Southwest Airlines Bag Fees and Size Rules

The numbers on this page are Southwest Airlines’ own, read from the airline’s baggage page on a stated date. Fares and fees move, so treat every figure here as a snapshot of what the airline published then, not as a promise about what you will pay at the counter.

Southwest lets you bring one carry-on bag and one personal item onboard. The carry-on has to fit within 24 x 16 x 10 inches, and the airline counts wheels, handles, and any attachments toward those dimensions. That last sentence is the one that decides whether a bag is refused at the gate, because a bag that measures inside the limit when empty can measure outside it once the wheels and handle are included.

Checked bags are weighed and measured too. A checked bag can weigh up to 50 pounds and measure up to 62 inches in size, which Southwest defines as length plus width plus height. Bags over those limits are not simply turned away; they are charged an overweight or oversize fee on top of the standard bag fee. The table below sets out the figures as the airline states them.

What Southwest Airlines allows, and what it charges

What the carry-on dimensions actually measure

Southwest’s carry-on limit is 24 x 16 x 10 inches. Those three numbers are length, width, and height, and the airline’s page spells out which is which: 24 inches is the length, 16 inches is the width, and 10 inches is the height. A tape measure laid along the longest side of your bag gives you the length. The other two numbers are the remaining sides.

The sentence that decides most gate arguments is the one about wheels and handles. Southwest says wheels, handles, and any attachments count toward the dimensions. So the measurement starts at the bottom of the wheel and ends at the top of the extended handle, and it includes anything strapped or clipped to the outside. A soft bag that squashes down to the limit when empty may not squash down once it is packed, and a hard-shell bag does not squash at all.

If you are standing in a kitchen with a suitcase open, the useful test is to pack it the way you intend to travel, then measure it. Measuring an empty bag tells you very little, because the bag changes shape when it is full. If the packed bag is over on any one of the three sides, the airline’s own wording gives the gate agent a reason to stop it.

The personal item and the one-bag rule

Southwest allows one carry-on bag and one personal item onboard. The personal item is the smaller of the two, the thing that goes under the seat in front of you rather than in the overhead bin. The airline’s page does not give a separate set of dimensions for the personal item in the figures on this page, so the practical rule is that it has to fit in the space under the seat.

That matters when you are deciding whether to repack. A purse, a laptop bag, or a small backpack is normally the personal item. A second rolling bag is not, even if it is small, because the allowance is one carry-on plus one personal item, not two carry-ons. If you are carrying a rolling bag and a backpack, the rolling bag is the carry-on and the backpack is the personal item, and both have to fit their respective spaces.

Checked bag weight and the 62-inch rule

A checked bag can weigh up to 50 pounds. That is the airline’s own figure, and it is the number the scale at the counter is checking. A bag that weighs more than that is not refused outright; it is charged an overweight fee on top of the standard bag fee.

The size limit for a checked bag is 62 inches, which Southwest defines as length plus width plus height. This is not the same as the longest side. A bag whose longest side is well under 62 inches can still exceed 62 inches once you add the other two sides together. That is why the linear-inch rule catches people who measured only the length.

A bag between 63 and 80 inches in size is treated as oversized, and the airline charges an oversize fee on top of the standard bag fee. The figures for overweight and oversize bags are in the table above, and they are charged in addition to the standard bag fee, not instead of it.

What happens at the counter when a bag is over

When you check a bag, it goes on the scale and, if it looks large, it gets measured. If it is over 50 pounds, the agent applies the overweight fee for the weight band it falls into, plus the standard bag fee. If it is over the size limit, the agent applies the oversize fee, plus the standard bag fee. The airline’s page lists the overweight bands as 51 to 70 pounds and 71 to 100 pounds, and the oversize band as 63 to 80 inches.

The order of events matters for planning. You find out at the counter, not at home, and the fee is charged then. If you are close to the limit, the cheapest move is usually to shift weight into a carry-on or a personal item before you get to the counter, provided the carry-on still fits within 24 x 16 x 10 inches including wheels and handles. Moving weight from a checked bag to a carry-on only helps if the carry-on stays inside its own limit.

Change and cancellation fees

Southwest states a change fee of $0 and a cancellation fee of $0. Those figures are about changing or cancelling a booking, not about baggage. They do not mean a cancelled trip is refunded in every case; the airline’s fare rules decide what happens to the money, and the figures on this page do not cover that. What they do say is that the airline does not charge a separate change fee or cancellation fee on top of the fare rules.

Priority boarding is a separate charge, listed at $10 to $75 per segment, per Customer. That is about when you get on the plane, not about how much you can bring. It can matter for a carry-on, because boarding earlier makes it easier to find overhead bin space, but it does not change the size or number limits.

How to use these figures before you fly

Measure the packed bag, not the empty one. Measure the carry-on including wheels, handles, and any attachments, and compare all three sides to 24 x 16 x 10 inches. Weigh the checked bag against 50 pounds, and add length plus width plus height to compare against 62 inches. If a bag is over on weight or size, the airline’s own figures tell you which fee band applies and that the fee is charged in addition to the standard bag fee.

Every figure on this page is a snapshot taken from Southwest’s own page on a stated date. Fees and limits change, and the airline’s page is the version that governs your trip. Check it again close to departure, because the number that applies is the one in force when you check in, not the one you read when you booked.

Where these figures came from

Every figure above was read from Southwest Airlines’s own pages on the date beside it. Airlines change these without notice and without a changelog, so the date is part of the figure. The pages are linked here so the current wording can be checked directly rather than taken from this one.

• https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/carryon-baggage-policy
• https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/checked-baggage-policy
• https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/travel-fees.html