Is my carry-on too heavy?

Whether a carry-on is too heavy depends on your airline, your ticket and your route. Some airlines weigh cabin bags and some do not, so the only limit that counts is the one on your airline’s own baggage page. Here is how to check your bag against it.

Find the limit for your booking

Open your airline’s baggage page and look up the cabin bag allowance for your fare. Check whether it covers each bag or everything you carry on, and whether it sets a size as well as a weight. Write the numbers down. We do not list them here because they change.

Weigh the whole bag

Weigh the bag packed, with everything in it, the way you will carry it. A bathroom scale works. Weigh yourself, weigh yourself holding the bag, and subtract. Our guide to weighing a suitcase without a luggage scale has the steps.

Start with the empty bag

A carry-on suitcase is heavy before you put anything in it. Our estimate for an empty one is 2.5 kg, and for a backpack 1 kg. If your limit is small, the bag you choose can matter as much as what you pack.

Check the sum before you pack

You can add up a carry-on before it is packed. Enter the bag and what is going in it into the free luggage weight calculator, set your airline’s limit, and it says how far over or under you are. The weights are typical ones, so treat the answer as an estimate.

Leave some room

If you think you might buy something on the trip, leave space in the weight as well as in the bag. Weigh again at the end of the trip before the flight home.