Carry-On Luggage 2026: Spec Sheets Checked Against Airline Limits

Prices are Amazon.de snapshots, As of 2026-07. All dimensions are height x width x depth, exactly as the manufacturer publishes them.

Two things stand out before any airline gets involved.

First, the most expensive case here is also the heaviest. 2.9 kg for the Samsonite against 2.0 kg for the small Cabin Max. Under Lufthansa's 8 kg cap that is 900 grams of clothing you do not take with you.

Second, BEIBYE's size M appears in two retailer spec sheets with two different sets of dimensions. More on that below, because it genuinely changes the buying decision.

Here is the actual calculation. Every limit applies including wheels and handles, which is how the airlines define it. "Fits" means every single edge stays under the stated maximum.

The result is less comfortable than product pages suggest. Only one case in the field satisfies all six limits, and it is the smallest one. The 55x40x20 models fail at Air France, because Air France allows 5 cm less width than Ryanair does. And the BEIBYE models reliably satisfy exactly one limit: easyJet large.

Worth remembering that the weight caps are packed weights, not empty weights. 2.0 kg empty against an 8 kg cap leaves 6 kg for everything else. 2.9 kg empty leaves 5.1 kg. The gap is roughly a pair of shoes plus a pair of jeans.

This was the most interesting thing I found, and it appears on no product page.

BEIBYE sells size M under practically the same title in a long list of colours and sets. Vergleich.org lists size M at 55 x 36 x 21 cm, 2.5 kg and 38 litres. Gepäckheld lists size M from the same set at 55 x 39 x 24 cm, 2.8 kg and around 45 litres. That is a 3 cm gap in width and a 3 cm gap in depth for the same label.

For Ryanair Priority, that gap decides everything. At 21 cm deep you are 1 cm over. At 24 cm you are 4 cm over and you also stop clearing Lufthansa.

Where that leaves me: the BEIBYE Hartschalen-Koffer Trolley Rollkoffer Reisekoffer Handgepäck 4 Rollen (M-L-XL-Set), the BEIBYE Hartschalen-Koffer Trolley Rollkoffer Reisekoffer Handgepäck 4 Rollen - Blau and the BEIBYE Hartschalen-Koffer Trolley Rollkoffer Reisekoffer Handgepäck 4 Rollen - Chillired are usable holiday cases for easyJet and for train travel. I would not buy one as a Ryanair Priority case without reading the depth figure in the specific listing first and measuring the case myself once it arrives. At €33 to €39 that is a fair deal. It is just not a guarantee about size.

One note on the review numbers, because they mislead easily here. All three BEIBYE listings share the same Amazon.de review base of 13,797 ratings, since Amazon pools colour variants. That is one body of evidence, not three independent ones.

I need to correct a figure that earlier versions of this article got wrong.

The Cabin Max Anode Handgepäck Koffer Leicht Hartschalen Koffer mit 4 Rollen und Zahlenschloss is not the 55x40x20 model. It is the underseat version. Cabin Max states the Anode 24 L as exactly 40 x 30 x 20 cm with wheels included, 2.0 kg empty, ABS shell, four 360-degree spinner wheels, a three-stage telescopic handle up to 89 cm, and a 3-year warranty against manufacturing faults.

40 x 30 x 20 is not an arbitrary size. It is precisely what Ryanair permits as the free bag under the seat in front of you, a limit Ryanair raised from 40x25x20 on 4 September 2025. So if you fly Ryanair without Priority, this case gives a gate agent nothing to measure against you, and you still get a hard shell rather than a soft holdall.

Paying €47.00 for 24 litres next to €33.00 for 38 or 45 litres looks odd at first. What the extra buys is a dimension you can rely on, plus the 3 years. Whether that is worth €14 depends on how often you fly Ryanair without Priority.

If you want the full 55x40x20 instead, Cabin Max sells the Anode 40 L at 55 x 40 x 20 cm, 2.8 kg, eight spinner wheels and the same 3-year warranty for £54.95 on its own site. It is in the table because it makes the gap between the two limits visible. What Ryanair actually applies to Priority bags is covered in more depth in our piece on Ryanair's stricter hand luggage rules.

The Samsonite S'Cure - Spinner S Handgepäck, 55 cm, 34 L, Schwarz is the only case here that is not ABS. Spec sheets give 55 x 40 x 20 cm, 34 litres, 2.9 kg and 100 percent Flowlite polypropylene with four double wheels.

Run that against the field. 34 litres at 2.9 kg. The Cabin Max 40 L gives you 40 litres at 2.8 kg. So the Samsonite is heavier and smaller in volume, at roughly double the price. What you get instead is polypropylene rather than ABS, a clip closure rather than a zip, and Samsonite's 10-year warranty.

Which brings up the thing worth knowing before you buy. Samsonite explicitly excludes transport damage, airline damage included, along with normal wear and tear, abrasion and water exposure. The 10 years cover manufacturing defects. The most common real-world suitcase damage happens during loading. Reading that warranty as airline insurance reads it wrong.

Amazon.de rating at the snapshot date: 4.4 stars across 19,614 reviews. That is the lowest star rating in this field and simultaneously the largest sample.

Three figures are almost always missing on budget cases, and the absence is itself information.

Empty weight. For BEIBYE it differs by retailer or is simply absent. If you fly against an 8 kg cap, empty weight is the single most useful number on a spec sheet, and it is the worst documented one.

Whether the dimensions include the wheels. Cabin Max says so outright ("wheels included"). easyJet and Air France require it outright. For BEIBYE, nothing states it bindingly. A case whose 55 cm was measured without wheels is over the limit at the gate by whatever the wheels add, and the wheels count.

Who makes the zips and wheels. YKK is treated as the industry standard, and it appears in none of the spec sheets here. A manufacturer that does not name the component usually is not fitting YKK.

On the material difference itself there is lab work: drop tests from 1.2 metres show polycarbonate absorbs impact by deforming, while ABS cracks along the edges. Four of the five cases here are ABS. That explains both the price and the expectation. ABS cases are consumables, not ten-year purchases.

Not a test. Just measuring. But it is the only number you can actually rely on, because it comes from your case rather than from a listing.

1. Case on the floor, telescopic handle fully retracted.
2. Measure height at the tallest point, so over the wheels and over the handle housing.
3. Measure width and depth at the widest points, including exterior pockets and feet.
4. Put the empty case on your bathroom scale, note the figure, write it inside the case.
5. Hold those four numbers against the table above, for your airline.

If any edge is over the limit, return it while the returns window is open. Do not bet on nobody measuring. Lufthansa's figures in detail, personal item rule included, are in our piece on Lufthansa's hand luggage rules. Eurowings runs its own numbers again, and those are in the Eurowings guide.

Once the case is sorted, the long-haul half still needs a neck pillow.

Fly Ryanair without Priority and the Anode 24 L is the only case here whose dimensions are not up for debate. Fly Lufthansa or Turkish and want volume, and the Samsonite S'Cure works, though it costs double and weighs more than the cheaper Cabin Max 40 L. And if €33 is the budget, take a BEIBYE for easyJet, but read the depth figure in that specific listing first.

The habit I dropped for 2026: trusting a dimension on a product page without checking whether it includes the wheels. That one detail is the difference between fitting and paying a fee the airline sets rather than you.

As of 2026-07