Photo by Nick Fewings on UnsplashEvery number on this page was copied from the airline's own baggage page on 2026-08-31. Nothing is estimated, nothing is averaged, and where an airline does not publish a figure the cell says so rather than guessing. There are 70 such gaps across the nine airlines we checked, and they are as useful to know about as the numbers.
Cabin bags: every published limit in one table
Volume is the published box multiplied out. It is the only fair way to compare boxes of different proportions — a tall narrow bag and a short wide one can have the same three numbers in a different order and hold very different amounts.
| Airline | Carry-on (in) | Carry-on (cm) | Volume (L) | Weight cap | Personal item (in) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 24 × 16 × 10 in | 61 × 40.6 × 25.4 cm† | 62.9 | — | not published |
| Frontier Airlines | 24 × 16 × 10 in | 61 × 40.6 × 25.4 cm† | 62.9 | 35 lb | 18 × 14 × 8 in |
| Air Canada | 21.5 × 15.5 × 9 in | 55 × 40 × 23 cm | 50.6 | None stated | 17 × 13 × 6 in |
| JetBlue | 22 × 14 × 9 in | 55.88 × 35.56 × 22.86 cm | 45.4 | — | 17 × 13 × 8 in |
| American Airlines | 22 × 14 × 9 in | 56 × 36 × 23 cm | 46.4 | — | 18 × 14 × 8 in |
| United Airlines | 22 × 14 × 9 in | 56 × 35 × 23 cm | 45.1 | — | 17 × 10 × 9 in |
| Delta Air Lines | 22 × 14 × 9 in | 56 × 35 × 23 cm | 45.1 | — | not published |
| Korean Air | 21.7 × 15.7 × 7.9 in† | 55 × 40 × 20 cm | 44.0 | 10 kg | 15.7 × 11.8 × 5.9 in |
† converted from the figure the airline does publish. Southwest and Frontier publish inches only; Korean Air publishes centimetres only. Everything without a dagger is printed on the airline's own page in that unit.
Where these numbers come from — each airline's own baggage pages, read on 2026-08-31: Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Air Canada, JetBlue, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Korean Air. Nothing here is estimated or averaged. Airlines change baggage rules without notice, so check the official page before you fly.
The short version
Cabin allowance, largest to smallest: Southwest Airlines (62.9 L), Frontier Airlines (62.9 L), Air Canada (50.6 L), American Airlines (46.4 L), JetBlue (45.4 L), United Airlines (45.1 L), Delta Air Lines (45.1 L), Korean Air (44.0 L).
Personal item, largest to smallest, among the six that publish one: Frontier Airlines (33.0 L), American Airlines (31.5 L), JetBlue (29.0 L), United Airlines (23.6 L), Air Canada (22.7 L), Korean Air (18.0 L). Southwest and Delta publish no personal item dimensions at all.
Two airlines publish a cabin weight limit: Korean Air at 10 kg for the carry-on and personal item combined, and Frontier at 35 lb for each. Air Canada states in writing that it has no cabin weight limit. American, United, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue publish no figure either way.
Does one bag clear all of them?
No — and the gap is small enough to be worth knowing exactly. Take the bag sold across North America as the standard carry-on, 22 x 14 x 9 inches, which is exactly 55.88 x 35.56 x 22.86 cm:
- It clears American, JetBlue, Southwest and Frontier outright.
- It is 0.56 cm over United's and Delta's printed 35 cm width — a rounding artefact, since those two round 14 inches down and American rounds it up. No agent measures to half a centimetre.
- It is 0.88 cm over Air Canada's 55 cm height limit, which is a real difference rather than a rounding one.
- It is 0.88 cm over Korean Air's height and 2.86 cm over its 20 cm depth. That is the one genuine mismatch: a US-market carry-on is not a Korean Air carry-on.
The bag that clears all eight is a 21 or 21.5-inch case no more than 20 cm deep — the size sold in Europe and Asia as an international carry-on, and roughly 44 litres against the American standard's 46.
Checked bags: 62 inches everywhere, except on weight
The size limit is remarkably consistent. Seven of the eight publish 62 linear inches, and the eighth, Korean Air, charges oversize fees from 159 cm — which puts its ceiling at the same 158 cm the others call 62 inches. Weight is where they diverge, and where the fees come from.
| Airline | Checked bag: max total size | Checked bag: max weight |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest Airlines | 62 in | 50 lb |
| Frontier Airlines | 62 in | 40 lb |
| Air Canada | 62 in / 158 cm | 50 lb / 23 kg |
| JetBlue | 62 in / 157.48 cm | 50 lb / 22.68 kg |
| American Airlines | 62 in / 158 cm | 50 lb / 23 kg |
| United Airlines | 62 in | 50 lb / 23 kg |
| Delta Air Lines | 62 in / 157 cm | 50 lb / 23 kg |
| Korean Air | 158 cm | 23 kg |
Frontier is the outlier at 40 lb. A suitcase packed to a habitual 48 pounds is legal on seven of these eight airlines and overweight on Frontier. Korean Air, Air Canada, American and United publish the same limit in kilograms — 23 kg — which is marginally under 50 lb; JetBlue prints the exact conversion, 22.68 kg.
Where the numbers came from
Each airline's own baggage pages were read directly and the sentence containing each figure was recorded alongside it, so any number here can be checked against its source in a few seconds. Economy fares are the basis throughout; premium cabins get more on several of these airlines, and each airline page below notes its own exceptions.
One airline is missing on purpose. Alaska Airlines appears in the same searches as the eight above, but its baggage pages returned an automated bot challenge every time we tried to read them, so we could not copy an official sentence for any figure. Rather than reprint a number from a third-party summary and call it official, we have left Alaska out. Check alaskaair.com directly.
The eight airlines in detail
- Southwest Airlines — Southwest and Frontier share the largest cabin box in this group. Every other airline here is smaller in all three directions.
- Frontier Airlines — Frontier shares the largest cabin box with Southwest, but charges for it, and has the lowest checked weight limit of the eight.
- Air Canada — Air Canada has the largest cabin allowance of any full-service carrier here, and no weight limit at all.
- JetBlue — JetBlue's cabin box matches American, United and Delta; its personal item is larger than all three except American's.
- American Airlines — American sits in the middle of this group. Two airlines allow a bigger cabin bag, five allow the same or less.
- United Airlines — United's cabin bag matches American's and Delta's; its personal item is the smallest of the six that publish one.
- Delta Air Lines — Delta matches United on every published carry-on figure, and is the only airline here that also caps the three sides added together.
- Korean Air — Korean Air has the smallest cabin allowance by volume of the eight, and the only weight cap under 30 lb.
Related pages on TripPack
- Carry-on packing list — what to actually put in the bag once you know it fits.
- How to measure a carry-on bag — where to hold the tape.
- Baggage weight limits explained.