Carry-on size limits on budget airlines in Latin America and Asia

Pack for the smallest plane on your ticket

Your ticket into Labuan Bajo says Lion Air, and the aircraft that lands you there is a Wings Air ATR 72. The jet allowance of 40 x 30 x 20 cm stops at that connection. The turboprop takes 35 x 30 x 20 cm, still at 7 kg, and Lion Group's own help centre says the smaller size follows the whole route whoever issued the ticket. ^{1, 2}

That is the shape of this page. Twelve carriers across Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Indonesia and the AirAsia network, six on each side of the Pacific, each with a published cabin-bag rule read from the airline's own page on 25 September 2026. The figures sit in tables you can hold a bag against.

One habit carries the rest. Pack to the tightest limit on any single leg, because that leg decides what flies in the cabin with you. On a Costa Rican hop the binding number is 4.5 kg. On a Flores turboprop it is 21 litres of bag. ^{10, 1}

What size carry-on do Volaris and VivaAerobus allow?

Mexico's two budget carriers publish the same allowance in a different order, and Volaris adds a combined weight cap the others skip.

Volaris and VivaAerobus both allow a 55-centimetre bag at 10 kg, the most generous cabin allowance here. Volaris writes it as 55 x 40 x 25 cm. Viva writes the same box as 40 cm long by 25 wide by 55 high, measured wheels to handles. Multiply it out and you have 55 litres. ^{3, 4}

Volaris adds a second limit worth knowing. The carry-on and the under-seat bag together stay under 20 kg, so a heavy personal item eats into the allowance. That personal item is 35 x 45 x 20 cm, or 31.5 litres, and it rides on every Volaris fare. ³

Fare class decides whether the overhead bag is yours at all. On Volaris Zero and Basic you get the personal item, and the carry-on is an add-on you buy for domestic and international flights alike. Buy it with the ticket. Viva includes the carry-on on its Light, Extra and Smart fares. ^{3, 4}

What is Avianca's carry-on weight limit?

Avianca allows 10 kg in a bag of 55 x 35 x 25 cm, wheels and handles included, on every fare except Basic. That box holds 48.1 litres, about 6.9 litres under the Mexican carriers, and the whole difference is 5 cm of width. Its free personal item is 45 x 35 x 20 cm. ⁵

Colombia's other two options read differently. Wingo includes a 12 kg carry-on from the Go Standard fare upward and asks only that the bag fit the overhead bin, publishing no dimensions for it; the 40 x 35 x 25 cm personal item is free on all four fares. LATAM's published figure is 55 x 35 x 25 cm at 12 kg in economy, 16 kg in premium cabins. ^{7, 6}

Those 12 kg allowances are the loosest weight on the page. Five kilograms more than an Indonesian domestic flight gives you - and on LATAM, in the same 48-litre box. So load the books and the hard drive on these legs, and thin the bag out before the flight east. Start with MMT's Colombia guides if the trip runs through Bogota. ^{6, 7, 1}

Costa Rica's 4.5 kg rule on Sansa

Sansa allows 4.5 kg in the cabin free, and the aircraft is the reason. Cessna Grand Caravans fly Costa Rica's domestic hops, and the cabin bag Sansa accepts measures 30 cm wide, 50 high and 20 deep: 30 litres. ¹⁰

Four and a half kilograms is one day bag. A camera, a light jacket, water, a book. Everything else travels in the hold on that leg, which makes the domestic hop the point in a Costa Rican trip where a one-bag plan meets its real test. Plan it alongside MMT's Costa Rica guides. ¹⁰

How strict is the AirAsia 7 kg cabin bag?

The 7 kg is a total for both bags, which is what makes it the tightest allowance in Southeast Asia in practice.

AirAsia's 7 kg covers the cabin bag and the personal item together. One cabin bag up to 56 x 36 x 23 cm and one small personal item up to 40 x 30 x 10 cm are allowed on board, and the pair stays under 7 kg combined. The two bags hold 58.4 litres between them. The scale is what decides the day. ⁸

That ratio catches anyone carrying a laptop, a camera and a second pair of shoes. Weigh the loaded bag at home on a luggage scale, then pack to the number you saw. ⁸

AirAsia states what follows too. An over-limit cabin bag goes to the check-in counter, and a bag that reaches the boarding gate over the limit may be checked there with a gate baggage fee attached. The advisory carrying these figures is dated 8 August 2024 and stands as the airline's current cabin-baggage statement. ⁸

What can you carry into Labuan Bajo?

Lion Group publishes one weight for every airline it owns and two sizes. The smaller size is the one that travels with your ticket.

Lion Air, Batik Air Indonesia and Super Air Jet jets take 40 x 30 x 20 cm at 7 kg; Wings Air's ATR turboprops take 35 x 30 x 20 cm at the same 7 kg. Five centimetres of length is the whole story. The ATR bag holds 21 litres against the jet's 24, which is 12.5 percent less. ¹

Then comes the part that changes itineraries. Lion Group's help centre says a connecting route using a Wings Air ATR follows the 35 x 30 x 20 cm cabin size, whoever sold the ticket. Book Jakarta to Labuan Bajo on one reference and the turboprop at the end sets the rule for the jet at the start. ¹

Wings Air is the airline that flies you to Komodo. Its ATR 72s seat 72 in economy and serve Labuan Bajo from Lombok, Makassar, Kupang, Bajawa, Ende and Maumere, according to a Wings Air corporate communications statement in July 2026. ²

Garuda Indonesia repeats the pattern from the other end of the market. Its mainline cabin bag is 56 x 36 x 23 cm at 7 kg, and on CRJ and ATR regional aircraft it drops to 41 x 34 x 17 cm, about 23.7 litres, still at 7 kg. Small aircraft, small bag. That is the rule across the archipelago, and MMT's Indonesia travel guide has the island routing. ⁹

Which airline gives you the biggest bag?

Centimetres are hard to compare across three axis orders. Litres are not, so here is the same data multiplied out.

Turn the centimetres into litres and the ranking is plain. Volaris and VivaAerobus lead at 55 litres. Wings Air's ATR sits last at 21. A bag bought for Mexico is 34 litres too big for Flores, and that single gap is why one-bag packing lists built around a 45-litre shell come apart in eastern Indonesia. ^{3, 4, 1}

The weight ranking runs the other way. LATAM's premium cabins allow 16 kg, economy 12, Wingo 12, the Mexican and Colombian carriers 10, Indonesia and AirAsia 7, and Sansa 4.5. Volume follows the aircraft; weight follows the fare. Plan around both. ^{6, 7, 3, 5, 8, 10}

What happens at the gate when your bag is too big?

The gate is the most expensive place to fix a bag, and these carriers say so in their own words. Volaris states that an overweight or oversize bag draws a fee, calculated by route and purchase channel, and sends you to its own services calculator instead of a printed figure. Wingo says an over-limit carry-on gets checked at the boarding gate for a penalty that costs more than buying the bag online in advance. ^{11, 7}

AirAsia's wording lands in the same place: counter first, gate second, with a gate baggage fee if the bag reaches the gate over the limit. Three carriers, three confirmations that a fee exists, and no flat amount published by any of them. ^{8, 11, 7}

So the number you want is the one at checkout, in the local currency. Mexico prices in pesos: on Friday 18 September 2026 a dollar bought 17.2454 Mexican pesos on the Federal Reserve's H.10 release, which is the rate to use when you convert a Volaris or Viva add-on into your own budget. ¹³

How do you pack to a 7 kg limit?

Six steps, in this order, and the bag clears every gate on the itinerary. The sequence matters: the aircraft sets the size, the fare sets the weight, and the purchase happens before you leave home. ¹

1. 01

   Weigh the empty bag

   Whatever the shell weighs comes straight off the 7 kg. Put it on a kitchen scale before you buy anything else for the trip. ⁸

2. 02

   Measure to the smallest leg

   Set your box at 35 x 30 x 20 cm if a Wings Air ATR is on the itinerary, 40 x 30 x 20 cm for Lion Group jets, 55 x 40 x 25 cm for Mexico. Wheels and handles count. ^{1, 3}

3. 03

   Load the heavy things where the allowance is 12 kg

   LATAM economy and Wingo both allow 12 kg. Books, hard drives and boots ride best on those legs. ^{6, 7}

4. 04

   Know how your personal item is counted

   Avianca, VivaAerobus and LATAM size the under-seat bag separately. Volaris caps both bags at 20 kg together. AirAsia counts both against a single 7 kg total. ^{5, 4, 6, 3, 8}

5. 05

   Read the aircraft type on every leg

   The booking page names it. A CRJ, an ATR or a Cessna Grand Caravan means the smallest limits on this page apply to you. ^{9, 1, 10}

6. 06

   Buy the checked bag if any route is turboprop-only

   Lion Group gives 0 kg free on those routes, so that bag is a purchase, and the booking page is where it costs least. ¹²

• The 7 kg cap is a gear problem before it is a packing problem. Shell weight, shoes and camera bodies are the three lines that move it most, and all three are decided before you pack.
• A long stay beats a big bag. Staying a month and washing clothes puts less in the cabin than carrying two weeks of outfits; MMT compares monthly stays against short bookings on the accommodation side.
• Check the limit again a week out. None of the airline pages here except AirAsia's advisory and Lion Group's November 2024 policy statement carries a date, which means a figure can move without an announcement. ^{8, 12}