Delta Baggage Fees: What Your Checked Bag Costs

For domestic Delta flights, the first checked bag costs $45 and the second costs $55, each way, as long as the bag stays under 50 pounds. That applies across Delta Main, Delta Comfort+, Delta Premium Select, and Delta Main Basic (Delta's Basic Economy fare), since Delta doesn't charge Basic Economy passengers a higher checked bag fee the way some competitors do.

Delta One and Delta First passengers get a different deal entirely: their checked bags fly free, and the weight allowance jumps to 70 pounds per piece instead of 50.

SkyMiles Medallion elite status and several Delta-branded credit cards also include a free checked first bag on most fares. If you fly Delta often enough to be weighing elite status or a co-branded card against the $45 fee, check the specific benefit terms for your status tier or card, since coverage and the number of included bags can vary.

Delta's standard checked bag allowance is 50 pounds and 62 linear inches, length plus width plus height combined. Cross either line and Delta adds a separate fee on top of the base checked bag charge.

Go over on weight: bags between 51 and 70 pounds add $100, and bags between 71 and 99 pounds add $200. Delta won't accept a bag at 100 pounds or heavier at any price. Go over on size: anything between 63 and 80 total inches adds $200 on top of the standard fee. Delta caps out at 80 linear inches; past that, the bag isn't accepted as checked luggage.

Delta's free carry-on allows one bag up to 45 linear inches, or 22 by 14 by 9 inches, with the measurement including wheels and handles. There's no published weight limit on the carry-on itself, and you also get one free personal item that fits under the seat in front of you.

This carry-on allowance applies to every Delta fare, Delta Main Basic included. Unlike some airlines that shrink Basic Economy down to a personal-item-only allowance, Delta doesn't touch the carry-on rules based on fare class. If you want to confirm your exact bag clears 45 linear inches before you fly, our free carry-on fit checker does that math for you in seconds.

If your checked bag weighs between 51 and 70 pounds, Delta charges a flat $100 overweight fee in addition to your standard checked bag fee. So a first checked bag at 65 pounds costs $45 plus $100, or $145 total, not $100 alone.

Push past 70 pounds and up to 99 pounds, and the overweight fee jumps to $200 on top of the base fee. Delta simply won't check bags at 100 pounds or heavier, so if your bag is anywhere near that line, it's worth weighing it at home before you leave, since airport scales don't leave room to negotiate.

A cheap luggage scale that clips onto the handle costs less than one overweight fee tier and pays for itself the first time it saves you $100. It's a small habit that matters more the closer you pack to Delta's 50 pound line, especially on a return trip home when souvenirs and gifts have added weight your bag didn't have on the way out.

The 50 pound, 62 linear inch standard applies to Delta Main, Comfort+, Premium Select, and Main Basic on domestic itineraries. Delta One and Delta First get a heavier 70 pound per-bag allowance and typically fly free, since premium cabin fares include checked bags as part of the ticket.

International routes carry their own separate fee and allowance tables that differ by region, so if you're flying Delta overseas, check the specific route's baggage page rather than assuming the domestic numbers above carry over unchanged. Some international itineraries include a free first checked bag in economy under different regional rules, which can be a meaningfully better deal than the $45 domestic charge, so it's worth checking your specific route's allowance before assuming the domestic fee applies.

Delta's $45 first bag and $55 second bag fee isn't unique to Delta anymore. Southwest and Alaska both charge that identical $45/$55 structure on domestic routes as of their most recent fee updates, a level of convergence that wasn't true just a couple of years ago when Southwest still advertised free checked bags as its whole selling point.

Where Delta does pull ahead slightly is at the weight ceiling: its overweight fee tops out at $200 for bags up to 99 pounds and simply refuses anything heavier, a structure close to Alaska's own 100 pound cutoff and Southwest's 100 pound cutoff too. In practice, the three largest US carriers now price a heavy checked bag almost identically, which makes Delta's real competitive edge the carry-on and personal item allowance rather than the checked bag fee itself.

If you fly more than Delta, it helps to browse every airline's carry-on rules in one place, since a 45 linear inch carry-on clears most US airlines but not every international one.

Our luggage size directory covers real bag dimensions pulled from actual product listings rather than rounded marketing numbers, and you can read more baggage guides for other airlines and cost comparisons.