Vueling personal item size: what fits in 40 × 30 × 20 cm

Short answer: a Vueling personal item must fit within 40 × 30 × 20 cm (the strictest axis is depth at 20 cm). The Jelkin 25 measures 25 × 17 × 14 cm on the outside, so it clears the depth limit by 6 cm and qualifies as a free under-seat bag.

Vueling includes one free bag on every fare, including the cheapest: 40 × 30 × 20 cm / 15.7 × 11.8 × 7.9 in, under the seat in front of you. It is the same box Wizz Air and Transavia publish, so a bag built for one works on all three. What is different about Vueling is the pace of boarding and how little time you get to reorganise once you are in the queue.

Vueling's small bag: 40 × 30 × 20 cm, free on every fare

No weight is published for the free small bag. The 10 kg figure belongs to the separate cabin bag, which comes with higher fares and is sold as an add-on on the basic one. That separation is worth understanding, because it is the opposite of the way some other low-cost carriers treat the two pieces.

In practice the free piece is the one you keep on your person. Vueling's network is dense short-haul across Spain, Italy and France, and the under-seat bag is what stays with you when a larger bag gets taken at the gate.

A 25 cm bag against those limits, side by side

Match a 25 × 17 × 14 cm / 9.8 × 6.7 × 5.5 in bag to the allowance largest side to largest: 25 cm against 40 cm leaves 15 cm / 5.9 in; 17 cm against 30 cm leaves 13 cm / 5.1 in; 14 cm against 20 cm leaves 6 cm / 2.4 in.

The tightest edge is the 20 cm depth, with 6 cm / 2.4 in in hand. That is enough margin that orientation stops mattering — you can put the bag down flat, on its side or upright and it clears every time. By volume the box is about 24 litres and a 25 cm bag fills roughly a quarter of it, so the useful limit here is what you want to carry through a terminal, not what the airline allows.

The three baggage types on a Vueling fare

Only the first row is free on a basic fare. If you are comparing fares, this is the table to read before you book rather than after.

What the 10 kg cabin bag changes

Very little, as far as your small bag is concerned. Because no weight is published for the free piece, the 10 kg applies to the cabin bag you add, and the two are treated as separate items rather than sharing one figure. That is a genuinely different arrangement from carriers that pool both pieces under a single cap.

It does change what you should carry where. If the cabin bag is close to 10 kg, keep the small bag light and use it for things you need during the flight. A soft bag around 600 g / 1.3 lb empty with a phone, wallet, passport and a paperback inside stays near 1.5 kg, which is never going to be the thing that causes a problem. Whether a makeup bag fits is usually the deciding question on a short city break.

Barcelona, Rome and the tight turnaround

Vueling's busiest bases run short turnarounds on dense schedules. Anything you can settle before you reach the aircraft keeps the queue moving: boarding pass ready, liquids already in their bag, and the under-seat bag small enough to go straight down without rearranging it at the row.

This is also a practical argument for a shoulder bag over a hand-carried one. You need a free hand for the boarding pass, and a bag that stays on your shoulder while you sort yourself out is one less thing to put down on a crowded jet bridge. Our notes on travelling light with a 25 cm day bag cover the same ground in more detail, and whether a folding umbrella fits is the question that comes up on Spanish and Italian routes more than you would expect.

One habit that speeds up boarding

Keep your passport and boarding pass in a pocket rather than in the bag, so you never have to open it in the queue. Then measure the bag packed, the night before — the 20 cm dimension is the one that grows on a padded bag, especially with a hard case pressing from the inside. Swapping a rigid glasses case for a soft pouch gives back 1–2 cm, which is a quarter of your entire margin.

The Jelkin 25 Cloud Bag in Orange measures 25 × 17 × 14 cm / 9.8 × 6.7 × 5.5 in and holds that shape whether it is full or half empty, so the packed figure stays close to the one on the product page. Twelve space-saving packing habits will get the rest of the way, and using a 25 cm bag as an airline personal item sets out why that size clears so many carriers at once.

Allowances change with route, fare type, season and aircraft. The figures below were checked against the airline’s public baggage pages in October 2026 and are given as a guide only — always confirm on the airline’s own site before you fly, and measure your bag packed rather than empty. CloudFlirty is not affiliated with any airline mentioned here.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vueling's free personal item size?

40 × 30 × 20 cm / 15.7 × 11.8 × 7.9 in, free on every fare including the cheapest, and expected to go under the seat in front of you.

Does a 25 × 17 × 14 cm bag fit Vueling's small bag limit?

Yes, with 6 cm / 2.4 in to spare on the tightest edge, the 20 cm depth. There is enough room that the orientation you carry it in makes no difference.

Is there a weight limit for the Vueling small bag?

No separate figure is published for the free small bag. The 10 kg limit applies to the cabin bag, which is included on higher fares or bought as an add-on.

Can I take a cabin bag as well as the small bag?

Only if your fare includes one or you pay to add it. On the basic fare, the 40 × 30 × 20 cm bag is the whole free allowance.

Where should the free bag go on board?

Under the seat in front of you. The locker is for the paid cabin bag, so keeping the small bag genuinely small means you never compete for that space.

Check it against the others: the airline personal item size checker puts this allowance next to 18 other carriers and tells you whether a 25 × 17 × 14 cm bag passes.

Questions people ask

What is Vueling's personal item size?

40 × 30 × 20 cm, and it must go under the seat in front of you. It is free in addition to the cabin bag on most fares, as long as it fits the sizer.

Does a 25 × 17 × 14 cm bag fit Vueling?

Yes. At 14 cm deep it sits 6 cm inside Vueling's 20 cm depth cap, and it is shorter and narrower than the other two axes as well, so it drops into the sizer with room to spare.

Does the limit include handles and wheels?

Yes. Where Vueling publishes a personal-item size, the figure is the outside of the bag including handles, wheels and any fixed straps.