Cabin bag checklist for 2026
Run this list twice: once while you are still choosing the fare, and once the night before you fly. Almost every cabin bag charge people pay is decided at one of those two moments, not at the gate. The figures below are from our own carrier research, checked on Aug 29, 2026, and every one of them is charged per person and per one-way flight.
Before you book
- Check what the fare includes: Ryanair and Wizz Air sell their cheapest fares with the free under-seat bag and nothing else.
- Ignore any shop listing that quotes 40 x 20 x 25 cm for Ryanair, a size the airline replaced during 2025 with 40 x 30 x 20 cm.
- Measure your bag packed rather than empty, because Wizz Air counts side pockets inside its 40 x 30 x 20 cm limit.
- Price the trolley for both directions, since every low-cost bag fee is charged per person per one-way flight.
- Compare Ryanair's Priority and 2 Cabin Bags at €12.49 to €36 against its 10 kg hold bag at €10.49 to €44.99. The bands overlap.
- Read what a bundle contains instead of what it is called: Ryanair Plus carries a 20 kg hold bag and no cabin trolley.
- Note that Bulgaria Air includes a 10 kg cabin bag on every Economy fare, so only the hold bag is ever at stake there.
Choosing the bag
- Add the cabin bag inside the initial Ryanair booking, where the same product costs €19.99 to €45.50 once the booking is closed.
- Check what WIZZ Priority buys: the 55 x 40 x 23 cm trolley, boarding and check-in, but no priority at security control.
- Skip WIZZ Go if the trolley is what you wanted. Go carries a 20 kg hold bag and a seat, and leaves you the under-seat bag.
- Pick a checked tier above what you expect to pack, because Wizz Air charges €13 to €15 per kilo over the tier you bought.
- Treat an advertised floor price as a best case. Which? found Ryanair's advertised cabin bag price in 0.3% of the flights it sampled.
- Buy only the bag you need on Ryanair, where a purchased bag cannot be removed from the booking or refunded.
- Decide at booking rather than later: Priority and 2 Cabin Bags is capped per flight and does sell out.
The night before
- Pack the bag fully, then test it against a tape measure or a frame at home while you can still take something out.
- Empty the side pockets into the main compartment, which is the part that most often pushes a soft bag past the limit.
- Weigh the bag if you fly Wizz Air, which caps the free under-seat bag at 10 kg as well as by size.
- Skip the scales for Ryanair's free bag: the airline publishes no weight limit for it and does not weigh it, only measures it.
- Wear the heaviest coat and shoes instead of packing them. A coat is a free extra item on Wizz Air.
- Move liquids into a resealable bag so that security does not send you to repack at the end of the belt.
- Check in online and save the boarding pass to your phone, then screenshot it in case the app fails in the queue.
At the airport
- Allow queue time if you bought a 10 kg Ryanair hold bag, which goes to the bag desk before security and not through it.
- Check in online for Wizz Air, where airport check-in costs €40 to €50 per person per flight on a Basic fare.
- Check in online for Ryanair, where the airport desk is €55 per person per sector unless a Plus or Flexi Plus booking predates Aug 14, 2025.
- Put the bag in a sizer in the departures hall if one is available, while there is still room to move things around.
- Buy a missing bag at the desk rather than at the gate. Ryanair's bag-drop desk is a flat €35.99 for the 10 kg tier.
- Keep airside purchases separate on Wizz Air, which carries duty free on top of the free under-seat bag.
- Repack in the hall rather than in the boarding queue, where there is neither room nor time to do it calmly.
At the gate
- Expect the sizer to be used. Ryanair states that a bag which does not fit is refused or placed in the hold for a fee.
- Budget €70 to €75 if a Ryanair cabin bag is caught oversize at the gate, which is more than many fares out of Sofia.
- Budget €55 to €65 on Wizz Air, where you pay the fee and the bag travels in the hold regardless.
- Take your passport, phone, keys and medication out of the bag before you hand it over at the aircraft steps.
- Photograph the bag and its tag if it does go into the hold, so a damage or delay claim has something behind it.
- Expect the same checks coming home, because each of these fees applies per one-way flight and not per booking.
- Accept a free hold placement calmly if Wizz Air moves a compliant trolley for operational reasons, which its conditions allow.
Questions
Is the free under-seat bag really free on the cheapest fare?
Yes, on both Ryanair and Wizz Air. Both carry one 40 x 30 x 20 cm bag under the seat on every fare including the cheapest, and both are more generous than the 40 x 30 x 15 cm industry minimum. It is the only baggage outcome that costs nothing.
Do a handbag and a laptop bag count as one item?
No. Ryanair describes the free allowance as one small personal bag, such as a handbag or a laptop bag. Two pieces need Priority and 2 Cabin Bags. Wizz Air is the same shape: one bag, plus a coat, a phone and reading material for the flight.
Is the cabin trolley or a 10 kg hold bag cheaper on Ryanair?
Either can win. At booking, Priority and 2 Cabin Bags runs €12.49 to €36 and the 10 kg hold bag runs €10.49 to €44.99, so the two bands overlap on any given flight. Price both in the same session. The hold bag also removes the gate sizer from the trip.
Does Bulgaria Air charge for a cabin bag?
No. Every Bulgaria Air Economy fare, including Economy Light, carries a 10 kg cabin bag and a personal item, with a combined cabin weight cap of 12 kg. What Economy Light does not include is a checked bag, which is €50 prepaid and €70 at the airport.
The cabin bag rules are stable enough to learn once and reuse for years. The fares are not, which is why the list above is worth keeping beside the live board on our Sofia page rather than reading it once and filing it away.
Live pages
Sources
- Sweet! baggage research: Ryanair (research/baggage/ryanair.json) checked Aug 29, 2026
- Ryanair table of optional fees checked Aug 29, 2026
- Sweet! baggage research: Wizz Air (research/baggage/wizzair.json) checked Aug 29, 2026
- Wizz Air all services and fees checked Aug 29, 2026
- Sweet! baggage research: Bulgaria Air (research/baggage/bulgaria-air.json) checked Aug 29, 2026
- Bulgaria Air baggage policy checked Aug 29, 2026