hi, i'm flying to Australia in a few weeks, and only using carry on bags so need to maximize weigh and size

this page

http://www.airasia.com/ot/en/baggage-info/cabin-baggage.page

give the max size of a suitcase, but what if its a backpack? how would they measure that?

thx steve

I'm guessing they'll use this rule:

The main cabin baggage shall not exceed 56cm x 36cm x 23cm and does not weigh more than 7kg. This baggage should also be able to fit under the seat in front of you or the overhead compartment.

I know the backpack will have different dimensions, but if it's too big, they'll probably make you check it.

In my experience AirAsia is hyper-picky regarding both weight and dimensions of carry-ons. I expect the reason is, that they LOVE any opportunity to squeeze a few extra baht of revenue out of every pax. if I had a baht for every tedious discussion at check-in, between agent and customer, on that subject...

I agree with the comments above. Air Asia is super fussy about baggage and they do expect you to check in anything heavier than 7kg or larger than the dimensions, so it's unlikely that you would be able to cram enough clothes into a small rucksak to suffice for an international trip.

In my experience AirAsia is hyper-picky regarding both weight and dimensions of carry-ons. I expect the reason is, that they LOVE any opportunity to squeeze a few extra baht of revenue out of every pax. if I had a baht for every tedious discussion at check-in, between agent and customer, on that subject...

I've flown air asia dozens of times and was only hassled once for overweight carry on bag and in fact I was quite a bit overweight....generally never had them look twice at my carry on....but of course some people seem determined to try and carry way way too much onboard and then seem surprised when the agent hits them for serious baht to check the bags at the airport....every conversation I have heard involves a passenger whining because they exceeded the limits by a lot and got caught and had to pay.

Hola Amigo, to avoid the uncomfortable and expensive situation is very easy. When you check in don't take your backpack to the counter. When your check in procedure is finished take your pack and go inside the internal terminal. When you step inside the aircraft the cabin crew don't care with your backpack cause they have enough work with the boarding. Of course if you have a huge over sized pack they stop you but with a normal backpack in your back it's no problem.

Try it. I made many times. Regards.

How hard can it be:

The main cabin baggage shall not exceed 56cm x 36cm x 23cm and does not weigh more than 7kg.

Wear military-style trousers with thigh pockets, and a jacket with plenty of pockets too. You can fit a lot of your iPod / Kindle type stuff in there, as well as any small / heavy items.

Bit of a pain at security check-points is all!