Can I have backpack and carry-on?

While this can be confusing, most popular airlines allow you to bring a carry-on and personal item, such as a backpack or purse. In general, your personal item should be smaller than your carry-on and under the specific airline's carry-on dimensions, allowing it to fit under the seat in front of you.



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While this can be confusing, most popular airlines allow you to bring a carry-on and personal item, such as a backpack or purse. In general, your personal item should be smaller than your carry-on and under the specific airline's carry-on dimensions, allowing it to fit under the seat in front of you.

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Generally, you're allowed one carry on and one personal item, such as a purse, suit bag, briefcase. As long as your backpacks conform to the airline size specifications for hand luggage, it's not a problem that both your carry-ons are backpacks.

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Your backpack will generally be allowed as a carry-on if it's under 50 liters, or about 22 x 14 x 9 inches. Get a 45-liter backpack if you want to carry as much stuff as possible on the plane with you.

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The most important factor when choosing a carry on travel backpack is its size. Each airline sets its own guidelines for the maximum allowable size for carry on luggage . Most airlines allow bags up to 45 linear inches (length + width + depth) or 22? long, 14? wide, and 9? deep.

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With plenty of space to pack bulky clothes, we think the Nomatic Travel Bag 40L would make an excellent carry-on backpack for any and all types of trips since it can be carried multiple different ways—which also makes it an ideal convertible bag.

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While personal item size restrictions vary across airlines, most airlines consider a small backpack, purse, briefcase, or laptop bag to be a personal item. These must always fit under the seat in front of you. Many airlines restrict passengers to one personal item and one carry on bag.

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Most domestic airlines allow passengers two carry-on items, depending on their fare type. For example, Southwest stands out among carriers for allowing passengers two free carry-on bags and two checked bags, regardless of fare type. That's also the case for Delta, American, Alaska and Hawaiian passengers.

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Each passenger may carry liquids, gels and aerosols in travel-size containers that are 3.4 ounces or100 milliliters. Each passenger is limited to one quart-size bag of liquids, gels and aerosols.

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What Is A TSA-Friendly Laptop Bag? A TSA-friendly laptop bag is a backpack that can be fully unzipped, so both sizes can be lain perfectly flat. These backpacks have a dedicated laptop pocket, so your computer can be easily scanned by an X-Ray machine without any of your other stuff getting in its way.

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The short answer: Yes, a backpack is generally considered a personal item if it fits under the seat in front of you. Most airlines offer a few examples of things that fit into the “personal item” category, such as a purse, laptop bag, or a briefcase, but they don't usually include “backpack” on those lists.

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Usually, many airlines won't check every carry-on but will instead go for ones that look oversized. If your luggage does not fit in the sizer, you might have to pay a checked bag fee along with the gate checking fee and have your bag transferred to the airplane's cargo.

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In short, the 3-1-1 rule is: Each liquid you bring through the TSA checkpoint must be in a 3.4-ounce or smaller container (3), all containers must be placed inside one clear quart-size plastic bag (1) and each passenger is only allowed one plastic bag (1).

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You are allowed to bring a quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in your carry-on bag and through the checkpoint.

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Toothpaste is considered a liquid by the TSA (Transport Security Agency), even though it's technically a paste. In fact, all pastes, gels, waxes, and lotions are also classified as liquids. And even today, these substances are still restricted by the 3-1-1 rule in hand luggage due to safety threats.

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Most airlines allow passengers to bring one carry-on bag and one personal item on a plane. If you have two backpacks but they both fit within the size and weight restrictions defined by your airline for a personal item and a carry-on, you may be allowed to bring them both.

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In general, your personal item should be smaller than your carry-on and under the specific airline's carry-on dimensions, allowing it to fit under the seat in front of you. In most cases, backpacks are considered personal items as long as they fit under the seat in front of you.

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Domestic carry-on policies. A good rule of thumb is that if your carry-on bag fits under the seat in front of you, it's considered a personal item. This includes small backpacks, purses, briefcases, laptop bags, etc. Larger bags, including suitcases, must fit in the overhead bin compartment.

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If your backpack doesn't fit, you may be asked to check it at the gate.

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Unless your carry-on is extremely large, the airline employees at the gate most likely won't ask to measure it. If they'd ask each passenger to measure their carry-on, the boarding would take too long. This could cause delayed flights, which airlines don't want.

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But, based on my own experience, 70L is too large for a carry-on item with most airlines. If you're looking for the optimal balance between the largest bag possible, and the most airlines it would be allowed on, I find that 35L (53x35x20-cm) is allowed on 155 of the 175 airlines I could find data for.

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The Top Carry-on Backpacks for 2023
  • Best Overall: Cotopaxi Allpa 35L.
  • Best Budget: ZOMAKE Lightweight Packable Backpack 30L.
  • Best Lightweight: Osprey Farpoint 40.
  • Best for Business: Aer Travel Pack 3.
  • Best for International Travel: Solgaard Lifepack Endeavor (with closet) – Large.


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