American Airlines Baggage Rules: Carry-On and Fees

American's carry-on limit is 22 x 14 x 9 inches (56 x 36 x 23 cm), measured including the wheels and handles. There is no published weight limit for the carry-on. The rule that matters at the gate is whether it fits in the sizer box at the airport, not what a scale says.

The personal item has to fit under the seat in front of you and stay within 18 x 14 x 8 inches (45 x 35 x 20 cm). American is one of the few U.S. majors that actually publishes a personal item size instead of leaving it vague, which makes it easier to check a bag before you fly instead of finding out at the gate.

Both allowances apply on every AA fare, Basic Economy included. If your bag is close to the limit, run it through this site's fit checker before you leave for the airport rather than trusting a tape measure at home, since gate agents use a sizer, not a ruler.

On standard (non-Basic-Economy) domestic fares, the first checked bag is $45 if you pay online in advance and $50 if you pay at the airport. The second bag is $55 online or $60 at the airport. Paying ahead through aa.com or the app saves $5 per bag every time, with no downside.

Basic Economy pays more. For tickets purchased on or after May 18, 2026, Basic Economy's first bag runs $50 prepaid or $55 at the airport, and the second bag is $60 prepaid or $65 at the airport. That is a real gap, so if you're comparing a Basic Economy fare against a standard fare and you know you're checking a bag, add the difference before you decide which fare actually costs less.

These figures cover the domestic U.S., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, and most of the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. International routes to Europe, Asia, and other regions run on separate fee tables, so check American's own baggage page for your specific route before you book.

American charges in tiers once a bag crosses 50 pounds or 62 linear inches (length plus width plus height). A bag between 50 and 53 pounds adds $30 on top of the standard checked bag fee. Between 53 and 70 pounds, the surcharge jumps to $100. Between 70 and 100 pounds, it's $200. American won't accept anything heavier than 100 pounds.

Oversized bags work the same way: 62 to 65 inches adds $30, and 65 up to the 115 inch cap adds $200. If a bag is both overweight and oversized, you pay the higher of the two fees, not both stacked together. The cheapest fix is almost always to move a few pounds into a second checked bag or a carry-on rather than pay the jump from the $30 tier to the $100 or $200 tier.

A first checked bag is complimentary for AAdvantage elite status members, most AA co-branded credit cardholders, passengers in premium cabins, and active-duty U.S. military traveling on orders. If you fly American more than a couple of times a year, the math on a co-branded card that waives the first bag fee pays for itself fast at $45 to $50 a trip.

Everyone else pays the standard fee schedule above, regardless of how many times they've flown with the airline that year, unless they hold status or a qualifying card.

It's worth checking your specific card's terms rather than assuming, since not every AA-branded card waives fees for every passenger on the reservation. Some cover only the cardholder, others extend the waiver to companions on the same booking, and the number of companions covered varies by card tier.

The most reliable way to skip the checked bag fee entirely is to pack light enough to stay inside the 22 x 14 x 9 inch carry-on limit, since that bag and your personal item are always free. A carry-on that's built to actually use the full box, corner to corner, holds more than people expect for a week-long trip.

If you do need to check a bag, pay online before you get to the airport. The $5 gap between prepaid and airport pricing sounds small per bag, but it adds up over a round trip with two checked bags each way, and there's no reason to leave that money on the table when the online price is locked in the moment you pay.

American's Basic Economy is not the stripped-down, personal-item-only fare it is on some other airlines. You get the same free carry-on bag and free personal item as every other fare class. The catch is boarding order: Basic Economy passengers board last, typically in group 9, and by then the overhead bins are often full.

American's own guidance is blunt about this: plan to check your carry-on bag and bring only the personal item on board if you're in Basic Economy, because gate agents will check bags for free once bin space runs out anyway. It's a practical workaround, not a policy restriction, but it's worth planning for so you're not scrambling at the gate.

This isn't unique to American, it's a federal rule that applies to every U.S. airline: if your checked bag is lost, the airline has to refund the bag fee you paid, and it can't make you sign away that right. For a bag that's significantly delayed rather than lost outright, domestic flights count a bag as significantly delayed if it isn't delivered within 12 hours of your flight landing, and you're entitled to a fee refund in that case too once you file a mishandled baggage report.