Width is the silent failure axis: United's 25.4 cm catches bags depth never would
Short answer: length and depth get all the attention, but width fails bags too. Sixteen of the seventeen carriers we track allow 30 cm or more of width; United allows 25.4 cm. A 30 cm-wide tote that is perfectly shallow still fails United. A 25 × 17 × 14 cm bag is 17 cm wide, so it clears United with eight centimetres to spare.
Everyone is wide except United
European carriers quote 30 cm of width. The US carriers quote 35.6 cm (American, Spirit) or 34.3 cm (Southwest). United quotes 25.4 cm — the tightest width in the set by a wide margin.
| Carrier | Allowed width | A 30 cm-wide bag? |
|---|---|---|
| Lufthansa, SWISS, Air France, KLM, BA, Iberia, Condor, Ryanair, easyJet, Transavia, Vueling, Wizz, Eurowings | 30 cm | passes |
| American, Spirit | 35.6 cm | passes |
| Southwest | 34.3 cm | passes |
| United | 25.4 cm | fails |
Why width bites soft bags
A soft tote is widest at its opened top, and travellers naturally pack it so the top spreads to 28–32 cm. That is harmless on fifteen carriers and fatal on United. Depth is the axis a bag gains as it fills; width is the axis it gains as it opens. Both are invisible until the sizer.
The bag that survives both axes
Our 25 × 17 × 14 cm bag is 17 cm wide and 14 cm deep — below United's width and below every carrier's depth. It is the rare personal item that does not have to choose between axes: it clears the strictest of each.
Should you buy the Jelkin 25 for this?
Width is the axis nobody checks, and United's 25.4 cm is the tightest width we track — a 30 cm-wide tote fails there while passing depth everywhere. The Jelkin 25 is 17 cm wide and 14 cm deep, which is the uncommon combination that clears the strictest value on both axes rather than trading one for the other. Buy it if you have ever been caught by a bag that was shallow but wide.
Jelkin 25 Cloud — the 25 × 17 × 14 cm bag this page keeps referring to
- 25 × 17 × 14 cm · 600 g empty (640 g with the detachable strap) · ~4.2 L usable
- Cloud faux shearling, 12 mm pile, with smooth calfskin trim and a stiffened Sellier frame
- Fits phone, wallet, keys, AirPods, lip gloss, sunglasses and an iPad mini — all at once
- Does not fit a 13-inch laptop or a change of shoes. We publish that on purpose.
$99 with free shipping and duties included · ships to 60+ countries · 30-day returns · 11 colours · The Duo — $169 · The Trio — $249
See the Jelkin 25 CloudHow to check this yourself before you fly
- Measure the bag at its opened top, not the base. Soft bags are widest where they open.
- Check United's 25.4 cm specifically if you fly domestic US. It is the outlier by a wide margin.
- Re-measure width when full. Width grows as the bag opens; depth grows as it fills.
- Avoid "shallow but wide" designs. The Jelkin 25 is 17 cm wide for exactly this reason.
Keep reading:
- airline personal item size checker — all 19 carriers side by side
- one-centimetre depth cliff — why 15 cm decides six airlines
- the 25 cm bag that fits every sizer — length-vs-depth end to end
- why external dimensions lie about capacity — how we measure bags
- Jelkin 25 — the 25 × 17 × 14 cm bag measured on this page
繼續閱讀
The 115 cm "total" rule: what airlines that measure three edges instead of a box really mean
Do airline alliances share a personal-item rule? We compared Star, Oneworld and SkyTeam
The US personal-item standard is 18 × 14 × 8 inches — and it is bigger than you think
The low-cost personal-item trap: the free box is small, the paid one is not
The wasted-allowance gap: how much free cabin space you leave behind with only a personal item
The personal-item volume ceiling: how many litres each airline actually allows (2026)