Delta personal item size: what fits under the seat?
Delta Air Lines 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.
Where Delta Air Lines contradicts itself
Found on the airline's own pages, not our reading of them.
- Delta answers the regional-jet question twice on the same page, and the two answers disagree. The policy text makes every Delta Connection flight personal-item-only; the FAQ below it says only flights with 50 seats or less. A CRJ-900 seats 76 — assume the stricter reading.
- Delta prints 56 × 35 × 23 cm beside 22 × 14 × 9 in, but they don't convert: 14 in is 35.56 cm. The airport sizers are built to the inches, so that is what we measure you against.
Delta Air Lines — 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 — Delta Air Lines 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
Delta doesn't 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, small backpack, belt bag, fanny pack, camera bag or diaper bag. It's free on every fare next to the 22 × 14 × 9 in carry-on — and on Delta Connection regional jets (50 seats or fewer) it's the only bag that rides in the cabin, which makes choosing it well more important on Delta than on almost any other airline.
Soft bag vs hard case
With no number to pack to, the under-seat test is everything — and it varies by aircraft and seat. A soft, frameless bag conforms to the space; a rigid mini-case gambles on it. If your itinerary includes a regional jet, the personal item is your whole cabin allowance: pick a soft bag that swallows a laptop, a day's essentials and your battery bank.
Boarding tips
- No published dimensions — third-party figures are estimates, not Delta policy. Pack to 'fits under the seat'.
- On Delta Connection jets with 50 seats or fewer, the personal item is the only cabin bag — carry-ons get gate-checked (free).
- Batteries, power banks and e-cigarettes must ride in the cabin — keep them in the personal item in case your carry-on is checked.
- Our own observation, not Delta policy: bulkhead rows have no seat in front, so the under-seat test doesn't apply and the bag rides overhead for takeoff and landing.