Ryanair Baggage in 2026: Cabin, Checked, Sizes and All Fees

I’ll admit it: Ryanair stirs up slightly schizophrenic feelings in our house. On the one hand, it has flown Lukáš and me to half of Europe for a few quid, and without it we’d never have managed half of our trips. On the other hand, its Ryanair baggage system is so tangled that one mistake can leave you paying more at the gate than you did for the flight itself. 😅

Over the years, though, we’ve learned where the traps are and how to outsmart Ryanair (legally, just by knowing the rules). Most of the time we fly with only what goes through for free, and we happily smile at the gate while everyone around us frantically reshuffles their belongings and reaches for their cards.

In this guide you’ll find all of Ryanair’s baggage types for 2026, their sizes, weights and approximate prices, a complete overview of fees, plus the most common mistakes that catch travellers out. Ryanair prices change depending on the route and date, so treat these as a guide and always check the current amount when you book.

TL;DR

• Free small bag: size 40×30×20 cm, fits under the seat, everyone gets one at no extra cost.
• Large cabin bag (10 kg, 55×40×20 cm): only if you buy Priority, otherwise you’ll pay for it at the gate.
• Checked bag: 10, 20 or 23 kg, always much cheaper online than at the airport.
• Online check-in is mandatory and the boarding pass lives only in the app. Airport check-in costs around €55.
• The biggest trap: a large cabin bag without Priority, or an oversized bag at the gate. Both are completely avoidable.

Free cabin baggage: the small 40×30×20 bag

This is the single most important number in the whole article. Every passenger, even on the cheapest fare and without any extra charge, can bring one small bag for free measuring 40×30×20 cm, which must fit under the seat in front of you. Ryanair doesn’t officially state a weight limit; the only condition is that you can lift it and slide it under the seat yourself.

If you’ve previously come across the figure 40×20×25 cm, that’s not a mistake. It was the older Ryanair cabin baggage size, which the airline increased in August 2025 to the current 40×30×20 cm, roughly a fifth more space. So if you have a bag at home sized for the old dimensions, the new rules are actually kinder to you.

With smart packing, you can fit more into a bag like this than you’d expect, easily enough for a long weekend. A soft backpack or holdall works best because it squashes into the sizer more easily, and compression packing helps too. For a detailed walkthrough on how to fit everything into your cabin bag and travel light, see our guide to packing a cabin bag.

💡 Tip: Hard-shell cases are often a problem at the gate because you can’t squeeze them into the sizer. A soft bag or backpack of the same dimensions slips in more easily, even when it’s a little fuller. The Osprey cabin bags we use are a great example.

Large cabin bag (10 kg) and Priority: when it’s worth it

When the small bag isn’t enough, the large cabin bag comes into play, measuring 55×40×20 cm and weighing up to 10 kg, which goes in the overhead locker. The catch is that you don’t get it automatically. You have to pay extra for the Priority & 2 Cabin Bags package, which then lets you bring both the small bag and the large cabin bag, plus you board first.

The price of Priority varies a lot by route and date, but as a rough guide expect around €12 to €36 each way when bought with the flight. On busy holiday routes and at weekends it tends towards the upper end. If you add Priority later through Manage My Booking, you’ll pay more, so decide right when you book.

⚠️ Watch out for the most common trap: if you turn up at the gate with a large cabin bag without having bought Priority, Ryanair will put it in the hold and charge you around €46. So it’s either Priority, or genuinely just the small 40×30×20 bag.

Checked baggage: 10, 20 or 23 kg

For a longer holiday, or when you simply need more, reach for checked baggage in the hold. Ryanair offers three weights: you can buy up to three 10 kg or 20 kg bags, while the 23 kg option is limited to one per person. The maximum size for a checked case is roughly 80×120×120 cm.

The rule is simple: buy everything online in advance, ideally together with the flight. The same bag sorted at the airport desk will cost you many times more. Checked baggage can be added online up to roughly two hours before departure.

Priority or checked? How to decide

This question decides how much you’ll ultimately pay for your flight, and the answer isn’t clear-cut. It mainly depends on the length of the trip and the number of travellers. To give you an idea, here are three typical situations you’ll probably recognise.

A light weekend (one person): here the free small bag often wins. With a bit of thought, you can comfortably fit two or three days’ worth into 40×30×20 cm and pay nothing at all. Only consider Priority if you want a guaranteed spot in the locker and priority boarding.

A week by the sea (one person): compare the cost of Priority with the 10 kg cabin bag against a 20 kg checked bag. For shorter stays with cheap Priority, Priority usually works out better, and you don’t have to wait at the carousel. But if you need more space or are carrying heavier items, go for checked.

Two people or a family: two separate Priority packages add up, so the cheapest option is often one shared 20 kg checked bag that you pack together, plus a free small bag each. It pays to load all the options into your basket and compare before you pay.

All of Ryanair’s fees (and how to avoid them)

Ryanair makes most of its money on fees for things you didn’t sort out in advance. Here’s an overview of the most common ones and, more importantly, how to avoid them entirely.

See the common thread? Almost every fee only appears at the airport or at the gate, when you’ve failed to do something in advance. Sort your baggage and check-in online and stick to the sizes, and you won’t pay a single euro extra.

Online check-in and the digital boarding pass

This is perhaps the trap travellers fall into most often. Online check-in is mandatory with Ryanair. If you don’t check in beforehand via the website or app and try to sort it at the airport instead, you’ll pay around €55 (€30 from Spain). Check-in usually opens a few days before departure.

What’s more, from 12 November 2025 Ryanair scrapped paper boarding passes and now relies exclusively on the digital boarding pass in the myRyanair app. Be careful: a screenshot or PDF isn’t enough, the pass has to run in the live app. So keep your phone charged and download the app before you travel. The only exception is flights from Morocco, where local regulations mean you’ll get a paper pass.

💡 Tip: If you’ve checked in online properly and your phone then lets you down at the airport, since November 2025 Ryanair will issue a replacement boarding pass free of charge. The hefty €20 fee only applies if you have no valid digital pass at all.

Special baggage: children, sports, instruments and animals

Travelling with children or with something unusual? Ryanair has its own rules for that. For each child you can bring two pieces of baby equipment for free, typically a pushchair and a car seat. For a lap infant you can also bring a bag with their things weighing up to 5 kg and measuring 45×35×20 cm.

Sports equipment like skis, a snowboard, a bike or golf clubs and large musical instruments only go in the hold, for a separate fee (roughly €35 to €60 online, a bike up to 30 kg, other items up to 20 kg each). Smaller instruments such as a violin can come into the cabin as long as they fit within the cabin bag dimensions.

And one important point for pet lovers: Ryanair does not carry any animals, neither in the cabin nor in the hold. The only exception is certified guide and assistance dogs on flights within the EU. So if you’re travelling with a dog or cat, you’ll need to choose another airline.

Liquids and what you can (and can’t) take on board

The liquids rule isn’t Ryanair’s invention; it applies at security in general. You can take liquids, gels and sprays in containers up to 100 ml, all together in one clear bag of up to 1 litre, which you take out separately at security. The exceptions are medicines and baby food in the amounts you need.

In 2026, some airports with more modern scanners allow more, but this isn’t the case everywhere and it varies from airport to airport. Reliably plan for 100 ml and treat anything more as a bonus, only if a particular airport allows it. A great trick to sidestep the whole limit is to switch to solid, water-free toiletries, which don’t count as liquids. We cover more of this in our guide to packing light.

Is the end of paid cabin bags coming? (EU 2026)

You may have heard that cabin baggage is set to become free across all airlines. There’s some truth to it, but also some misunderstanding. In January 2026 the European Parliament voted on a position that would require one free small cabin bag in addition to a personal item. It sounds great, but it isn’t law yet.

The proposal still has to be approved by the Council of the EU, meaning the member states, and until that happens the current airline rules apply, including Ryanair’s paid large cabin bag. A Brussels court has also confirmed that Ryanair’s policy complies with European regulations. So until anything changes, plan around what we describe in this article and keep an eye on the news.

Where to go next

Now that you know what you need to fit into with Ryanair, it helps to know how to pack it smartly and which bag to choose. You’ll find the full method in our guide on how to pack light into a cabin bag, specific models in our roundup of the best cabin bags, and more ideas in 20 tips for packing a cabin bag. Fly with other budget airlines too? Compare Wizz Air baggage, easyJet baggage and Smartwings baggage too. Safe travels, and may it be everyone else paying at the gate. 😉