Ask what the carry-on weight limit is and you get a number: 7 kg, or 10 kg, or 22 pounds. Every one of those numbers is real for some airline. None of them is the answer.
American, Delta and United — the three largest airlines in the world by passengers carried — publish no cabin-bag weight limit at all. Not a generous one. None. The same is true of Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest, Air Canada and British Airways.
So the honest version of the question is not "what is the limit?" It is "does my airline have one, and if it doesn't, what is it enforcing instead?"
What each airline actually publishes
Twenty carriers, as each one states it. Type your airline into the box rather than scrolling — and switch the column to pounds if that is how you think about a suitcase.
| Airline | Cabin bag limit | Free personal item | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emirates | 7 kg | One handbag or laptop bag | Economy is a single 7 kg piece; 10 kg out of Brazil |
| Qantas international | 7 kg | One small item; no size published | Same size as domestic, but a 7 kg total rather than 10 kg per item |
| Qatar Airways | 7 kg | One small purse or briefcase; no size published | Also the tightest published box on this table |
| Lufthansa | 8 kg | 40 × 30 × 15 cm | Personal item matches the A4E guaranteed minimum |
| Turkish Airlines | 8 kg | 40 × 30 × 15 cm, up to 4 kg | One of the few carriers to publish a weight for the personal item too |
| Qantas domestic | 10 kg | One small item; no size published | Domestic jets only; Dash 8 services use the 7 kg international allowance |
| Ryanair | 10 kg | 40 × 30 × 20 cm | Cabin bag needs Priority; the free bag was enlarged in July 2025 |
| Wizz Air | 10 kg | 40 × 30 × 20 cm | Cabin bag needs WIZZ Priority |
| Air France | 12 kg | 40 × 30 × 15 cm | The 12 kg is a combined figure; Economy Basic includes only the small bag unless you buy the hand-baggage option |
| KLM | 12 kg | 40 × 30 × 15 cm | The 12 kg is a combined figure; Economy Basic requires buying the hand-baggage option |
| easyJet | 15 kg | 45 × 36 × 20 cm | The large cabin bag needs Plus or an up-front seat |
| Frontier | 15.9 kg | 18 × 14 × 8 in | The cabin bag is a paid add-on on most fares |
| Air Canada | None published | 17 × 13 × 6 in | Published by the carrier in both units; Economy Basic on some North American routes is personal item only |
| Alaska | None published | Must fit under the seat in front of you | Matches the other US majors; the carrier asks that you load your own bag |
| American Airlines | None published | 18 × 14 × 8 in | Wheels and handles are included in the measurement; the full-size bag is included even on Basic Economy |
| British Airways | None published | 40 × 30 × 15 cm | Personal item matches the A4E guaranteed minimum; the widely quoted 23 kg is a former allowance |
| Delta | None published | No published dimensions; must fit under the seat | Basic Economy still includes a full-size cabin bag |
| JetBlue | None published | 17 × 13 × 8 in | Blue Basic has included a full-size cabin bag since 2024 |
| Southwest | None published | Must fit under the seat in front of you | The most generous cabin bag limit among the US majors |
| United | None published | 17 × 10 × 9 in | Domestic Basic Economy is personal item only; automated gate sizers are expanding |
20 of 20 airlines shown.
Read down the first column and the table falls into four groups, not two.
7 kg
The strictest tier
Emirates, Qatar, Qantas international — all long-haul
8–12 kg
Legacy Europe
Lufthansa, Turkish, Air France, KLM
10–15.9 kg
The carriers that sell it
Ryanair, Wizz Air, easyJet, Frontier
None
No published cap
Every US major, plus Air Canada and British Airways
The gap between the tightest and the loosest published cap is more than double. A bag that boards a Frontier flight at 15 kg is more than twice Emirates' published allowance.
"None published" does not mean "as heavy as you like"
This is where most guides go wrong. They read a blank cell as permission.
What the US carriers publish instead is a physical requirement, and Delta states both the rule and the reason:
“When packing, please remember that flight attendants are unable to proactively assist customers placing carry-on baggage into overhead bins, with certain exceptions. In addition to keeping customers and crew members safe and healthy, this change also protects flight attendants by decreasing the likelihood of injury caused by repetitive lifting.”
Read that as the limit, because it is one. The bag has to go over your head, into a bin, without help, in an aisle, with people behind you. That is a real ceiling and it varies by passenger rather than by airline.
It also explains the split in the table. The carriers with no published number are not being generous — they moved the constraint from a scale to your arms. The carriers with a number are mostly carriers that sell the allowance, and a number is what you need if you intend to charge for exceeding it.
Does the TSA have a carry-on weight limit?
No — and the TSA does not set the size either. Asked directly, in its own FAQ, it hands the question straight back to the airline:
“Size dimensions of carry-on baggage allowed in the cabin of the aircraft vary by airline. Contact your airline to ensure what can fit in the overhead bin or under the seat in front of you.”
The division is clean once you see it. The TSA governs what is inside the bag: liquids, batteries, sharp objects, the 3-1-1 rule. The airline governs the bag itself: how big, how heavy, how many. Nobody at the checkpoint will weigh your bag, because weight is not a security question.
- Liquids over 3.4 oz / 100 ml
- TSA
- Lithium batteries and power banks
- TSA
- Whether an item may fly at all
- TSA
- How many bags you may bring
- Airline
- The size of the cabin bag
- Airline
- The weight of the cabin bag, where a limit exists
- Airline
Weight appears nowhere on the security side of this list, which is why no checkpoint has a scale.
What changed in 2026, and what didn't
This is the most-asked question on the subject right now, and the popular answer is wrong.
In June 2025 the European Parliament's transport committee backed a rule that travelled around the world as "the EU is banning hand luggage fees." Parliament's position was specific: a free personal item plus one free cabin bag up to 100 cm in combined dimensions and no more than 7 kg.
That is not what was adopted.
The deal struck with the Council on 15 June 2026, and voted through Parliament on 7 July 2026 by 646 votes to 12, keeps only the first half:
“The new rules now include the right to carry on board, without additional fee, one personal item, such as a small bag or backpack.”
The cabin bag itself became a pricing rule rather than an entitlement. Airlines, agents and comparison sites must display the fare inclusive of carry-on luggage from the start of booking, and may still sell a cheaper fare to someone travelling without one.
And it is not in force. The regulation applies twenty days after publication in the Official Journal, after which member states and airlines have a year to prepare. Nothing about the weight of your bag changed for the 2026 travel season.
The trap that costs the most: limits that cover both bags
A weight cap is not always per bag, and the roundups almost never say which kind you are reading.
Air France and KLM publish 12 kg as a combined allowance across the cabin bag and the accessory. Qantas publishes 7 kg total for international travel and 10 kg per item domestically — the same airline, two different structures, depending on where you are flying.
- Per item — Qantas domestic
- 10 kg each, so 20 kg between two bags
- Combined — Air France, KLM
- 12 kg across both bags, not 12 kg each
- Total — Qantas international
- 7 kg for everything you carry on
Same word, three structures. A 10 kg bag passes one of these and fails another.
This matters more than the headline number. A traveller who packs a 10 kg roller and a 4 kg laptop bag is comfortably inside Qantas domestic and 2 kg over on KLM, with the same luggage.
Frontier weighs the personal item too
Almost nobody publishes a weight limit on the free under-seat bag. Frontier does, and it is the same number as the big one:
35 lb
Personal item
18 × 14 × 8 in, including handles, wheels and straps
35 lb
Carry-on bag
24 × 16 × 10 in, including handles, wheels and straps
40 lb
Checked bag
Only 5 lb more than the bag at your feet
Two details are worth pulling out. The 35 lb applies to each bag rather than to the pair, which is the opposite of how several summaries report it. And Frontier's checked allowance is 40 lb, not the 50 lb that is standard elsewhere — so the usual escape route of moving weight into the hold buys you far less than expected.
Regional jets change the answer entirely
On a small aircraft the weight limit stops being the binding constraint, because the bag is not coming into the cabin at all:
“Passengers traveling on Delta Connection flights, including flights with 50 seats or less, are only permitted to carry personal items on board the aircraft due to limited overhead space.”
Regional jets fly a large share of US domestic short-haul, and the aircraft type is on your booking. If it is a CRJ or an Embraer with 50 seats, plan for the roller to be tagged at the jet bridge whatever it weighs.
The upside: Delta states that gate-checking in this situation is free of charge. A full bin is not a fee event in the US — which is precisely the difference between the no-cap carriers and the ones with a published number.
What happens when the bag is over
The sequence depends on which of the two systems you are in.
- 1
Where no cap is published
Nobody weighs it. The failure mode is a full overhead bin or a bag that will not fit the sizer, and the outcome is a free gate-check.
- 2
Where a cap is published
The bag may be weighed at check-in or at the gate. The outcome is a charge, and the charge is set by that airline rather than by any regulation.
- 3
The expensive version
Paying at the gate. Carriers that sell cabin-bag allowance price it lowest at booking, higher at the airport, and highest at the gate.
- 4
The repack
Moving 2 kg into your coat pockets and your personal item at the gate is legitimate on a per-item limit and pointless on a combined one.
Why British Airways still shows 23 kg everywhere
Search for BA's carry-on weight limit and you will find 23 kg on dozens of sites. BA publishes no numerical cabin-bag weight limit today; the rule is that you must be able to lift the bag into the overhead locker unassisted.
The 23 kg is a former allowance, and it applied to each bag separately rather than to the two together. It has been repeated so widely that it now outranks the current policy, which is a good reason to check the airline's own page rather than a roundup — including this one.
Where the size question comes back
Weight is the question people ask; size is the question that actually stops bags at the gate, because it is the one with an aluminium frame at the boarding door to enforce it.
The checker takes both. Pick your airline and it loads that carrier's published dimensions and its published weight cap — including the honest blanks, so a carrier with no cap says so instead of inventing one.
Common mistakes to avoid
Do
- Check whether the cap is per item, combined, or total
- Weigh the bag packed, with the handles and wheels on it
- Read the airline's own baggage page in the week you fly
- Assume a 50-seat regional jet means personal item only
Don't
- Read 'no published limit' as 'no limit'
- Trust a weight figure from a roundup, including a 2026 one
- Plan to move weight into a checked bag on a carrier that caps checked at 40 lb
- Expect the 7 kg EU figure to apply — it was not adopted
Sources
- Delta Air Lines, carry-on baggage policy (retrieved 22 August 2026)
- Frontier Airlines, bag options and size and weight limits (retrieved 22 August 2026)
- Transportation Security Administration, Travel FAQ (retrieved 22 August 2026)
- European Parliament, press releases on the air passenger rights agreement, 15 June and 3 July 2026
- Each carrier's published cabin-baggage page, for the table above