American Airlines carry-on size: will your bag fit?
Enter your bag's measurements and see instantly whether it flies as American Airlines hand luggage — free, for a fee, or not at all — against the official limits.
Your bag's measurements
The order doesn't matter — we test every orientation. Measure the widest points, including wheels, handles and packed pockets.
Where American Airlines contradicts itself
Found on the airline's own pages, not our reading of them.
- American prints 59 × 39 × 23 cm beside 22 × 14 × 9 in. That is not a conversion — 22 in is 55.9 cm — so its centimetres run about 3 cm looser than its own inch limit.
- The personal item drifts the other way: 18 × 14 × 8 in is printed as 45 × 35 × 20 cm, but 18 in is 45.7 cm. Same page, two mismatches, opposite directions.
American Airlines — official cabin limits
| Allowance | Max dimensions (inches — the airline's own figure) Second line: our conversion | Max weight |
|---|---|---|
| Free personal item | 18 × 14 × 8 in ≈ 45.7 × 35.5 × 20.3 cm | Not stated |
| Carry-on | 22 × 14 × 9 in ≈ 55.8 × 35.5 × 22.8 cm | Not stated |
How to read these numbers — American 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
American allows one carry-on — 22 × 14 × 9 in, including wheels and handles — plus one personal item of 18 × 14 × 8 in on every fare, Basic Economy included. American publishes no weight limit for either; the only limit it states is size, and the carry-on must fit the airport sizer or go under the seat. One caveat worth knowing: AA's site prints 59 × 39 × 23 cm as the metric equivalent, but the sizer is built to the inch figures — 22 in is 55.9 cm, so measure against the inches.
Soft bag vs hard case
The rule is that the bag must fit in the airport sizer, so a soft, frameless bag keeps its usual edge: it drops into the cage where a rigid case a half-inch over gets flagged. The 9 in (22.8 cm) depth is where hard shells and fat wheels fail — they're measured in.
Boarding tips
- American publishes no weight limit; the sizer checks size only.
- AA's own metric print (59 × 39 × 23 cm) is looser than the inch limit; the sizer is built to 22 × 14 × 9 in, so trust the inches.
- Diaper bags (one per child), breast pumps, child safety seats and strollers don't count against your two items.
- On American Eagle regional jets (except the Embraer E-175) anything bigger than a personal item is valet-tagged at the gate, free, and returned on the jetbridge.