Airlines and additional fees go hand in hand and so travelling light is definitely preferable over paying for checked luggage. You don’t have to be a savvy traveller to shave some pounds off the cost of flying and your luggage however. Take a look at these tips and learn to how to pack hand luggage for a one week trip. For more help and advice check out our other Travel Tips articles.
Before we get down to the nitty gritty, you will need to get your hands on a hand luggage sized bag to ensure that you’re not slapped with a checked luggage fee. Below, I’ve listed the hand luggage sizes for the most common budget carriers. Consider choosing soft luggage rather than hard as they are not only lighter, they are more flexible and easier to pack. Remember that cabin baggage is usually restricted to one item only so anything extra such as laptops, handbags etc must be able to fit inside your main hand luggage. Do be sure to check all of the information thoroughly with your airline before travelling however.
Hand luggage sizes:
| Airline | Dimensions (Including wheels & handle) |
Weight Limits |
| easyJet | 56 x 45 x 25cm | No weight limit |
| Ryanair | 55 x 40 x 20cm | 10kg |
| Monarch | 56 x 40 x 25cm | 5kg |
| Aer Lingus | 55 x 40 x 24cm | 10kg |
| Aer Lingus Regional | 48 x 33 x 20cm | 7kg |
| First Choice | 55 x 40 x 20cm | 5kg |
| Thomson | 55 x 40 x 20cm | 5kg |
| Flybe | 55 x 40 x 23cm | 10kg |
| KLM | 55 x 25 x 35 cm | 12kg |
Do note that this information is subject to change so do visit the airline’s own website using the links above to double check this information.
Now it’s time to start packing your cabin baggage:
Write a list
It doesn’t take a genius to work this one out but a list is always the best way to start packing. Write down your essential items to ensure nothing important gets forgotten.
Be ruthless
It is absolutely essential that you are ruthless when you are packing. Strip out any ‘just in case’ items and don’t even think about taking a hairdryer – there will almost certainly be one at your accommodation.
Clothes
There are a number of things to remember when packing your clothes:
Choose a colour theme when packing. This will allow you to take fewer clothes but be able to pair them up and transform them into a number of different outfits.
Pack lightweight, wrinkle resistant clothes than can be rolled up and laundered easily.
If you are travelling to a holiday home, consider packing clothes inside a vacuum storage bag to save even more space. If in a hotel, you are unlikely to be able to use a vacuum storage bag on your return flight.
Alternatively, be sure to roll your clothes; not fold! Lay them out on top of each other and roll them up together. Find more tips here.
Wear your heaviest clothes when you are travelling and try to choose items which have a lot of pockets, enabling you to fill the pockets with extra items. You might even consider one of these!
Limit yourself to two pairs of shoes; the ones you travel in and one other. This should be relatively easy for men, but for women, do stick to flat shoes as they take up much less room than heeled shoes.
Consider packing items which have multiple uses, such as scarfs which can also be used as a cover up among other things and trousers which can be zipped off into shorts.
Liquids
As you will know, liquids in hand luggage are restricted to 100ml containers and any liquids you wish to carry will need to go in a transparent plastic bag when you go through security. Anything that doesn’t fit in that bag will be thrown away.
Take small bottles of your liquids and remember to keep hold of sample bottles. Alternatively, carry toiletries in sachets or quite simply buy necessities when you arrive.
Additional Items
Don’t forget to pack other miscellaneous items such as your camera or phone charger and travel adaptor plus etc.
Keep your travelling documentation such as passports and tickets on your person at all times for ease of reference and security purposes.
If you don’t have a kindle or alternative, restrict yourself to one paperback and swap it abroad. There are often facilities to do this in local cafes – ask someone at your hotel or a local and they should be able to point you in the right direction.
If you follow these tips, you should be able to enjoy a saving by flying with hand luggage only on your next holiday.
For more ideas on how best to cater for your travelling and luggage needs check out our airline guide where we give you the pros and cons of some of the most popular airlines.
Ryanair are now “no weight” restrictions too 🙂
Surprised at the comment above, I just clicked through to Monarch, they still enforce the 5kg limit.
Possibly GG above was incorrectly looking at their bag+laptop bag offer, this still has a total combined weight limit of 5kg.
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As always, measure twice, cut once … check with the operator for their latest news
The information in this article is incorrect Monarch allow 10kgs in cabin baggage rather than the 5kgs you suggest, other than this a good article as usual.
GG