Yemenia caps its cabin bag at 55 by 38 by 20 centimeters and 7 kilograms. That single rule, one bag per passenger, is most of the published Yemenia Airways baggage allowance. It is stricter on weight than most Gulf and European carriers on similar routes.
Yemenia is still the national carrier of Yemen in 2026. Its own booking site currently shows no searchable flight availability on the homepage. That points to how unsettled the network remains after years of conflict around Sanaa.
What the carry-on rule actually says
The airline’s FAQ page states one cabin bag per passenger. The limit is 55 by 38 by 20 centimeters, capped at 7 kilograms.
There is no mention of a free personal item on top of that. A laptop bag or a purse likely counts as the one allowed piece.
A traveler used to a two piece cabin policy from a US airline should pack lighter here. Use a size checker tool to confirm a bag clears 55 by 38 by 20 centimeters before the airport.
Checked baggage: a gap the airline does not fill
Yemenia’s public FAQ does not state a checked baggage weight limit. It also skips a piece count and a standard size limit.
There is no first bag fee or second bag fee listed either, in the format most airlines use. This part of the Yemenia Airways baggage allowance is simply not published.
The site does list extra baggage rates by destination, priced in local currency. Cairo runs about 6 dollars, Amman about 11 dollars, and Khartoum, Mumbai, Jeddah, Riyadh and Addis Ababa carry similar small charges.
Those read as excess weight surcharges, not a full checked bag fee schedule. This page leaves the checked weight and fee fields blank rather than borrowing a number from a booking agent.
Flying to the US: read the ticket, not the airline
Yemenia’s own site shows no evidence of current nonstop US service. A US traveler reaching Yemen usually does so on a connecting itinerary.
On that kind of ticket, the baggage rules that matter most often come from the carrier who issued the ticket first. That is true even when one segment operates on Yemenia metal.
Check the checked baggage policy of the ticketing carrier, since interline agreements typically hand it control of the full journey. TSA screening rules still apply at any US departure or connection point.
What community reports say, and what they do not
Traveler accounts of Yemenia baggage handling are sparse. That is unlike better documented Gulf and European airlines with heavy US traffic.
The gap is itself informative. Yemenia’s route network has shrunk so much that few US based travelers fly it often enough to leave a paper trail of gate check stories.
Travelers on nearby Middle Eastern and East African routes describe a broader regional pattern instead. A cabin bag under the limit rarely gets weighed, but anything visibly bulky near 7 kilograms invites a gate scale.
Fare tiers and fees Yemenia does publish
Yemenia’s FAQ does not break out separate economy and business allowances in a public fare grid. Many full service carriers do that; this one does not.
The city by city extra baggage rates above appear to be the main published fee structure for excess weight. There is no oversize fee or overweight fee schedule listed alongside them.
Confirm current baggage fees directly with a Yemenia office before flying. A small carrier’s fee page can lag behind its actual practice, so treat any Yemenia Airways baggage allowance figure from a third party site with caution.
Yemen’s disrupted network and what it means here
Yemenia has flown through years of civil conflict. Its schedule has shifted repeatedly as routes into and out of Sanaa opened, closed and reopened.
A live search on the airline’s own homepage returning no flights fits that pattern of instability. It does not by itself mean the airline has stopped operating.
A separate operator, FlyAden, has also begun flying from Aden. A Yemen bound traveler should confirm which airline actually holds the ticket before assuming Yemenia’s rules apply.
See the wider guide to airline baggage rules for how carriers compare on a single itinerary.
Packing around a strict cabin limit
A 7 kilogram cabin cap sits below the 10 to 12 kilograms many regional peers allow. Weigh a bag at home before heading out.
Move dense items like books or a laptop charger into a checked bag if the cabin piece is close to the limit. The packing guide and a home luggage scale solve most of this before it becomes a gate argument.
Choosing the right luggage sized to 55 by 38 by 20 centimeters avoids the issue outright. Check bag dimensions against carry on limits using the carry on size guide before buying.
The bottom line
The confirmed Yemenia Airways baggage allowance is narrow. One cabin bag at 55 by 38 by 20 centimeters and 7 kilograms, no stated personal item, and no published checked weight or fee schedule.
What exists instead are city by city excess baggage rates. Anyone connecting through Yemenia as part of a longer US trip should lean on the ticketing carrier’s rules and confirm details directly with Yemenia before departure.
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