Alaska personal item size: what fits under the seat?
Alaska Airlines publishes no personal item dimensions. The only rule is that it fits under the seat in front of you. Here is what that means in practice, and where your bag stands against it.
Your bag's measurements
The order doesn't matter — we test every orientation. Measure the widest points, including wheels, handles and packed pockets.
Alaska Airlines — official cabin limits
| Allowance | Max dimensions (inches — the airline's own figure) Second line: our conversion | Max weight |
|---|---|---|
| Free personal item | No dimensions published | Not stated |
| Carry-on | 22 × 14 × 9 in ≈ 55.8 × 35.5 × 22.8 cm | Not stated |
How to read these numbers — Alaska Airlines publishes these limits in inches — the unit its airport sizers are built to. The centimetre figures are our own conversion, always rounded down. Airlines that print both units often print two figures that don't agree with each other — sometimes looser, sometimes stricter. When they disagree we go by the airline's own unit and round the other one down. Packing to our number keeps you inside the real limit.
What to expect
Alaska Airlines does not publish personal item dimensions. The official rule is one sentence: it must fit under the seat in front of you, with examples like a purse, briefcase or laptop bag. It is free on every fare, alongside a free carry-on of 22 × 14 × 9 in, so on Alaska the personal item is rarely your only bag. What fits is decided by the under-seat space of your aircraft, not a published limit.
Soft bag vs hard case
With no published size, the under-seat space is your whole guide, and it changes with the aircraft and the row. A soft bag that compresses will slide into a footwell where a rigid case of the same nominal size will not. Because Alaska also gives a free carry-on, you rarely need to force everything into the personal item, which takes the pressure off.
Boarding tips
- Alaska publishes no personal item size; the only rule is that it fits under the seat in front of you.
- It is free on every fare, and so is a full carry-on (22 × 14 × 9 in), so this is usually your second bag rather than your only one.
- Under-seat space shrinks in bulkhead and exit rows, so a soft, squashable bag is the safer choice.
- Medically necessary items are allowed on board and do not count toward the limit.
- If you need more room, the free carry-on takes anything up to 22 × 14 × 9 in and 45 linear inches.