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Amy Axworthy is a travel journalist and product reviewer. She was shortlisted for Best News Writer at the BSME Talent Awards in 2023 for uncovering consumer harm.
All airlines have restrictions on how big and heavy your luggage can be, and if something as minor as a bulging pocket is sticking out of the sizer, they may charge you.
This gate fee is unpredictable and airlines charge a range of prices. It can cost you more than £70 a bag for a flight with airlines like Ryanair or Wizz Air, and you should expect budget carriers to be the strictest at enforcing these.
But buying luggage ahead of time can also significantly increase your ticket price. One traveller recently made news headlines for posting their clothes from Bristol to Glasgow (costing £2.59), to avoid paying £30 for luggage on their flight.
Fortunately, there are far simpler ways to minimise extra expenses and still pack everything you need – and while they aren't foolproof, they usually do the trick. Here are our top tips to beat baggage fees, plus what to do if you think you've been wrongly charged a fee at the gate.
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Airlines usually allow you to bring a standard-sized duty-free shopping bag on board for free as well as your cabin bag. Once you are through security, buy something from duty-free or another airport shop and ask for a carrier bag. Then transfer some luggage into this bag before you get to your boarding gate. As airlines rarely weigh duty-free bags, consider putting in your heavier items (eg toiletries).
Gate staff are increasingly aware of this trick, so don't overstuff your bag and keep your receipt as airport staff may ask to see that you purchased something.
After a new cabin bag that maximises space? More than 1,800 holidaymakers named the best cabin bags you can rely on.
If you have extra clothes that won't fit in your bag, consider buying an empty travel pillow that zips up to secure some extra space. Stuff it tight with clothes so it looks like a regular neck pillow and wear it around your neck when boarding.
Only fill it with soft clothes and don't use a full-sized pillow, as gate agents are much more likely to stop you for this.
Ryanair is one of the airlines with the strictest luggage allowance policies – with its cheapest Basic fare you can only take an under-seat cabin bag on board measuring 40x30x20cm.
When booking a Basic Ryanair ticket, early on in the process you'll be presented with the option to upgrade your fare to Regular, Plus, or Family Plus for trips with children. The Regular fare comes with a large cabin bag as well as priority boarding and free seat selection. But in one of our investigations based on around 30 checks over two years, we've only once found this to be cheaper than booking these extras separately.
The biggest savings to be had were for bookings for families with children. On one flight from Stansted to Alicante, a Regular fare would cost a family of four £61 more than booking the Basic fare and adding identical cabin bags, priority boarding and seat selection later in the booking process. So don't be tempted by the recommended pop-up fares; it's worth adding luggage separately to try to save money, especially if you don't mind where you sit.
Find out more about our investigation into Ryanair luggage and our top tips when booking with the budget airline.
If you’re unable to pack light, it could be worth booking with a better-rated airline. Both British Airways and Which? Recommended Provider Jet2 allow a personal item and a larger cabin case as default with their fares – we’ve previously found this can work out cheaper than stacking luggage fees onto budget airlines’ headline fares.
Whether you’re after a quick city break or a long-haul adventure, here are the best airlines for 2026.
Some compression packing cubes claim to help you ‘pack more in less space’ by squeezing excess air out of your bag. But when we put them to the test in four different types of travel cases, we fitted less into our bags than when we just folded our clothes.
Packing cubes can be useful for separating your belongings so you don’t have to rummage through everything each morning. But we spent more than £50 on them in our tests, and if you just want to maximise your luggage space, save this cash for your holiday fund instead.
Find out the full details of our packing cubes test in Why our travel experts don't use packing cubes.
Most airlines say the final decision on whether a bag is over their limit rests with the ground crew. But if you think you’re being charged unfairly, you can complain. Take lots of photos of your bag in the sizer, and ask for a paper or digital receipt for the gate fee. It’s also worth making a note of your gate number, flight number and the exact time you were charged. You can try to ask for the name of the agent charging you, but they don’t have to share this. When you get home, take photos of the bag alongside a measuring tape showing its height, width and depth. Then make a formal complaint to the airline, sharing this evidence.
If your airline has an agreement with an alternative dispute resolution scheme (ADR), tell them in your email that you will escalate your complaint to this body if it’s not accepted. If the airline rejects your claim, or you’ve waited eight weeks with no reply, you can take it directly to the ADR scheme, which will make the final decision. If your airline doesn’t work with the Aviation ADR or a similar scheme, contact the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
If you realise you need more space only a few hours before your flight and you don't want to use the hacks above, it’s almost always cheaper to pay for a bigger bag online. If the online window has closed, pay at the check-in desk. It’s a sting, but likely cheaper than paying a fee at the departure gate, which is designed to be the most expensive penalty. For Ryanair, you could pay £36-£40 at the check-in desk for a 10kg bag, versus a penalty fee of £46-£60 if you take the same small bag to the gate without a booking.
