Virgin carry on limits

I think when we've flown Virgin we've used the same carryon sizes as we use in the US. And we really like flying Virgin.

Hi Hannah, we flew Virgin this year from Seattle to Heathrow - nice experience in their Delta Comfort + comparable seats. And we both experienced less jet lag than normal which I’ve heard may be due to the plane environment. We each brought a carry on. My husband’s is the older RS roller bag, and I have a Cotopaxi 35L backpack. Neither of ours were weighed, but they didn’t look overly filled.

So they don't have a scale of some kind at the boarding gate to weigh carry-on bags? When we flew them a few months ago our bags weren't weighed but we thought it might be because we were the last people boarding right before they closed the door.

I flew Virgin from LAX to London and back and didn't find their luggage rules any different from American airlines like Delta. You should pack as you usually would following the general guidelines and assume you'll be OK, if not your bag will be gate checked for free and you'll have to wait 5 minutes for it.

If you're not, you should be flying their premium econ. It's a very pleasant experience, watch your reservation you might be able to bid your way into it (just watch the bids for a while, they fluctuate up and down quite widely).

Phred, there is a difference between Virgin's carry-on weight limit and Delta/AA.

If you’re flying in our Economy (Light, Classic & Delight) or Premium cabins, you can take one piece of hand baggage weighing up to 10kg (or 22lb). https://help.virginatlantic.com/us/en/baggage/hand-baggage.html

cala Thanks so much; have they ever weighed your carry-on bags? That's the piece I'm most nervous about. (We've not flown internationally together yet and so honestly I'm not yet sure what our luggage weight would actually come to.)

I also really appreciate everyone else chiming in with their experiences and hearing pleasant things about an international flight! :)

Yes, Virgin will weigh your bags.
Bag needs to be:
9 x 14 x 22 inches, 22 pounds.
https://help.virginatlantic.com/us/en/baggage/hand-baggage.html

The first time I flew Virgin, they put my bag down into a square wire basket to see if it conformed to the size regulations.
But did not weigh it.
The second time I flew Virgin, they weighed the bag but did not put it into the square wire basket to measure size.

My carry on was an L.L.Bean tote, 9 x 14 x 22 inches exactly.

I did carry a large purse into which I put some heavy items (including a pair of shoes).
Plus I wore a ski parka onto the plane, with a couple of heavy items in the pockets.

Rebecca This is incredibly helpful (and unfortunate lol) ... I admit I laughed at "before weighing in," as though we're at a medical appointment or something!

When I was reading Virgin's rules yesterday I got even more concerned about the weight limit of the carry-on bag because they have a whole thing on their website about your personal item needing to be "as it would regularly be used," which of course could present problems to trying to finagle the system, and so I was relieved to read about your extra shoes in your purse! (Though of course so much of this is dependent on the benevolence of the attendant.)

Okay, so I just might be placing an order for Travel Pro's Maxlite 5 Compact luggage, which is precisely 22x14x9 (wheels included), and doing some practice runs of packing for weight limits. Fingers crossed, everyone.

"Okay, so I just might be placing an order for Travel Pro's Maxlite 5 Compact luggage, which is precisely 22x14x9 (wheels included), and doing some practice runs of packing for weight limits. Fingers crossed, everyone."

I think practice packs are key in addition to getting the lightest weight bag that works for you. It looks like the spinner you've got listed weighs 5.1# which is an excellent starting point.

Do you have a kitchen scale and a portable luggage scale? When I was trying to meet Air France's luggage weight requirements last year I wound up weighing everything. I weighed every packing cube, every pouch, every shirt, pants, shoes, 3-1-1 bag etc. I was worried they would weigh the carry on plus my personal item so wanted them as light as I could get. I did get my suitcase down to 16.1# by going with a new bag (mine weighs 4.5# so yours is right in the ball park), changing out the packing cubes I like best for lighterweight ones, going with shirts that were a few ounces lighter. Everything.

In the end Air France did not weigh my bag but it was light enough that I could easily load it into an overhead bin or get off and on trains with no problem.

I also recommend you write down all the weights as you go because surprise, surprise, I referred to them for my 2 trips this year as well!

"they have a whole thing on their website about your personal item needing to be "as it would regularly be used," which of course could present problems to trying to finagle the system, and so I was relieved to read about your extra shoes in your purse! (Though of course so much of this is dependent on the benevolence of the attendant.)"

Actually the benevolence of the attendant has nothing to do with it. When they check you in at the Virgin desk, they never weigh your purse, nor look in it. It does go through the scanner, much later, as you are going through security. They don't care what's in your purse, unless it's a firearm or another object on their "not allowed" list.

About the purse being used as it would regularly be--Make sure it's a purse and not a tote. It should not be so loaded down, the extra stuff is spilling out the top.

Hannah, glad to be of help!
I took a look at Travel Pro's Maxlite 5 Compact luggage, and it sure is a nice looking bag!
I see Pam has looked at the weight of the bag, and 5 pounds, empty, is great!

Hannah, do a quick practice pack. Jump on your bathroom scale holding your filled bag, then step off and weigh yourself. Subtract the number. You may be worrying about nothing.

After that hurdle, then you can begin to assess what you really need to take or what are just extras. As incentive, leave room in your suitcase for bringing home something fun from York!

IF you want help paring down, there’s lots of helpful hints from people on the forum. My filled bag weighs 12 pounds for a month, but that isn’t for everyone & certainly doesn’t mean yours needs to be!

By the way, we took a city York bike tour in June and loved it! Really enjoyed York, and the people there were very nice to us!

personal item needing to be "as it would regularly be used," which of
course could present problems to trying to finagle the system

Probably not if the one personal item is a small backpack which they specifically allow.

Your handbag, small backpack/rucksack, pocketbook or purse, as you
would normally use it (in other words, not just being used to contain
items that would otherwise be regarded as baggage). This must be small
enough to fit under the seat in front of you.

They dont list size but to be consistent with what many other airlines consider underseat size I would keep it under 40 x 30 x 15 cm. The smaller the better as its less of a target for checks if it appears it will easily fit under the seat. Check me, but i did not see a weight limit or that the weight was counted with the carryon weight which means you put all those small but heavy gadgets in it and keep the carryon to fabric only.

Pam Trust me that I say this as a hyper-organized person: I am inspired by your own hyper-organized commitment to carry-on travel. 🤩

Rebecca I so appreciate you sharing your first-hand Virgin experiences. That the personal bag isn't a big deal is super helpful.

JEAN! Wowza! 12 pounds for a month! I need to check and see if you've done any packing reports. Holy smokes. (How often do you do laundry while gone?)

Mr. E It definitely seems like you're right about the heavy gadgets plan! I also appreciate you sharing the (general) personal bag dimensions. (As an aside, Budapest is on our list for future travels!)

Hi Hannah,

Hopefully this doesn’t derail your original question, but here’s my packing list:
The trick is to select every dress you like that dries fairly quickly & can be sink-washed. Just zero out a large kitchen bowl on a kitchen scale and then weigh each one. Pick the ones that are the lightest weights. What doesn’t seem like a huge difference will all of a sudden add up to several pounds saved when all of the choices are made. I switched empty toiletry kits and saved half a pound, too!

When I’m traveling by myself, I quickly wash items each night in the hotel sink. If I’m traveling with my husband, I wash every other night. I use the Earth Breeze laundry sheets that look like a dryer sheet, or I just use the hotel shampoo.

Something that helps (I used to calculate minimum quantities of parts to keep manufacturing lines running) is to consider how long it will take to replace dirty shirts with clean ones. Since I’m washing clothes every night when traveling solo, I’m good as long as I have one clean & dry shirt/pants (or dress if I want) for the next morning. So, even my four total tops is bringing at least two too many….but I like some variety. : ). And I do try to pick out my clothes with pretty colors or designs that I really like!

What I wear on the plane & the contents of my money belt:
3/4 sleeve B&W top
Pashmina scarf
Black pants
Underwear
Keen Sandals
Passport
CDC Card
2 ATM Cards
1 Credit Card
Euro large bills

What is in my personal bag - a Sherpani tote:
5 Coffee Nescafe sticks (to survive time zone changes & avoid migraines)
3 Individual Bags of nuts
2 Protein bars
Itinerary, reservation tickets
iPad
Apple shuffle, earphones, charger
Purse is inside my day pack when taking transportation; otherwise, I only carry a purse during the day. (contents listed here:)
PHONE
Reading glasses
Mints
Some TP
2 pens & paper
Purple Coin purse
Purell individual packs

What is in my Cotopaxi 35L backpack: (This is in addition to what I wear on the plane.)
2 lightweight dresses
3 tops
32 degree jewel tone scoop neck long-sleeve microthin top (unless it’s Summer)
1 Black capris (in 2023, I left the capris at home & brought an extra dress)
1 scarf (I usually buy an extra scarf during the trip as a souvenir)
4 panties, 2 bras
2 culotte half-slips
Lightweight nightie
iPhone/iPad chargers
Small flashlight
3 RS Electrical Adapters
Collapsible silicon cup - for coffee & to not use hotel bathroom cups
Lightweight Toiletry Kit contents:
Comb
Toothbrush/2 travel toothpastes (buy a small tube for rest of month)
Razor
Lightweight sunscreen
Mascara & Eyebrow mascara
Lipstick/Burts Bees balm
Crystal Deodorant
Dry makeup remover cloths
Meds
Conditioner - tiny concentrated tube, like a small toothpaste
Q-tips
Chunky lightweight necklace & extra earrings
Columbia lightweight raincoat
Shoe bag for dirty laundry
A few ziploc bags
Earthbreeze detergent sheets in a small Ziploc
A backup pair of reading glasses; sunglasses
2 KN95 masks; 3 Covid home kits (fit them into one box)
1 Plastic silverware

The year of the Summer Olympics in South Africa VA weighed my and my partners carryon. One was a kilo heavy one was almost 2 kilo light. No grace. We ended up on the floor trying to guess what stuff weighed and repacking.

Most airlines rarely enforce, unfortunately. They should as it would make flying a bit more enjoyable if everyone cut back a bit. But when they do check it's not worth screwing up your plans by not being compliant.

Hannah, the only airline that has ever weighed my bag was Austrian. The other European airlines that we have flown are British,Air Lingus, Air France and a Turkish airline that was not The Turkish airline. Air France did make my husband check a carryon that had just been given to him by Delta when he reached a million miles. He is still furious about that. My Maxlite 5(the smaller one) passed. I now use it for any airline that's not a US legacy carrier and take a school-size backpack as my personal item, which I'm not sure would pass the regulations you just stated. We do always fly Premium Economy and sometimes Business Class, so Virgin(but not Air France) may be less picky with those customers.

I know airlines are supposed to put bags into a template to judge their size, but in all my recent domestic and international travels they have never looked twice at the weight of my checked bags and didn't even bother with my carryons. I suppose like most of travel, it's the luck of the draw.

I would hope a full size airliner can easily handle whatever is put into the cargo hold. When it comes to little weedhoppers and helicopters, then I understand worrying about weight.

Jean Oh thank you! I've bookmarked this to come back and reference your packing list for inspiration.

Mr E It really would make everything so much easier and less stressful if everyone knew precisely what the expectations actually are consistently in practice, rather than just theoretically but sometimes in reality.

Cala oof I feel your husband's pain on that one. Also: a million miles!

Phred The luck of the draw indeed. Tricky for a rule follower (for better and for worse) like myself 🤪

Well here you go, Hannah, this should get you around any weight limits on your bag https://www.amazon.com/Travel-Pillow-Stuff-Clothes-Carry/dp/B0BFRHGSZK 😜😆

Hannah, that million miles was just on Delta and it was at least five years ago! I have no idea how many miles on Delta he has added since then or how many miles he has on American, which he now prefers to Delta. And no, I seldom go along. Since we now travel back and forth between two cities, I have greatly reduced my trips to other places.

MARY! "The only travel pillow that saves you money!" Brilliant! 🤣

Mr E It really would make everything so much easier and less stressful
if everyone knew precisely what the expectations actually are
consistently in practice, rather than just theoretically but sometimes
in reality.

The expectations are probably that

"no mater what rules we implement, print, advise, put on our website; the majority will rationalize a reason to ignore them."

This is the way to go if you want to take the smallest luggage possible but take more than it holds. (I used to use one until a zipper broke.)

https://www.scottevest.com/

I have used the max light 5 small suitcase for the last two trips I have taken. It actually holds quite a bit and is so light and easy to use. I have several other carry on suitcases, but this definitely is the one I will use from now on.

Lucky Girl, I think its too big for a number of the international carriers.

Hannah, I just returned from a flight Seattle to Heathrow. I to was stressed about the carryon weight issue. My bag did weigh exactly the max allowed per the website. They did not weigh my bag but my flight both ways was practically empty. The only airline I had weigh my carry on prior to boarding was Lufthansa. I loved Virgin it was my first time flying with them but won't be my last.

Kathleen Thanks for sharing! It's honestly wild to me how everyone raves about Virgin (though I'll acknowledge I'm running into seat selection issues; it looks like they've maybe made recent changes where for flights booked from the US you can't choose seats until check in, not even for a fee ... but I'm still working on looking into this). Anyway, I remember reading about your last-minute UK trip and went back to read your updates. I'm so glad you went for it and had a lovely time. A dear friend of mine has also celebrated wrapping up breast cancer treatment earlier this year with multiple, spontaneous travel plans. Well done, both of you.

I'm running into seat selection issues; it looks like they've maybe made recent changes where for flights booked from the US you can't choose seats until check in, not even for a fee ... but I'm still working on looking into this).

Which fare type did you buy? Economy Classic I hope...but sounds like you went Economy Light? If so, try and change your fare otherwise you and your husband might not sit together and it's likely going to be middle-seat hell.

https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/us/en/economy-cabin-and-seats.html

It's honestly wild to me how everyone raves about Virgin

I thought they were no better, not worse than Delta. More or less. I mean, the accents were prettier, but my husband thinks the food on Delta was better. I think for coach there's probably not a ton of difference between major airlines in terms of food and seats. But I've not flown anything but cheap seats, so what do I know? 🤨

Mary we actually sprung for Delta Comfort+ (Economy Delight with Virgin)! ... It seems like they made a change just in the last few months for new bookings. But I keep finding conflicting info.

Oh, yuck. Looks like they changed it in Sept. this year.

https://www.vaflightstore.com/important-notifications/

And based on this:

https://help.virginatlantic.com/us/en/seating.html

the option now to pay for advanced seat selection "excludes bookings from the US" (scroll down to the * info.

So I suppose we're gonna have to be ON IT with an exact 24h check in so we can try to snag seats together at the very least.

I would contact them for clarity on the "excludes bookings from the US" part.

Clear as mud. Could mean you get to book for free.

Or go through the booking process and see if it makes you an offer before final sale.

Just a quick update to share that three (🙄) phone calls later, still no answers (or seats). I've given up for now, but if I do eventually get the stamina to continue trying for actual answers about any new US-based policies I'll post a thread about it.

About reserving seats for US-based customers: I just booked a ticket on Economy Delight for nonstop round trip Tampa to Heathrow in April 2024 and was able to choose my seats on both legs for no extra charge.

Kathy thanks so much for posting this, it was just the boost I needed to make my fourth call about our seats!

We now have seats! But I have no idea how/why. The Delta rep had me on hold so she could talk directly to Virgin, and they were able to book us seats (no charge), but were unable to explain why I wasn't able to do seat selection myself online (via Delta or Virgin's sites) or why the previous Virgin reps were also unable to pull up the seat map to do it for me. Soooo ... 🤷‍♀️

Oh, good! What a relief!

You’re very welcome. Glad it worked out for you!