Philippine Airlines will bill you USD 125 for one bag being the wrong size. That only happens if you are leaving from Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, or Toronto. Everywhere else on the PAL network, an oversized carry-on just gets checked at the gate instead.
That is one of the more unusual parts of the philippine airlines baggage allowance. It catches a lot of travelers off guard.
What counts as your free carry-on
Philippine Airlines allows one carry-on bag per passenger, free, in economy and business. The bag must fit within 56 x 36 x 23 cm, or 22 x 14 x 9 in. Maximum weight is 7 kg, about 15 lbs.
You also get one personal item. That can be a small handbag, an overcoat, reading material, or a laptop with its case. PAL caps the laptop bag at 45 x 35 x 20 cm, 18 x 14 x 8 in.
There is no separate weight limit stated for the personal item. Only the laptop bag gets a size cap.
Not sure your own bag clears these numbers? Run it through the size checker before you pack.
Checked baggage on US and Canada routes
On flights between the United States or Canada and the Philippines, four economy fares share one allowance. Supersaver, Saver, Value, and Flex all include two checked pieces at 23 kg each. That is about 50 lbs per bag.
Premium Economy steps up to two pieces at 25 kg, or 55 lbs. A single bag cannot exceed 32 kg, or 70 lbs, on any fare. PAL says an overweight bag has to be repacked at check-in.
It will not be accepted for carriage otherwise. This part of the philippine airlines baggage allowance applies per ticket. It does not carry across a connection booked as a separate ticket.
Business class gets one flat number
Business Value and Business Flex fares carry the same allowance. Both give two checked pieces at 32 kg, or 70 lbs, each. There is no split between fare tiers here, unlike economy.
That is simpler than the four separate economy tiers above.
The extra piece, overweight, and oversize fees
Fly between the Philippines and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Seattle, New York, or Chicago, and the fee schedule gets specific. The same numbers apply on Vancouver and Toronto routes. A piece beyond your free allowance costs USD 250.
A bag between 63 and 80 total inches also costs USD 250. Total inches means length plus width plus height added together. Go bigger, 81 inches or more, and the charge jumps to USD 750.
A bag weighing 23.1 to 32 kg costs USD 250 extra on its own. Combine oversize and overweight on one bag and PAL charges USD 750 for it. Check what your own suitcase would cost with the baggage cost calculator before you book.
What travelers actually report about enforcement
Travel forum threads about Philippine Airlines checked baggage describe real discretion at the check-in counter. Some travelers get waved through a few kilos over. Others get charged for being just a couple kilos past the limit on the same route.
Carry-on weight checks read as looser than the printed 7 kg limit suggests, especially against budget rivals like Cebu Pacific. The exception is domestic legs flown on smaller Dash 8 or ATR turboprops, where travelers report carry-on bags get weighed more consistently than on PAL’s mainline jets.
Balikbayan boxes come up often in these threads too. Travelers confirm PAL checks them as ordinary baggage against the same size and weight allowance, not a separate category, which lines up with PAL’s own packaging guidance below.
Packing food, gifts, and cardboard boxes
Philippine Airlines gets oddly specific about carton and styrofoam boxes. PAL asks passengers to use thick, sturdy cardboard so boxes survive ramp handling. Styrofoam coolers need to sit inside a sturdy carton.
Food and liquid items need extra wrapping to stop leaks. This is not boilerplate copied from a template. It is aimed at passengers checking pasalubong, the balikbayan boxes and food gifts that are routine on Manila flights.
Few US carriers bother spelling this out at all. Our bag finder can point you toward rigid luggage built to survive that kind of handling too.
Where the philippine airlines baggage allowance gets less clear
PAL’s own pages do not publish one combined checked bag price for a trip booked as two separate tickets. Each ticket’s own allowance applies on its own leg instead. The site also does not state a personal item weight limit, only its size.
If you are connecting onward within the Philippines on a separate domestic ticket, plan ahead. You may need to reclaim and recheck bags in Manila.
You can confirm current figures directly on PAL’s own baggage allowance page before you fly.
The bottom line
The philippine airlines baggage allowance rewards staying inside the size and weight box PAL sets. It punishes only genuine excess. Economy travelers on US and Canada routes get two free checked bags at 23 kg each, a reasonably generous baseline next to many US airlines.
The one rule worth memorizing is the USD 125 carry-on fee. It only applies departing Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Toronto. If you are weighing PAL against a US partner like United Airlines, or a rival Asian carrier such as Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific, the figures above are the ones to line up side by side.
Our editorial policy explains how every number on this page gets checked against the airline itself.
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