12 Carry-On Packing Hacks That Actually Work (and the Viral Ones to Skip)

Look up your airline’s free under-seat size before you pick a bag: 40 × 30 × 20 cm on Ryanair, Wizz Air, Vueling, Volotea and TUI fly, 45 × 36 × 20 cm on easyJet, 40 × 30 × 25 cm on Eurowings (checked July 2026). Measure your bag at home, packed, the way the sizer will.

• Ryanair, Wizz, Vueling: 40 × 30 × 20 cm.
• easyJet 45 × 36 × 20 · Eurowings 40 × 30 × 25.

Wear your heaviest shoes, your jeans and your jacket on the plane. Then go one step further: a packing jacket carries a full extra outfit rolled into the tube pockets of its lining. On the major EU carriers we checked, a worn jacket counts as clothing, not luggage.

• Wear the heavy shoes, jeans and jacket.
• A packing jacket carries one more outfit in its lining.

You were going to carry a travel pillow anyway. A stuffable one holds a change of clothes inside and still works as a pillow. Pick a compact U, not a long horseshoe, so it does not sag onto your chest when full.

• A stuffable pillow holds a change of clothes.
• Choose a compact U — long horseshoes sag.

Packing cubes and vacuum bags shrink the clothes but leave a soft bag free to bulge past the sizer. A compression backpack presses everything between two hardshell halves and holds 40 × 30 × 20 cm while it is buckled shut — no pump, no battery.

• Cubes shrink clothes; the soft bag still bulges.
• A hardshell compression backpack holds its size.

Choose two or three colours that all go together and everything becomes an outfit: four tops and two bottoms make eight combinations. It is the oldest packing hack because it works — fewer items, no “just in case” pieces.

• Two or three colours that all match.
• 4 tops × 2 bottoms = 8 outfits.

Shoes are the bulkiest thing most people pack. Wear the heavy pair and pack at most one light, flat pair — and stuff socks inside them so the space is not wasted.

• Wear the heavy pair, pack one light pair.
• Stuff socks inside the shoes.

Roll clothes for tube-shaped spaces — jacket pockets, the pillow, a toiletry corner. Fold them flat for a compression backpack, where flat layers press evenly and come out with fewer creases.

• Roll for tubes: jacket, pillow.
• Fold flat for the compression backpack.

Keep liquids, passport, laptop and power bank where you can reach them without unpacking. The backpack has a quick-access box at the back for exactly that, so the clothes stay compressed while you fill the tray.

• Liquids, passport, power bank within reach.
• The clothes stay compressed at security.

Solid shampoo and deodorant, a few small refillable bottles, and nothing the hotel already provides. Liquid rules differ between airports while new scanners roll out, so check your departure airport before you pack.

• Solids and small refillables.
• Liquid rules vary by airport — check yours.

Since 27 March 2026 the ICAO rule limits passengers to two power banks, and they may not be recharged on board. Power banks always travel in the cabin, never in checked bags.

• Max two power banks (ICAO, March 2026).
• Cabin only — never in checked bags.

Plan for souvenirs on day one: on the way back the pillow can hold the clothes you are not wearing, which frees space in the backpack for whatever you bought.

• Plan souvenir space on day one.
• On the way home the pillow takes the overflow.

The viral stunts — wearing ten layers, stuffing a pillowcase with half your wardrobe, sneaking on a second bag — tend to end in a gate fee or a very sweaty flight. Ryanair charges around €70–75 for a bag that is too big at the gate (2026). Packing smarter is cheaper.

• No ten-layer stunts, no pillowcase cramming.
• A too-big bag at Ryanair’s gate: ~€70–75.