FlySafair caps a cabin bag at 7 kg, about 15.4 lb. That is the FlySafair baggage allowance a US traveler meets after landing in Johannesburg or Cape Town. It is tighter than what most US flyers ever see enforced at home.
FlySafair is a low-cost South African carrier. It flies domestic routes plus a few regional ones, to Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and Mauritius. It operates as Safair and is a separate airline from South African Airways or Airlink.
Carry-on size and weight
The cabin bag limit is 56 x 36 x 23 cm and 7 kg. FlySafair states this on its own help desk.
A separate personal item is allowed too. It has to be a laptop bag or a handbag, not both, sized 40 x 15 x 20 cm, and it must fit under the seat.
The FlySafair baggage allowance by fare tier
FlySafair sells three fares, and the checked bag is what changes between them. Every tier keeps the same 7 kg cabin allowance.
Lite fare skips the checked bag entirely, so one has to be added separately. Standard fare includes one 20 kg checked bag.
Business Class includes one 23 kg checked bag plus unlimited free date changes. Standard gets two free changes, and Lite carries a change penalty.
Checked baggage fees
A first checked bag costs about ZAR 185 when booked online. It runs roughly double that if bought at the airport instead.
A second bag adds about ZAR 250. Bags between 20 and 32 kg draw a further ZAR 250 overweight charge per bag.
Anything heavier than 32 kg has to travel as cargo, at the passenger’s own cost. It may not even ride the same flight as its owner. That fee ladder is the part of the FlySafair baggage allowance most quick comparisons leave out.
What the community pass turned up
Traveler reports on TripAdvisor describe FlySafair running short on overhead space on full flights. Cabin bags then get tagged at the gate and handed back at the aircraft door, the way Ryanair and other budget carriers work in Europe.
One flyer on that forum said their bag has never been weighed, as long as it could be lifted overhead unassisted. That is not a rule to count on, since a scale can appear at any gate on any day.
Other reviewers described paying extra for bags only a few kilos over. One traveler reported a ZAR 250 charge for 5 kg of excess weight on a checked bag. That traveler called the airport rate steep next to booking online first.
Connecting from an international flight
FlySafair does not publish an interline agreement with international carriers on its own site. That is a real gap in what is confirmed, not a guess dressed up as one.
Travelers arriving from abroad at O.R. Tambo should plan to clear immigration and collect their checked bags first. They can then hand bags over at FlySafair’s own counter and build in time for a fresh pass through airport security.
Packing around the limits
Since the cabin weight limit gets enforced unevenly, packing light in the carry-on is the safer plan. Heavier items belong in a paid checked bag instead.
A home scale before the trip avoids a gate surprise. Adding a checked bag online ahead of the flight, instead of at the airport, is the single habit that saves the most on this carrier.
Comparing FlySafair against other airline baggage fees and checking your own bag with a baggage fee calculator beats guessing at the counter. Reviewing carry-on size limits and general packing habits helps too, and the checked baggage rules page covers the rest of the industry for context.
The bottom line
The FlySafair baggage allowance rewards planning: a light 7 kg carry-on, a checked bag bought online, and a fare tier picked with the bag rule in mind. Travelers arriving on an international flight should expect to collect and recheck bags rather than count on a through fare covering it.
Some links on this page are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy through one, Carry On Sizes may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend. How this works.
More airlines in Africa
See every carrier in the Africa index.