Malaysia Airlines counts a checked allowance in kilograms on most routes and in pieces on others, and your ticket shows which. This guide draws on the airline’s cabin, checked and extra baggage pages and its Enrich membership page, read on 13 October 2026.
Cabin baggage
| Economy | Business Class and Business Suite | |
|---|---|---|
| Pieces | 1 | 2 |
| Weight | 7kg | 14kg combined, 7kg each |
One personal item counts inside the weight: a briefcase, handbag, laptop bag or small camera bag. The larger cabin bag is limited to 56 x 36 x 23cm (115cm in total) and goes overhead. The personal item is limited to 25 x 36 x 25cm and goes completely under the seat in front. A duty-free bag bought at the airport that day, an overcoat, or crutches or a walking stick are allowed as well.
Enrich and oneworld extras do not reach the cabin: the airline says the additional allowance for Platinum, Gold, Emerald and Sapphire members “apply only to checked baggage.”
Checked baggage by weight
Most routes use the weight concept. The allowance depends on the cabin and the fare brand, in kilograms:
| Cabin | Fare brand | Most routes | Malaysia to Japan and Japan to Malaysia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | Value | 20 | 35 |
| Economy | Basic | 25 | 35 |
| Economy | Flex or Shuttle | 35 | 35 |
| Economy | Group | 20 domestic, 30 international | 30 |
| Business Class | Basic | 40 | 40 |
| Business Class | Flex or Shuttle | 50 | 50 |
| Business Suite | All | 55 | 55 |
Each bag may weigh at most 32kg, and its length plus height plus width must be under 158cm. Bags of 158 to 204cm are “oversized” and may carry a surcharge. Larger items go as freight with MASKargo.
The three Economy brands are explained in our guide to the three Economy fares, including what else separates them. Flex carries 15kg more than Value. Price the same flight in each brand on Malaysia Airlines’ booking page and set the fare gap against the extra kilograms you would otherwise buy.
Routes that count pieces
The airline’s table for the piece concept covers international travel only, and the page says there is “No piece concept FBA for MH Domestic Flight.” The extra baggage page ties the piece concept to routes to Africa and the Americas. The checked baggage page does not name the routes itself.
| Economy | Business | |
|---|---|---|
| Ticketed allowance | 2 pieces, up to 23kg each | 2 pieces, up to 32kg each |
| Enrich Platinum | 4 pieces | 4 pieces |
| Enrich Gold | 3 pieces | 3 pieces |
| Enrich Silver | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| oneworld Emerald | 3 pieces | 3 pieces |
The same table lists oneworld Sapphire as “(1+1) 2 pieces”, which does not add up against a ticketed two pieces, and the page does not explain it.
Enrich and oneworld on weight routes
The Enrich membership page gives Silver 10kg extra, Gold 50% extra and Platinum 100% extra “on top of the standard entitlement when flying with Malaysia Airlines.” The pages give no kilograms for those percentages, and no weight-concept figure for oneworld Emerald or Sapphire. How the tiers map to oneworld is in our Enrich guide.
Infants and children
An infant may take one suitcase up to 115cm plus one fully foldable stroller, baby carriage or carrying basket, with a combined weight of no more than 10kg. The airline lists these as carry-on items and gives no separate checked weight for an infant. Strollers, car seats, baby seats and playpens travel at no extra cost, and children’s allowances “are the same as for adults.”
Buying extra baggage
The airline’s advice is to buy extra baggage in advance, up to 24 hours before departure. It gives 20% off the extra baggage fee when you buy “online through Manage My Booking or via our call centre”. You buy it online in Manage My Booking on malaysiaairlines.com.
Rates are per kilogram and rise with distance. The page prices them in US dollars only. From Malaysia:
| To | USD per kg |
|---|---|
| Within Malaysia | 15 |
| Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Saudi Arabia | 19 |
| India, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Qatar | 18 |
| Australia and New Zealand | 30 |
| United Kingdom and Europe | 36 |
Between two non-Malaysian zones the rate is higher, for example 38 between two cities in the 19 group. On routes to North America, South America and Africa a bag costs USD 280 a piece, and an Economy bag overweight up to 32kg adds USD 83.
Extra baggage is non-refundable, not transferable between passengers, and unused purchased weight is forfeited. If your bags exceed the free allowance plus what you bought, “the normal excess baggage rate” applies at the check-in counter. The page gives no figure for it, so there is no published counter price to compare with the online one.
Where the allowance does not apply
- The weight table leaves out Jeddah, Madinah and AMAL-operated flights, and the Japan table does too. The pages print no allowance for those flights.
- Extra baggage is “only available for flights operated by Malaysia Airlines” and is not valid on MASwings, interline or codeshare flights. If an itinerary includes other airlines, the page says different baggage rules may apply.
- The baggage pages do not mention Firefly. Its own allowance is in our Firefly baggage and fares guide.
Malaysia Airlines' own booking page, where the fare brand sets the bag allowance and Manage My Booking sells the discounted extra bag (affiliate link)