How strict is Spirit airlines about personal item size?

December 15, 2022 8:08 AM

If a bag's dimensions are greater than their required limits but the bag isn't completely full and still fits in their metal container for checking item size, will they let that bag on as a personal item?

I've flown Frontier and others using only a personal item but I don't remember if it was the same situation or not. Will they actually measure the bag or if it fits in the bin then we are good?

posted by crunchy potato to Travel & Transportation (8 answers total)

I'm 99.9% confident it'll be fine. It's already very rare that anyone be asked to put something in the bin, in my experience, and I can't imagine them ever going further than "fits in the bin". Everytime I'm airport I see many, many people with personal items obviously larger than the bin with no issue.
posted by lookoutbelow at 8:23 AM on December 15, 2022 [3 favorites]

I flew Spirit recently, and the staff just visually checked that you had approximately the luggage you paid for. I had no problem flying with an item that was nudging the max underseat size. Legal-size personal items will stick out into your foot area a bit.
posted by momus_window at 9:18 AM on December 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

I can provide another data point that the workers are too harried to bother with measuring everyone's personal item - it's an eyeball check only, and you'll only maybe get in trouble if it's clearly too big to fit under the seat in front of you + your foot room.
posted by coffeecat at 9:55 AM on December 15, 2022

If it fits within the metal bin you are good. It doesn't matter if it is a soft-sided bag that is larger than the dimensions.
posted by WizKid at 10:19 AM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Frontier has actually gotten very rigid about the item size limits recently, but they way they do it is to make sure it fits in the measuring container without pushing. I havent seen anyone actually whip out a measuring tape.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 11:27 AM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

I flew Spirit a few weeks ago and noticed the check-in person barely looked at my personal bag. I had paid for the additional carry-on which is stored in the overhead rack.
posted by conrad53 at 12:56 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Echoing the others - no one cares about the actual dimensions of the bag, just if it can fit in the sizer.

In fact, they may not even care about that, or you may be able to to game the system a bit. I've never flown Spirit, and the last time I flew Frontier was at least 5 years ago, so may be outdated. The gate agent at my initial airport just eyed the bags as you boarded, but at the hub in Denver, they required you to put the bag in the size checker, and then they would stamp your boarding pass (which was paper only, no mobile boarding passes). They announced that if you tried to board with a larger carryon and without the stamp, you would have to get out of line and get your stamp, then get back in line to board. I had stuffed my jacket into my carryon, and it was too big to fit in the sizer (even though I knew it would still fit in the overhead bin), so I pulled my jacket out and wore it, did the size check, then went out of eyesight and put the jacket back in the carryon. Since I had the stamp, and the bag wasn't obviously oversize, I was able to board without comment.
posted by yuwtze at 1:22 PM on December 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have a soft backpack and recommend No Wheels, as they are fussy about that, and do not measure in the bin at the airport, just board with it and install it under the seat in front of you. Safe travels!
posted by childofTethys at 8:30 AM on December 18, 2022