You have booked a cheap SAS ticket, packed carefully, and arrived at the airport feeling organised. Then comes the moment every Scandinavian flyer knows: the bag goes on the sizer, or onto the scale, and the number on the display decides whether your trip stays simple or turns into a fee. ✈️
SAS has one of the clearest cabin baggage systems in Europe, and also one of the easiest to misread. The main carry-on limit is 55 × 40 × 23 cm and 8 kg. The personal item is 40 × 30 × 15 cm. But whether the carry-on is actually included depends on your fare, and the 8 kg ceiling is lower than the weight many modern suitcases reach before you put a single sock inside. That is where most surprises come from.
This guide does two jobs. First, it lays out the SAS rules as SAS publishes them, so you know exactly what is included and what is not. Second, it gives you nine practical packing tricks that keep you under the limits without leaving behind the things that matter. It also tells you plainly where a heavy hard-shell case makes the 8 kg limit difficult, because that is a real trade-off and you should know about it before you buy or pack anything.
One note before we start: airline rules change, and fares are renamed between SAS market websites. Treat the numbers below as a reliable guide and always confirm the figures for your own ticket in your booking or on the SAS website before you travel.
SAS cabin baggage rules at a glance
Start with the rules themselves. Everything in the next four sections comes from SAS's own published baggage pages; the packing tricks that follow build on them.
The two bags you can bring
On most SAS tickets you may bring two pieces into the cabin free of charge: one carry-on bag and one personal item.
- Carry-on bag: maximum 55 × 40 × 23 cm, maximum 8 kg. This goes in the overhead locker.
- Personal item: maximum 40 × 30 × 15 cm, which works out to a volume of 18 litres. This goes under the seat in front of you. A small handbag, a laptop bag or a compact backpack are typical examples.
The arithmetic is worth doing once. A box of 55 × 40 × 23 cm holds about 50.6 litres of space on paper, and the personal item holds 18 litres. A soft bag can be squeezed into the sizer, but a rigid case cannot, so for a hard case the outside measurements are the only measurements that count. We come back to that in trick five.
SAS also states that the bag is checked against these size and weight limits before departure. If a bag is a little too big or too heavy, it can be placed in the hold and a fee applies. The limits are not decorative.
SAS Go Light: the fare that changes the maths
The cheapest SAS fare, SAS Go Light (shown as Economy Light on some SAS market sites), is built around one idea: you pay for less, and you add what you need. On a Go Light ticket the free cabin allowance is the underseat bag only, the 40 × 30 × 15 cm item. The 55 × 40 × 23 cm carry-on is not included.
If you want the larger carry-on on a Go Light ticket, SAS lets you add one carry-on bag per traveller for a fixed fee per one-way flight. The price depends on the route and on when you buy it, and SAS publishes it in its optional fees list. Adding it during or soon after booking is cheaper than leaving the question to the airport, so decide at the booking stage, not at the gate.
There is one important exception. On long-haul routes to and from Asia, Canada and the United States, SAS includes one 8 kg carry-on bag even in its lowest economy fare. So the same fare name can mean a different allowance depending on where you fly, which is why reading the conditions for your specific route matters.
The higher fares, SAS Go, SAS Plus and SAS Business, include the carry-on bag plus the personal item. Frequent flyer status can also change the allowance, so if you hold EuroBonus status, look at what your tier adds.
What counts toward your allowance
A few details that people forget until they are standing in the queue:
- Duty-free and airport shopping counts. A bag from the shop after security is not an extra piece; it counts as part of your carry-on allowance. Plan space for it, or put it inside your bag before boarding.
- Coats and jackets may be stored in the overhead locker, as long as they are not heavy or bulky. The lockers are meant for coats and for items that are neither heavy nor bulky.
- Laptops and tablets may travel in the cabin. Follow the crew's instructions for take-off and landing.
- Everything must fit. What you bring on board has to fit under the seat or in the overhead locker. Anything that does not fit, or is judged too heavy or unsafe, goes in the hold.
Liquids, batteries and other restricted items
SAS follows the usual European security rules for liquids: containers of up to 100 ml each, all in one transparent resealable 1-litre bag. Larger bottles, including bottles of alcohol, belong in checked baggage. If you pack a bottle of aquavit or a large perfume in your carry-on, security will take it from you.
Lithium batteries have their own rules. According to SAS's published guidance, power banks and spare batteries must travel in the cabin, never in checked baggage. They must be protected against short circuits, they should not be stored in the overhead locker but under the seat in front of you or where the crew indicates, and power banks may not be used or charged on board. SAS also limits how many power banks and spare batteries you may carry and restricts larger batteries by capacity in watt-hours, so read the SAS dangerous goods page for the exact figures before you pack camera or drone batteries. Our separate guide to power banks in carry-on baggage explains the general logic behind these rules.
Nine packing tricks for SAS cabin baggage
With the rules clear, here is how to live inside them. The tricks are grouped by the problem they solve: weight first, then space, then the moments when something goes wrong.
Beat the 8 kg limit (tricks 1–3)
Weight is the limit most travellers break, because it is the one you cannot see. A bag that looks small can be heavy, and a bag that looks full can be light. These first three tricks deal with it directly.
1. Weigh the empty bag before you pack anything
The 8 kg allowance covers the bag and everything in it. So the first number you need is the weight of the empty case. Many lightweight soft cabin bags weigh 1.5 to 2.5 kg, which leaves 5.5 to 6.5 kg for your belongings. Hard-shell cases are heavier because the shell does the protecting.
Take two Peli examples, using the weights published on the product pages. The Peli ATX HC22 weighs 4.8 kg empty, or 5.9 kg with its liner fitted. The Peli Air 1535TRVL weighs 4.7 kg. Subtract that from 8 kg and you have roughly 3.2 to 3.3 kg of contents before you reach the limit, and less with the HC22 liner in place. That is enough for a camera body, a lens or two, a laptop and a few cables. It is not enough for a week of clothes.
This is not a flaw to hide; it is a design choice that suits some trips and not others. A hard case makes sense when what you carry is fragile or valuable and you want it in the cabin, with your clothes in a separate bag. It makes less sense as a cabin bag for a five-day city break with a full wardrobe on a fare with a strict 8 kg limit. If you are unsure which describes you, put the empty bag on a kitchen scale tonight. Two minutes of checking saves an argument at the gate.
2. Wear your heaviest items instead of packing them
Boots, a thick jacket and a dense sweater can easily account for 2 kg or more. Worn on your body, they do not go on the scale. SAS allows coats and jackets to be stored in the overhead locker when they are neither heavy nor bulky, so a coat is not a problem in itself.
The sensible version of this trick is modest. Wear the bulkiest shoes you own, carry your coat, and put the items that weigh the most for their size, such as chargers, books, tools and toiletries, into the bag where you can see them. Do not stuff your pockets with cables and power banks in a way that looks like hiding weight. If an agent asks you to put your jacket on the scale, you want a jacket, not a surprise.
3. Pack dense items low, near the wheels
This is a handling trick rather than a weight trick, but it matters for a bag that is close to the limit. Heavy, dense items such as shoes, a laptop in a sleeve or a toiletry kit sit best at the wheel end of a trolley case. The case then rolls stably and does not tip backwards when you let go of the handle in the queue.
It also makes loading easier: a bag with all its weight at the top is awkward to lift into an overhead locker, and the lockers on a short-haul jet are higher than most people expect. If you cannot lift the bag comfortably with one hand and then the other, it is too heavy to be your cabin bag, whatever the scale says. Ask yourself the lifting question honestly, because the crew will not lift it for you.
For the full picture of how airlines handle the 8 kg problem, compare how Eurowings handles its 8 kg rule; the logic is similar, and the packing habits carry over between carriers.
Use the space you are given (tricks 4–6)
Once weight is under control, the next problem is volume. SAS gives you two spaces, and the best packing uses both on purpose.
4. Treat the 18-litre personal item as a real bag
The underseat bag is small, but 40 × 30 × 15 cm is 18 litres, and 18 litres is enough for a surprising amount if you plan it. On a SAS Go Light ticket it is your only free cabin bag, so planning it well is the entire game.
What belongs in it? Everything you need during the flight and everything you cannot afford to lose: passport, phone, wallet, a charger, medication, a change of underwear, a thin layer, and a book or tablet. A compact backpack that is exactly the right size is better than a roomier bag that you have to squash under the seat. Measure it, or look at the label, because backpacks are often sold as underseat bags and are a couple of centimetres too thick when full.
If your wallet is a source of anxiety on trains and in airports, a slim RFID-blocking wallet keeps cards, a boarding pass and some cash together and out of sight. Soft items go in the personal item; fragile and valuable items stay in a rigid case. That division of labour is the core of a good SAS cabin setup.
5. Remember that a hard case cannot be squeezed
A soft duffel can be pushed into a sizer and nobody notices that it was 2 cm over. A hard shell cannot flex, so its external dimensions are the whole story. Measure the outside of the case, including wheels, handle housings and any protruding latch, because airlines measure the full bag.
Here is where honesty matters. The 55 × 40 × 23 cm limit is a nominal limit, and a few popular hard cases are a few millimetres over it on one axis. The Peli ATX HC22 measures 55.9 × 35.6 × 23.1 cm, and the Peli Air 1535TRVL measures 55.8 × 35.5 × 22.8 cm. Both are within the width limit of 40 cm with plenty of room, and both are within a centimetre of the 55 cm length. Whether a case that is a few millimetres over passes depends on the sizer, the agent and the day, and we cannot promise how any individual flight will go.
If your trip depends on a bag being accepted without question, the safe approach is to choose a case that is clearly inside the published limits or to plan for the alternative: check the case in the hold, where there is no 55 cm cabin limit, and carry your most important items in the personal item. If you are choosing a cabin hard case on its merits for other reasons, such as protecting a camera, being aware of this margin lets you decide with open eyes. Our guide to the 55x40x23 suitcase goes deeper on how these limits compare across airlines.
6. Plan the liquids and the duty-free before security
Liquids are a space problem as much as a security problem. Containers up to 100 ml all have to fit in one 1-litre transparent bag, and that bag takes a surprising amount of room in a small case. Decant into travel bottles, and use solid alternatives where you can: bar shampoo, solid deodorant and a toothpaste tablet each free a few centimetres.
Duty-free is the other trap. Because airport purchases count toward your carry-on allowance, a bottle bought after security adds weight to a bag that may already be near 8 kg. If you plan to buy a bottle, carry less on the way out, or put the bottle in the personal item and leave room. If you are connecting through another airport, check the liquids rules there before you buy, because a sealed duty-free bag is not a guarantee at every connection.
Hard-shell cabin cases: measure them before you buy
When the plan meets the gate (tricks 7–9)
Even a well-packed bag can run into trouble: a full overhead locker, a security officer with questions, a fragile item that does not suit a squeeze. These three tricks cover the moments that happen at the airport rather than at home.
7. Keep batteries and power banks in the cabin, and in reach
Spare lithium batteries and power banks are not allowed in checked baggage, and SAS asks that they are not kept in the overhead locker either. They belong under the seat in front of you or wherever the crew says. In practice that means the personal item, packed so you can reach it without opening the main bag.
Protect the terminals. Loose batteries can short-circuit against keys or coins, so keep each one in its original case, a battery sleeve, or with tape over the contacts. Do not use or charge a power bank during the flight; SAS says plainly that this is not allowed. Photographers and drone pilots should check the watt-hour rating on every battery before packing, because the rules depend on capacity and the number you may carry is limited.
If a bag is gate-checked, batteries must come out first. A battery that is already in a power bank pouch in your personal item makes that decision quick. A battery that is buried in the main bag does not.
8. Put the fragile and the valuable in rigid protection
Overhead lockers are crowded, and bags above yours get pushed and shifted by whoever boards last. A soft bag with a camera or a laptop inside takes whatever force arrives. A rigid case spreads that force, so what is inside stays intact.
The same applies to musical instruments. SAS requires instruments to be packed in a rigid case, whether they are carried on board or checked; a soft cover is not accepted. Small instruments can come in the cabin if they meet the carry-on size and weight, and larger ones can travel on an extra seat that you arrange through SAS customer service, within the dimensions and weight that SAS states for seat bookings. If you are planning that, contact SAS before you book, because the extra seat has to be arranged in advance.
For cameras, drones and laptops, the Peli Air 1535TRVL and the ATX HC22 are the cases we most often see used in the cabin. Add a divider system or foam so nothing rattles, and put your clothes in a second, soft bag that can be checked or placed under the seat. That way the 8 kg budget goes to the equipment that needs protecting, not to a heavy shell holding a few T-shirts.
9. Have a gate-check plan before you need one
On a full flight, the overhead lockers sometimes run out of space before everyone has boarded, and a bag that is not allowed in the cabin is checked at the gate. Gate-checking is usually not a catastrophe, but it is much easier if you prepared.
Before you reach the gate, decide what comes out of the bag if it has to go in the hold. That list is short: passport and documents, medication, any power bank or spare battery, valuables, a laptop, and the phone charger you need on arrival. Keep these in your personal item, or arrange the main bag so they sit in one pocket you can empty in thirty seconds.
If your bag is hard-shelled, gate-checking carries less risk than for a soft one, because the shell protects what is inside. But remember that a bag that is checked travels with checked baggage rules, so batteries and valuables must be out. Our guide to what really happens to your suitcase after check-in shows what a checked bag goes through and why the case matters.
For the hold, and for the small things that stay with you
Your SAS cabin baggage checklist
Use this as a five-minute check the evening before you fly. It is deliberately short, because a checklist you do not read is worse than none.
- Fare: Is your ticket SAS Go Light? If yes, is the 55 × 40 × 23 cm carry-on included on your route, or did you add it?
- Weight: Is the packed carry-on at or under 8 kg on a real scale, including the weight of the bag itself?
- Size: Do the outside measurements of the bag, wheels and handle included, fit 55 × 40 × 23 cm? Does your personal item fit 40 × 30 × 15 cm?
- Liquids: Are all containers 100 ml or smaller and in one transparent 1-litre bag, within reach?
- Batteries: Are power banks and spare batteries in the cabin bag, protected from short circuits, and easy to reach?
- Valuables: Are passport, medicine, phone, laptop and camera in the personal item or in a case you will not part with?
- Plan B: If the bag is taken at the gate, can you empty the important items in under a minute?
- Duty-free: Is there space and weight left for anything you plan to buy after security?
If you tick all eight, you have done more preparation than most passengers on the flight, and the gate should hold no surprises. Cheap-fare rules are similar across European carriers, so the same list works for easyJet and Finnair with only the numbers changed. For a wider look at how to avoid extra charges across airlines, see our practical guide to avoiding baggage fees.
Frequently asked questions
Can I bring a carry-on bag on a SAS Go Light ticket?
On a SAS Go Light ticket the included cabin allowance is the personal item only, 40 × 30 × 15 cm. You can add one carry-on bag per traveller for a fixed fee per one-way flight, with the price depending on the route and the time of purchase. On long-haul routes to and from Asia, Canada and the United States, one 8 kg carry-on bag is included even in the lowest economy fare. Always confirm the allowance shown for your own booking.
What happens if my SAS carry-on is over 8 kg or too big?
SAS checks carry-on bags against the size and weight limits before departure. A bag that is too big or too heavy can be placed in the hold, and a fee applies. The cheapest way to handle it is to weigh and measure the bag at home, and to move weight into the personal item or into checked baggage if needed.
Is a laptop bag counted as a second bag?
If it is your personal item, no. SAS allows one carry-on and one personal item, and a small laptop bag that fits 40 × 30 × 15 cm counts as the personal item. If you carry a carry-on, a personal item and a separate laptop bag, you have three pieces, and the third is not part of the allowance. Put the laptop inside one of the two bags instead.
Can I bring a power bank on a SAS flight?
Yes, but only in the cabin, never in checked baggage. SAS asks that power banks and spare batteries are protected against short circuits and kept under the seat in front of you or where the crew indicates, not in the overhead locker. Power banks may not be used or charged on board. SAS also limits how many you can carry and restricts larger batteries by capacity, so check the dangerous goods page for the figures before you pack.
Can I bring a musical instrument as cabin baggage?
Small instruments can travel in the cabin if they meet the standard carry-on size and weight. All instruments must be in a rigid case, whether they are carried on board or checked. Larger instruments can be booked onto an extra seat through SAS customer service, within the dimensions and weight that SAS publishes. Arrange this before travel, not at the airport.
The short version
SAS cabin baggage is simple once you know the numbers: 55 × 40 × 23 cm and 8 kg for the carry-on, 40 × 30 × 15 cm for the personal item, and a fare called SAS Go Light that includes only the second one on most routes. The rest is preparation: weigh the empty bag, measure the outside, keep batteries and valuables with you, and have a plan if the bag is taken at the gate.
A hard case suits you when what you carry is worth protecting, and it comes with a weight cost that you should plan for, because even the lightest hard-shell cabin cases use a large share of 8 kg. If you want to see the options with their real dimensions, browse our carry-on luggage collection, check the numbers against your ticket, and choose the bag that fits the trip rather than the one that looks good in a photo. Safe travels, and good luck at the sizer. ✈️
