Best Personal Item Bags for Under an Airplane Seat

We’ve compiled a list of the best personal item bags for your next trip, no matter where you’re going, what you’re bringing, your style, and your budget.

When flying a budget-to-moderately priced airline, packing everything in a personal item bag is an excellent way to save time, money, and peace of mind. Let us explain:

Unlike carry-on bags, which often come at an additional fee, a personal item is (nearly) always included in your fare. That means you don’t have to pay for a carry on, which leaves more money in your pocket to spend on your trip (or on snacks, your choice). You won’t have to wait to get your bag out from the overhead bin or luggage carousel, which will enable you to get off the plane and out of the airport faster. Last, all of your essential items are in one place, so you don’t have to worry about whether your checked bag made it onto the flight or if there was a mix-up when you were forced to gate check your carry on bag because you aren’t a Premium-Flex-Big-Dogs-Gotta-Eat-Top-Notch customer. It’s all in one place, and there’s something freeing about that.

However, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you the downsides, too.

Even with the best personal item bag, you aren’t going to have that much space. The largest bags that fit into this category are typically around 28 liters, which isn’t tiny, but it can be tight for a weekend trip where you need to bring camera equipment or dress clothing. Next, you’re almost always running the risk of paying extra at the gate. Most of the bags we feature are technically within the guidelines for budget airlines; however, when you pack for a week-long trip in a small bag, there’s bound to be some bulging. While we mostly have no issue getting onto the plane fee-free, we all have friends with horror stories about spending a billion dollars in fees after scoring a $49 ticket to Reno. Last, that’s the only bag that you have unless you get creative. You could slide a packable sling inside to use once you arrive, but when you’re working with such a small space to begin with, there may not always be room to spare. If your bag gets wet or breaks, you’re out of luck and will have to spend time and money finding another one.

All that said, we aren’t trying to convince you not to use a personal item bag for your next trip. Here at Pack Hacker, it’s what we do most often, and we’re amped to share a few of our favorite personal item bags to make that happen! But first, let’s discuss how we chose which bags are the best fit.

How We Tested It

The three critical criteria we covered for each of these bags are how well it fits the measurements for a personal item bag on popular airlines, how big of a laptop you can fit inside (and the merits of that compartment as a whole), and how comfortable the bag actually is to carry.

Test 1: When testing the bags to see if they’ll work on popular airlines, we did a ton of research on what certain airlines allow for personal item bags. Seriously, it was hours of research! However, since these measurements change all the time, we can’t, in good faith, share them here. After all, we don’t want to be the reason you get slapped with that billion-dollar fine! Instead, we recommend looking up any bag that interests you (after reading our testing results, of course) to ensure that nothing has changed for the airline you plan to fly.

Here are a few insights from our research: measurements range from 15 x 11 x 3.9 inches on an airline like Lufthasana to 18 x 14 x 8 inches on Spirit. Some airlines don’t have a specific rule for personal items; however, your bag has to fit under the seat in front of you. For an airline like Delta, that’s 20 x 17 x 11 inches. Generally, some of the best airlines for size are Delta, Spirit, American, and Frontier, and the airlines that have the most rigid restrictions are Ryanair, Lufthansa, and AirFrance. However, just because an airline has a limitation doesn’t mean it is enforced, throwing another wrench into the works.

Test 2: The laptop test was a bit easier. We have all these bags on hand, so what size laptop can we actually fit inside? Are there any other aspects of this laptop compartment worth noting? The main two things we found are that some of these bags have a secondary compartment specifically for a laptop while others don’t. Whether this is a dealbreaker or not will depend on your needs, but some packs make it more challenging to access your computer when the bag is fully packed, so keep that in mind.

Test 3: Testing comfort was easy but rigorous. We couldn’t just test it empty or full; we needed to test every option. From near-empty bags to middleweights stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey, we tested every backpack to help you choose a pack that’ll be comfortable for you. We’ve used almost every pack on this list for two weeks or more in Detroit and across the globe, and those that don’t have full reviews on our site have been rigorously gone over at Pack Hack HQ to ensure their pedigree to be included on this list.

All that testing is great, but how do you know we are trustworthy?

Why You Should Trust Us

We’ve had our hands on thousands of daypacks, slings, and rolling bags and tested hundreds for two weeks or more, so we’ve seen it all. Whether you’re looking for a travel rain jacket that fits in your sling, new shoes for your next trip, or a crossbody bag to wear for your journey across Europe, we’ve got you covered. We take what we’ve learned from testing a plethora of gear types over the years and plant it in product roundups like this one to ensure we’re recommending gear that’ll last and work for your next trip. Without further ado, let’s dive in!