Baggage Allowance Calculator
How far over the weight limit your case is, what the excess will cost across all your bags, and whether it is within the size rule.
Results
What this tool does
Excess baggage is charged at a rate that would be extraordinary for anything else, and it is always discovered at the worst possible moment. Weigh the case at home, put in what your ticket allows and what the airline charges per kilo, and this page tells you the damage before you leave the house — or how many kilos of room you still have. The three sides are added up too, because the size rule catches people who were well under on weight.
Formula
excess = weight − allowance ; cost = excess × price/kg, per bag
Variables
| Symbol | Meaning | Unit |
|---|---|---|
al | Weight you are allowed | kg |
wt | What your bag weighs | kg |
nb | How many bags | — |
fe | Charge for each kilo over | — |
bl | Bag length | cm |
bw | Bag width | cm |
bh | Bag height | cm |
sl | Longest side allowed | cm |
O | Over the limit by | kg |
C | What the excess will cost | — |
SP | Room left in the bag | kg |
TW | All the bags together | kg |
LS | Length plus width plus height | cm |
SO | Within the size limit | — |
Worked example
- Weight you are allowed23 kg
- What your bag weighs25.4 kg
- How many bags2
- Charge for each kilo over12
- Bag length75 cm
- Bag width50 cm
- Bag height30 cm
- Longest side allowed158 cm
- Over the limit by2.40 kg
- What the excess will cost57.60
- Room left in the bag0.00 kg
- All the bags together50.80 kg
- Length plus width plus height155 cm
- Within the size limitYes
Limitations
- The result is an estimate based only on the values you type. Real situations often include factors this calculator does not know about.
Frequently asked questions
Why does it add the three sides together?
Because that is how airlines write the size rule: length plus width plus height, wheels and handles included, against a single number. It is one of those conventions that looks odd until you see the point of it — one figure covers every shape of bag, and a case that is long and thin is treated the same as one that is short and fat.
Are the defaults the rules for my airline?
No. They are common figures, not your airline's, and both the allowance and the charge for going over vary by carrier, by route, by fare type and by whether you pay at home or at the desk — where it is usually far more. Read the four numbers off your own booking and put them in; that is the only version of this that will match the bill.