PSA: The Away “Carry-On” does not fit Ryanair’s cabin bag sizer — check your dimensions before you fly
Learned this the hard way, so posting to save someone else the gate fee.
Away’s flagship suitcase is literally named “The Carry-On.” Its dimensions are 55 × 35 × 23 cm. Ryanair’s maximum cabin bag (even with Priority & 2 Cabin Bags) is 55 × 40 × 20 cm.
That 23 cm depth vs. 20 cm limit means it will not drop freely into the metal sizer at the gate — and Ryanair measures everything including wheels and handles. If it doesn’t fit, you’re paying ~£75 to gate-check it. No exceptions.
What makes it worse: Ryanair reportedly raised the staff bonus to €2.50 per non-compliant bag caught, with no monthly cap. So borderline bags are getting flagged far more than they used to. If you flew pre-2025 and never got checked, that’s no longer a safe assumption.
The frustrating part is that Away sizes this bag to US carrier standards (22 × 14 × 9 in), where it’s perfectly fine on American, Delta, United, etc. But “carry-on” isn’t a regulated term, so a premium bag marketed as THE carry-on fails on Europe’s biggest airline, and nothing on either company’s site connects those dots for you.
TL;DR: If you’re flying Ryanair (or most European LCCs), measure your bag against 55×40×20. The Away Carry-On, and most US-standard 22×14×9 bags, are too deep.
Anyone found a hard-shell bag that actually fits Ryanair’s sizer AND US carriers?