The Best Carry-On for easyJet, Ryanair and BA

Carrier policies checked 3 September 2026 and converted from the centimeter figures each airline publishes; manufacturer dimensions compiled the same day. We have not tested these bags.

Two boxes, not one “European” size

There is no common European cabin-bag limit, and treating these three carriers as one rule is the mistake that costs money at the gate.

easyJet and BA publish a box 17.7 in wide — wider than every US carrier except Sun Country, and nearly four inches wider than the standard American limit. Ryanair publishes 20 cm of depth, which is 7.9 in, and that single number is what excludes almost everything on the shelf.

Nothing in this ledger fits Ryanair’s overhead bag

We ran all 26 bags with published dimensions against Ryanair’s 55 × 40 × 20 cm. Not one clears it, and it is worth seeing how narrowly two of them fail.

• American Tourister Airconic — 21.7 × 15.8 × 7.9 in. The height matches Ryanair’s 21.7 in exactly and the depth matches 7.9 in exactly. It is over on width by 0.1 in: two and a half millimeters.
• Narwey personal item — 18 × 14 × 8 in against the overhead box is comfortably inside on height and width, and over on depth by 0.1 in.
• Everything else fails on depth by a wide margin. A wheeled case is 9 to 10 in deep once its wheels are counted; a travel pack is 9 in or more when loaded. Ryanair’s 20 cm is the binding constraint in the whole table.

We are not going to tell you a bag fits when its published figures say it does not. What we can say is what the near-misses mean in practice: a soft bag at 0.1 in over is a packing decision, and a hard case at 1.5 in over is not. Ryanair’s published policy, in full.

On Ryanair, the free bag is the small one

Ryanair’s Basic fare includes only the under-seat bag at 40 × 30 × 20 cm (15.7 × 11.8 × 7.9 in). The 55 × 40 × 20 cm overhead bag is a Priority add-on, so for many travelers the practical question is not “which carry-on” but “which bag fits under the seat”.

Nothing in this ledger clears that box either — the two 18 × 14 × 8 in personal-item bags are built for the American standard, which is larger on every side than Ryanair’s. This is the single tightest published box on the whole site, and it is deliberately so. What counts as a personal item, by carrier.

easyJet and BA are the easy ones

Against 56 × 45 × 25 cm, 14 bags in the ledger clear on all three published sides — every travel pack here, both 18 × 14 × 8 in personal-item bags, both 40 L duffels, and several hard cases that fail the US standard box on width. The wide European box forgives exactly the dimension US carriers punish.

Weight is the constraint that replaces it. easyJet publishes 15 kg and Ryanair 10 kg for the cabin bag, where most US carriers publish no cabin weight limit at all. A 9.3 lb empty case is over a quarter of easyJet’s allowance and 42% of Ryanair’s. Which carriers publish a weight cap.

The picks

• American Tourister Airconic — the lightest hard case here. 4.43 lb and a published 7.9 in depth, which is the slimmest in the ledger. Clears easyJet and BA with room. Its con: 0.1 in too wide for Ryanair, and American Tourister published no price we could read.
• Eagle Creek Cargo Hauler 40 — the one with margin everywhere. 22 × 12.5 × 9 in and 1.81 lb, which clears easyJet, BA and every US carrier. Its con: still 1.1 in too deep for Ryanair, and it is carried, not rolled.
• Osprey Farpoint 40 — the most capacity per pound. 40 L at 3.27 lb, and a warranty published as covering any cause. Its con: 9.1 in of depth rules out Ryanair outright.
• Narwey personal item — the under-seat answer everywhere but Ryanair. 18 × 14 × 8 in, 30 L, and it fits the under-seat box at every US carrier that publishes one. Its con: over Ryanair’s under-seat box on every side.