LEVEL weighs cabin bags at the gate, and a lot of US flyers do not expect that. The LEVEL carry on size limit is 56 x 40 x 25 cm. In inches that is 22 x 15.7 x 9.8.
The weight cap is 10 kg, about 22 pounds. Go over on either number and an agent can pull your bag before you board.
LEVEL carry on size and weight limits
Every LEVEL fare includes one carry-on bag and one personal item. The carry-on suitcase must not exceed 56 cm in height, 40 cm in width, and 25 cm in depth. That includes the wheels and the handles.
The 10 kg weight cap applies to that same bag. Most US airlines only check carry-on size, not weight. Travelers coming from a domestic carrier often get caught off guard the first time LEVEL puts a bag on the scale.
Match your bag to the LEVEL carry on size chart before you leave for the airport, not after you reach the gate.
The personal item you get in every fare
The personal item has to fit under the seat in front of you. LEVEL limits it to 40 x 30 x 15 cm, or 15.7 x 11.8 x 5.9 inches. It can be a small handbag, a briefcase, a camera bag, or a baby bag with food and drink.
There is no separate weight limit stated for the personal item, only the size. A soft bag that squashes down tends to clear the gate check more easily than a rigid one.
What happens when your carry-on does not fit
LEVEL states the penalty plainly on its own baggage page. An oversized or overweight carry-on costs 50 euros, charged per bag and per flight. That applies even if you already checked a bag, and it is charged at the gate, not at booking.
The one saving grace is that a busy flight sometimes gets your oversized bag checked for free instead of fined. That is up to the agent. Do not plan a trip around that chance.
What travelers actually report at the gate
Community accounts line up with LEVEL’s own numbers more than most airlines do. On one travel forum thread, a flyer described a bag over 22 pounds being pulled and checked with a charge on the spot. That lands almost exactly at LEVEL’s stated 10 kg cutoff.
A separate forum thread showed the personal item rule causing more confusion than the carry-on itself. A traveler had to contact LEVEL directly to confirm a backpack the size of a school bag would pass as the personal item.
The size chart alone did not settle it for them. Pack the personal item as your smallest bag, not your backpack, and most of that ambiguity goes away.
Checked bags on LEVEL’s US routes
LEVEL flies nonstop between Barcelona and four US cities: Boston, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. Checked bags come in three weight tiers: 15 kg, 23 kg, and 32 kg.
The price depends on when you buy it. Adding a bag at booking is cheapest. Adding it after booking online costs more, and paying at the airport counter costs the most.
On the US routes, LEVEL’s own fee sheet lists the airport counter charge for a 23 kg bag. It runs $108 in the lower season and $120 in the higher one.
Fare choice decides whether you need to pay at all. Light and Premium Light include no checked bag. Comfort, Extra, and Premium Comfort each include one 23 kg bag, and Premium Extra includes two.
Overweight and oversized checked bags
A checked bag over 32 kg will not be accepted at all, full stop. Below that cutoff, LEVEL bills 12 euros for every kilogram past 23 kg.
A heavy 32 kg bag on a fare that only includes the base allowance adds up fast. Size works the same way linear inches do on US carriers, just in metric.
LEVEL’s limit is 158 cm total for height, width, and length combined, wheels and handles included.
LEVEL, Iberia, and the rest of IAG
LEVEL is not its own airline the way Delta or United are. Bookings run through Fly Level Barcelona LH SL, and the brand sits inside IAG.
Its stablemates are Iberia, British Airways, and Vueling. LEVEL used to fly shorter routes out of a separate Austrian operation, and that operation closed in 2020.
What remains is the Barcelona long haul brand, with the flying itself carried out under Iberia. Rules tied to the old European LEVEL no longer apply, only the ones on LEVEL’s current site.
The bottom line
The LEVEL carry on size rule is not unusual on paper. A 56 x 40 x 25 cm bag at 10 kg is a normal European limit, and the surprise is that LEVEL actually enforces the weight at US departure gates.
Check your bag’s weight before you leave for the airport. Keep the personal item small and soft, and confirm your fare’s checked bag allowance before the counter.
For the general rules every airline works from, see carry-on rules across airlines. You can also run your own bag through a size checker before you pack, or compare how airline baggage fees add up before you book a fare without a checked bag.
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