Airline Baggage Weight & Cost Calculator
Calculate airline baggage allowances and excess fees for major UK carriers. Compare BA, Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2 hand and hold luggage rules.
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UK Airline Baggage Guide 2024
What's the key thing to understand about Hand Baggage Allowances?
Each airline has different hand baggage rules. 2024 typical allowances: British Airways: 1 large hand bag (56×45×25cm, 23kg) + 1 personal item (handbag/laptop bag). Among most generous. Ryanair Basic: 1 small bag under seat ONLY (40×20×25cm). Anything larger MUST go in hold (£25-50). Ryanair Priority: small bag + larger cabin bag (55×40×20cm, 10kg). £6-15 add-on per flight. easyJet Basic: 1 small under-seat bag (45×36×20cm). Easier than Ryanair (slightly larger size). easyJet Plus: small bag plus a large cabin bag, priority boarding, and extra legroom all bundled into one paid upgrade tier.
What do I need to know about Hold Baggage Costs?
Hold (checked) baggage pricing varies dramatically by airline: BA: typically included in mid-tier fares. easyJet/Ryanair/Wizz: pay-per-bag basis. Ryanair: 10kg bag £15-30 pre-booking. 20kg bag £25-50. Gate-day: £30-60. easyJet: 15kg £8-20 pre-booking. 23kg £12-25. Gate-day surcharges substantial. Jet2: typically 22kg hold bag included for package holidays. £20-40 for flight-only. Wizz: similar to Ryanair. Tighter sizes and slightly more expensive. TUI: 20kg typically included on package holidays, though flight-only bookings may charge extra for hold luggage.
What's the difference between What Counts as Hand and Hold?
Hand baggage: must fit under seat OR overhead locker. Must comply with size + weight limits (varies by airline). Stays with you throughout flight. Items you NEED during flight: medication, phone, valuables. Liquids must be in 100ml containers in 1 litre clear bag. Hold baggage: checked in at check-in. Goes in aircraft hold. Reclaimed at destination. Heavier items (over hand limit). Liquids over 100ml. Sharps (scissors, razors). Anything you don't need during flight. Lithium batteries: most must travel in hand luggage rather than the hold, since a fire risk from a damaged battery can be dealt with far more quickly in the cabin than in an inaccessible hold compartment.
What do I need to know about Maximising Your Allowance?
Pre-flight: weigh your bag with bathroom scales (or luggage scale). Repack to distribute weight. Wear heaviest items (jacket, boots) onto plane. Heavy electronics in hand baggage (laptop, camera) — usually no weight limit if 1 bag total. Buy lightweight bags: 1.5-2.5kg cabin bag empty weight typical. Some 3-4kg+. The bag's weight counts. Cabin Max, Antler are leading UK lightweight brands. Multiple bags: separate items. Most airlines allow handbag + cabin bag combinations. Check what counts. Ryanair and other strict budget carriers enforce this closely at the gate, so it's worth checking the specific policy before assuming a second small bag will pass unnoticed.
What's the key thing to understand about Why Airlines Enforce Strict Weight Limits?
Airlines enforce baggage weight limits for reasons that go well beyond simply charging extra fees — aircraft have strict weight and balance limits that affect fuel burn, performance, and safety margins, and cumulative passenger baggage weight across a full flight is factored directly into these calculations by the airline's load planning team before every departure. This is also why baggage handlers' manual lifting limits (commonly cited around 23kg/50lb per bag) exist separately from the airline's own allowance — a bag that technically meets an airline's weight limit can still be refused or require special handling if it exceeds what ground staff can safely lift without mechanical assistance. Weight limits also vary meaningfully by cabin class, route, and specific airline (a low-cost carrier's allowance can be far stingier than a legacy full-service airline's, even on a similar route), and by whether you hold elite frequent flyer status or a premium credit card that bundles extra allowance as a perk. Checking your specific airline, route, and fare class's exact limit before packing — rather than assuming a 'standard' 20kg or 23kg figure applies universally — avoids the common and often expensive surprise of excess baggage fees charged at the airport check-in desk, which are almost always higher than fees paid in advance online.
What should I know about Avoiding Excess Baggage Fees?
The single most effective way to avoid excess baggage fees is to weigh bags at home on a luggage scale before leaving, since airport excess baggage charges are typically calculated per kilogram over the limit and can add up to a significant sum for even a few kilos over — often far more per kilo than it would have cost to simply pay for a larger baggage allowance when booking. If a bag is found to be overweight at check-in, it's often cheaper to shift items into a carry-on or personal item (within that allowance's own separate limit) than to pay the excess fee, and some travellers deliberately pack a foldable extra bag for exactly this contingency. Pre-booking additional baggage allowance online, days or weeks ahead of travel, is almost always significantly cheaper than paying for the same extra weight or an extra bag at the airport, since airlines price airport-counter excess baggage as a deliberate deterrent rather than a genuine service option. For return trips, it's also worth weighing bags before departure with enough spare capacity to bring back souvenirs or purchases, since many travellers only hit their weight limit on the journey home after shopping, when there's no longer an easy opportunity to redistribute items between travelling companions' bags before reaching the airport.
Worked Example: Calculating an Excess Baggage Charge
Suppose an airline's checked baggage allowance is 23 kg, and a passenger's bag weighs 27.4 kg at check-in. The excess is simply the weight over the limit: 27.4 − 23 = 4.4 kg. Many airlines charge per kilogram (or round up to the next whole kg) over the limit, often somewhere in the £10–£25 ($12–$30) per kg range on short/medium-haul routes, though this varies enormously by airline and route, so check the specific carrier's current published rate. At an illustrative rate of £15 per kg, rounding 4.4 kg up to 5 kg, the excess fee would be 5 × £15 = £75 — often far more than it would have cost to buy a slightly larger checked allowance online in advance. This is exactly why pre-booking extra weight online, where available, is almost always cheaper per kilogram than paying the airport excess rate, which is deliberately set high to encourage accurate pre-trip planning.
How Checked Baggage Allowances Typically Vary by Cabin Class
| Fare / Cabin Class | Typical Checked Allowance (varies by airline) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Budget/basic economy | Often none included; purchased separately | Many low-cost carriers charge for any checked bag |
| Standard economy | 1 bag, typically 20–23 kg | Most common baseline on full-service carriers |
| Premium economy | 1–2 bags, typically 23–25 kg each | Often one extra bag versus standard economy |
| Business class | 2 bags, typically 32 kg each | Higher per-bag weight limit as well as more bags |
| First class | 2–3 bags, typically 32 kg each | Most generous allowance; varies most by airline and alliance |
Because these figures vary so much by airline, alliance, and route, always confirm the exact allowance on the booking confirmation or airline website rather than assuming a class name guarantees a specific weight.
Weighing Your Bag Before You Leave Home
A cheap luggage scale (a hook-style digital scale costs very little) pays for itself on the first avoided excess fee. Weigh each bag fully packed, including anything added last-minute like shoes or souvenirs picked up on the way to the airport. If a bag is close to the limit, it helps to also weigh yourself holding the bag versus alone on a bathroom scale and subtract the difference, as a free backup method when no luggage scale is available. Re-weigh after any shopping during the trip, since the outbound weight is rarely the same as the return weight.
Distributing Weight Between Multiple Bags
When travelling with more than one checked bag, shifting a few kilograms from an overweight bag into a lighter one (where the allowance permits multiple bags) is usually free, while paying an overweight fee on a single bag is not — so it is almost always worth redistributing contents between bags at check-in rather than paying for one bag that exceeds the limit while another sits well under it, provided the airline's rules allow weight to vary between bags on the same booking.
Why Connecting Flights Can Have Different Baggage Rules
A single ticket covering two or more flight legs doesn't guarantee identical baggage allowances across every leg, especially on itineraries that combine different airlines or alliances. Interline agreements between partner airlines usually apply the more generous of the two allowances, or the allowance of the airline operating the first international leg, but this isn't universal and depends on the specific carriers and ticketing arrangement involved. A common trap is a long-haul flight with a generous checked allowance connecting to a budget short-haul carrier with a much stricter one, where travellers assume their original allowance carries through for the whole journey and only discover otherwise at check-in. Always check the baggage policy for every leg of a multi-airline itinerary individually, not just the first flight booked, and if in doubt, contact the airline operating the connecting leg directly before travel, since a bag that was compliant on the outbound leg can still trigger an unexpected excess fee on a connecting flight with stricter limits.