Delta's carry-on limit is 22 × 14 × 9 inches (56 × 35 × 23 cm), and those three sides added together must not exceed 45 linear inches (114 cm) — but 22 + 14 + 9 is exactly 45, so the sum rule gives you no room to trade one side for another. Any bag that is over on a single side is over the total as well, no matter how slim it is elsewhere. Wheels and handles count.
Photo by Erol Ahmed on UnsplashDelta gives two carry-on numbers where most airlines give one. Each side has a cap — 22" x 14" x 9" (56 x 35 x 23 cm) — and the three sides added together have a separate cap of 45 linear inches (114 cm). Those two rules are not independent. 22 + 14 + 9 is exactly 45. Delta has written the sum rule so that a bag at the maximum on every side is exactly at the limit, and any bag that is over on one side is over the total as well, no matter how slim it is elsewhere.
The numbers, exactly as Delta Air Lines prints them
| What Delta Air Lines publishes | Official figure |
|---|---|
| Carry-on (inches) | 22 × 14 × 9 in |
| Carry-on (centimetres) | 56 × 35 × 23 cm |
| Personal item (inches) | not published |
| Personal item (centimetres) | not published |
| Carry-on weight limit | not published |
| Wheels and handles counted? | Yes |
| Checked bag: max weight | 50 lb / 23 kg |
| Checked bag: max total size | 62 in / 157 cm |
Where these numbers come from: Delta Air Lines carry-on page, Delta Air Lines checked bag page, Delta Air Lines excess baggage page. Read and recorded on 2026-08-31. Every figure on this page is copied from those pages — nothing here is estimated. Airlines change baggage rules without notice, so check the official page before you fly.
Why 45 linear inches removes your room to negotiate
On most airlines the three published numbers are three separate ceilings, and a bag that is narrow can afford to be long. Delta closes that door. Because 22 + 14 + 9 comes to exactly 45, and 45 is also the total cap, there is no combination that is under on the sum but over on a side. Any bag that breaks one rule breaks both.
This matters most for the bags people actually own. Duffels and soft holdalls are often sold at 24 or 26 inches long on the grounds that they squash. Under Delta's linear rule, a 24-inch duffel has used 24 of its 45 inches before you account for width or depth at all — it needs to be under 21 inches across both remaining sides combined, which almost nothing is once packed.
Delta also spells out what the measurement includes: "These measurements include any handles or wheels." The one exception it grants is for small musical instruments that fit overhead or under the seat.
The rule that catches regional passengers is separate and worth knowing before you book. Delta's page states that on Delta Connection flights with 50 seats or fewer, passengers "are only permitted to carry personal items on board." Your compliant 22 x 14 x 9 bag is gate-checked regardless of its size, free of charge, and comes back to you at the aircraft door. Pack anything you need in flight — medication, chargers, documents — into the personal item, because the cabin bag will not be with you.
Measuring your own bag against these numbers
The bag most retailers label "the standard carry-on" is 22 x 14 x 9 inches. Converted exactly, that is 55.88 x 35.56 x 22.86 cm, and the three sides add to 114.3 cm. Held against Delta Air Lines's published limits, here is where it stands.
It does not fit — at least not on paper.
- Second side: the standard bag is 35.56 cm against a published limit of 35 cm — over by 0.56 cm.
That half-centimetre is a rounding artefact rather than a policy. American rounds 14 inches up to 36 cm; United and Delta round it down to 35 cm. The same physical bag is inside one airline's printed table and outside another's, and no agent is measuring to half a centimetre. Treat the inch figure as the operative one when the airline publishes both.
The reverse question matters just as much if you already own luggage. A bag bought to fit United Airlines also clears Delta Air Lines. A bag bought to fit Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Air Canada, JetBlue, American Airlines, Korean Air does not — those boxes are larger than Delta Air Lines allows in at least one direction.
Whichever airline you are flying, measure the same way the airline does: bag packed, tape across the widest bulge rather than the frame, wheels and handle included, expansion zip closed. Every airline on this page that says anything about wheels says they count.
What Delta Air Lines does not publish
These were checked against Delta Air Lines's own baggage pages on 2026-08-31. The following are simply not stated there, so treat any number you find elsewhere for them as somebody's inference rather than a rule:
- A carry-on weight limit
- A carry-on weight limit in pounds
- Personal item dimensions in inches
- Personal item dimensions in centimetres
- A personal item weight limit
- How many checked bags are included
Delta names the approved personal items — purse, briefcase, small backpack, belt bag, camera bag, diaper bag, laptop bag — but publishes no dimensions for them. The practical test is whether it goes under the seat in front of you.
How Delta Air Lines compares with the other seven
Delta matches United on every published carry-on figure, and is the only airline here that also caps the three sides added together. Delta Air Lines ranks seventh of the eight by published cabin volume at 45.1 litres, between Southwest Airlines's 62.9 at the top and Korean Air's 44.0 at the bottom. Volume is the published box multiplied out, which is the fairest way to compare boxes of different shapes.
| Airline | Carry-on (in) | Carry-on (cm) | Volume (L) | Weight cap | Personal item (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.
The full eight-airline table, including checked bag limits, is on the comparison page. Alaska Airlines is deliberately absent from it: its baggage pages would not open to us, and we would rather leave a gap than print a figure we could not read on an official page.
Buying a bag for Delta
Buy to 22 x 14 x 9 and buy a case that holds its shape. Delta's combined 45-inch rule is unforgiving of bags that bulge, and the sum leaves no headroom to trade one side against another. Avoid long duffels: they lose the linear measurement before width and depth are even counted.
If your itinerary includes a Delta Connection leg on a 50-seat aircraft, plan for the cabin bag to be gate-checked and pack a personal item that can carry everything you need in the air.
The other seven airlines
- Southwest Airlines carry-on and checked bag sizes
- Frontier Airlines carry-on and checked bag sizes
- Air Canada carry-on and checked bag sizes
- JetBlue carry-on and checked bag sizes
- American Airlines carry-on and checked bag sizes
- United Airlines carry-on and checked bag sizes
- Korean Air carry-on and checked bag sizes
Related pages on TripPack
- All eight airlines in one table — carry-on, personal item and checked limits side by side.
- 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.