Airlines change allowances and fees between seasons, so before you fly, check the figures in your booking confirmation, which is the only version that applies to your flight.
Part 1: The rules in one place
The free small cabin bag: 45 x 36 x 20 cm
Every easyJet passenger on every fare gets one small cabin bag included. The maximum size is 45 x 36 x 20 cm including handles and wheels, it must fit under the seat in front of you, and the weight limit is 15 kg, with the condition that you can lift it into place yourself. That is a generous underseat allowance by low-cost standards, roughly 32 litres, and for a weekend it is enough if you pack with intent.
The large cabin bag: 56 x 45 x 25 cm
The second, larger bag goes in the overhead locker, measures up to 56 x 45 x 25 cm including handles and wheels, and has the same 15 kg limit. It is not included on a Standard fare. It is included with a FLEXI fare and with easyJet Plus membership, and it can be added to a booking for a fee that varies by route, date and how early you buy. Some seat products have included it in the past and the benefit has changed more than once, so treat "I booked an Up Front seat" as a reason to check your confirmation, not as a guarantee.
What does not count towards the allowance
An overcoat, an umbrella, a standard duty-free bag bought after security, and mobility aids. A lap infant also gets a changing bag within the small-bag dimensions. Everything else counts, including a handbag, a laptop bag and a camera bag; on a Standard fare, "one bag" means one.
The gate
Size is checked at the gate with a sizer, and enforcement at busy airports is consistent rather than occasional. A bag that exceeds the allowance is put in the hold and charged a gate fee, currently around 50 pounds on UK routes or the euro equivalent, which is several times the price of adding the large bag online. Note that a large cabin bag upgrade is not reliably available for purchase at the airport; if you arrive with an oversize bag and no upgrade, the hold fee is the outcome. We explained how airlines measure and when they charge in how airlines measure baggage and when they charge fees.
Hold luggage, briefly
Not included on Standard fares. Bookable at 15, 23, 26, 29 or 32 kg per bag, up to three bags per passenger, no single bag over 32 kg or 275 cm total dimensions. Weight can be pooled across passengers on the same booking. Book online; airport prices are higher.
What is coming
In June 2026, EU institutions reached political agreement that from 2027 passengers on flights within or from the EU should be entitled to two items in the cabin, a personal item and a small cabin bag, included in the fare. easyJet has publicly opposed the change. Until the rules are in force and reflected in the airline's own policy, the 2026 allowance above is what applies.
Part 2: Nine packing tricks for the easyJet allowance
1. Measure the bag with wheels and handles, or do not bother measuring
The sizer does not care what the manufacturer printed on the label. It cares about the outermost points: wheel housings, the handle stub, the bulge of a full front pocket. Measure a packed bag, not an empty one, on all three axes, including the wheels. A hard case with fixed wheels and a flush handle measures the same full or empty, which is one reason they pass sizers so reliably. We listed the five traps in cabin luggage dimensions and weight: 5 traps.
2. Decide before you book whether the small bag is enough 🧳
The large bag added at booking costs a fraction of the gate fee and a fraction of what a hold bag costs. If your trip needs more than 32 litres, buy the large bag when you book. If it does not, do not, and build the trip around the small bag. The expensive outcome is deciding at the airport.
3. Use the depth, not the length
The small bag is 20 cm deep and the large bag 25 cm. Both are shallower than most people's rucksacks when stuffed. Pack flat: roll clothes, lay them in layers, and put rigid items (a camera, a hard case for electronics) at the bottom in a single layer. A bag that bulges past 20 cm fails the sizer even if the length and width are perfect.
4. Liquids in a separate, reachable pouch
The 100 ml rule still applies at most European airports, with some terminals now running newer scanners that relax it; the rules differ by airport and by terminal and are not decided by the airline. Keep liquids in one clear bag at the top of the cabin bag so security does not require unpacking. The state of play by airport is in how liquid limits work at different airports.
5. Wear the heavy things
Fifteen kilos is a lot for a small bag, so weight is rarely the problem on easyJet. Volume is. A coat, boots and a heavy jumper worn onto the aircraft do not count, and the coat has pockets. This is the oldest trick in low-cost travel and it works because it is allowed.
6. Electronics in one hard micro case
Chargers, cables, power bank, adapters, earphones and a memory card wallet in one small sealed case rather than loose in the bag. It stops the cable nest, protects the power bank from being crushed, and comes out at security as a single item. Power bank rules are per airline and per battery size; the limits are in power banks in carry-on baggage.
7. Know what cannot go in the cabin at all
Tools, sharp objects, most sports equipment and larger knives are hold-only or banned; the full list is in what can you take in carry-on baggage. Discovering it at security means losing the item, because there is no hold bag to move it to on a cabin-only trip.
8. Board with the bag in the right place
Small bag: under the seat in front of you, not in the locker; crew enforce this on full flights. Large bag: overhead locker, wheels first, handle in. If you have both, the small bag goes under the seat and the large one above, and you do not need to fight for locker space if you board late.
9. Choose a bag that survives the trip, not just the sizer
Soft bags that just squeeze through the sizer arrive with the contents crushed. A hard case that fits the allowance protects what is inside for years, and a good one carries a guarantee for life. If you fly cabin-only often, the case is the part of the trip you keep. The full comparison of cabin cases in the common 55 x 40 x 23 size is in suitcase 55x40x23: which cabin suitcase is best, and the fee-avoidance playbook across airlines is in how to avoid baggage fees.
For the hold bag and your pocket: check-in suitcases and the RFID wallet
The three suitcases are for the hold bag, booked online in the weight tier you need; all sit well inside easyJet's 275 cm total. The cabin-size cases are in the second block below.
Part 3: Which fare, which bag
| Fare or product | Small bag 45 x 36 x 20 | Large bag 56 x 45 x 25 | Hold bag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Included | Paid add-on, buy at booking | Paid |
| Standard + large cabin bag | Included | Included via add-on | Paid |
| FLEXI | Included | Included | Included (see fare terms) |
| easyJet Plus member | Included | Included | Paid |
| Seat upgrades (Up Front, Extra Legroom) | Included | Check your booking; has changed | Paid |
Part 4: Three trips, three packing plans
A weekend city break on the free bag
Two outfits plus what you wear, one pair of shoes worn, toiletries in solid form where possible, a clear liquids bag, a phone charger, a small electronics case. Rolled clothes in a 45 x 36 x 20 case or soft bag fill it without bulging. Coat worn on board. No large bag needed, no fee, nothing to collect on arrival.
A week away with the large bag added
Buy the large bag at booking. A 56 x 45 x 25 hard case such as the Peli ATX HC22, the 1510 or the Air 1535 fills the allowance exactly and protects everything inside. The small bag becomes the personal item for the flight: documents, electronics, liquids, a book. Nothing goes in the hold; nothing gets lost.
A photographer or drone pilot flying cabin-only
Camera body, lenses and batteries in a hard case with dividers in the large bag slot; controller, spare batteries in a separate small sealed case in the underseat bag. Spare lithium batteries stay in the cabin, contacts protected, within the airline's watt-hour limits. The kit never goes in the hold, and security can see the layout at a glance.
Hard cases sized for the large cabin bag (56 x 45 x 25 cm)
Part 5: What the free bag actually holds
The volume, in real items
Forty-five by thirty-six by twenty centimetres is about 32 litres, less the thickness of the bag's walls. In practice, in a soft bag packed flat, that is three rolled T-shirts, two rolled shirts, one pair of trousers, underwear and socks for four days, a thin fleece, a washbag the size of a paperback, a phone charger, a book and a clear liquids bag, with the coat and the heavier shoes worn on board. In a hard case of the same allowance, such as the Peli 1450, it is the same clothes list minus the fleece, or a full camera kit with room for nothing else. The trick is to decide which of those two trips you are on and pack for that one.
Families and infants
Each child with a seat gets the same small bag, which is more useful than it sounds: a child's bag carries the child's clothes and the family's snacks, and nobody's allowance is wasted. Lap infants get a changing bag within the small-bag size, and up to two items such as a pushchair, car seat or travel cot checked free. Pack the pushchair to survive the hold; it will be handled like any other bag.
Business trips
A laptop, charger, one change of clothes and a washbag fit the free bag easily if the laptop goes in flat against the back and the clothes are rolled around it. The mistake is carrying the laptop in its own bag as well: on a Standard fare that is two bags, and the second one is the one that gets charged.
Sports and bulky items
Skis, golf clubs, bikes and surfboards travel as sports equipment in the hold, booked in advance, with their own fees and dimensions. They never count as cabin baggage, and a hard case for the fragile parts (a camera, a bike computer, a dive computer) still goes in the cabin.
Part 6: Choosing between a soft bag and a hard case for easyJet
Soft bag wins when
The contents are clothes, the trip is short, and the bag needs to compress into a sizer or under a seat. A soft bag with a rigid base and no wheels gives the most volume for the dimensions and weighs under a kilo, which is why most underseat bags are soft.
Hard case wins when
The contents are worth protecting: cameras, drones, instruments, medication, documents, a laptop. A sealed hard case within the allowance keeps them dry, uncrushed and visible to security in one layout. For the large bag, a wheeled hard case such as the HC22 or the 1510 also survives the years of overhead lockers and cobbled streets that shred soft cases.
Both, for most people who fly often
A soft underseat bag for the weekend trips, a hard case for the trips where the large bag is worth buying, and one small sealed electronics case that moves between them. Three items, every easyJet trip covered.
Part 7: Seven mistakes that cost money at the gate
Assuming a handbag is free on top of the small bag
On a Standard fare it is not. One bag means one, and a handbag plus a rucksack is two. Put the handbag inside the rucksack before the gate.
Buying a "cabin size" case without checking which cabin size
Most cases sold as cabin size are 55 x 40 x 20 or 55 x 40 x 23, which is the large bag on easyJet, not the free one. If you bought the case for the free allowance, it will not fit the sizer.
Measuring the bag empty
Soft bags grow. A 20 cm bag packed tight is a 24 cm bag. The sizer measures the packed bag.
Leaving the large bag decision to the airport
The online add-on is cheap; the gate outcome is a hold fee several times higher, and the upgrade itself may not be for sale at the airport at all.
Packing hold-only items on a cabin-only trip
A multitool, a large aerosol, a tent peg. Security removes it, and there is no hold bag to put it in.
Forgetting the duty-free bag counts as an extra only after security
A bag from a shop before security is just another bag. The extra allowance is for the airport duty-free purchase.
Putting the small bag in the locker on a full flight
Crew will ask you to move it under the seat, and the locker space you took will be given to a large bag. It is not a fee, but it is a bad start.
Frequently asked questions
Does easyJet weigh cabin bags?
Rarely; the enforcement is on size, with the sizer at the gate. The 15 kg figure is a limit, and you must be able to lift the bag yourself, but the sizer is what stops people.
Can I bring a laptop bag as well as the small cabin bag?
Not on a Standard fare. The laptop goes inside the one bag, or you add the large bag and carry two.
Does a Peli 1510 fit under an easyJet seat?
No. The 1510, the Air 1535 and the HC22 are large-cabin-bag sizes (within 56 x 45 x 25) and need the large bag added or included. For the free underseat bag, use a smaller case such as the 1450 or 1400, or a soft bag within 45 x 36 x 20.
What if my bag is a centimetre over?
If it does not go into the sizer, it goes in the hold with the fee. Soft bags can sometimes be compressed to fit; hard cases cannot. Buy the right size.
Do children get the same allowance?
Every passenger with a seat, including children, gets the small bag. Lap infants get a changing bag within the small-bag dimensions and up to two checked items such as a pushchair or car seat free.
Is the allowance the same on every easyJet route?
The sizes and weight are the same network-wide. Fees for the large bag and hold bags vary by route and date, and the gate fee is quoted in local currency.
Checklist before you leave for the airport
- ✅ Booking confirmation checked: small bag only, or large bag included or added
- ✅ Bag measured packed, wheels and handles included, on all three sides
- ✅ Small bag within 45 x 36 x 20 cm; large bag within 56 x 45 x 25 cm; under 15 kg
- ✅ Liquids in a clear bag at the top; no hold-only items
- ✅ Electronics and batteries in one small case, in the cabin, contacts protected
- ✅ Coat and heavy shoes worn, not packed
- ✅ Handbag inside the main bag on a Standard fare
- ✅ Small bag under the seat, large bag in the locker
The short version
One free bag, 45 x 36 x 20 cm, under the seat. A second, larger bag, 56 x 45 x 25 cm, if you pay for it or your fare includes it. Fifteen kilos either way. Decide at booking, measure the packed bag, wear the coat, keep the electronics in one case, and the allowance is enough for more trips than people think. 🧳
If you are choosing a hard case for easyJet and are not sure which of the two allowances it fits, send us the model and we will tell you, to the millimetre.
