How we rate — the FlyRulebook Score
A headline fare tells you almost nothing about what a trip with bags actually costs. The FlyRulebook Score is our answer: our own 1–5 rating of every one of the 118+ airlines we cover, scored on the three things that really decide how much baggage will cost you and how badly it can bite. No airline pays to be rated, and we are not affiliated with any of them.
Baggage generosity
1–5How much you actually get before you pay — free personal item, free carry-on, and any included checked bags. A 5 gives you generous allowances on the base fare; a 1 is an ultra-low-cost carrier where nearly everything past a small personal item costs extra.
Fee transparency
1–5How clear and trap-free the pricing is. A 5 has simple, flat, clearly published fees; a 1 buries gotchas in the fine print — gate-price penalties, stacking surcharges, and fare classes that quietly strip your carry-on.
Family-friendly
1–5How well the airline treats families on baggage — infant and stroller allowances, seating policies, and the card or bundle savings that help a group fly for less. A 5 is genuinely family-friendly; a 1 nickel-and-dimes every extra.
How we assign the scores
Each score is an editorial judgment, made consistently across every airline from that airline's own published baggage rules — not scraped numbers and not AI guesses. We read the official carry-on and checked-bag policies, the overweight and oversize surcharges, the fare-class fine print, and the card and elite perks, then score all three axes on the same scale so a 4 means the same thing from one airline to the next.
They are a starting point, not a promise. Fees change often and vary by route, fare type, and date, so we date every guide and link the official policy. Use the FlyRulebook Score to compare airlines at a glance — then read the bottom line and the full fee tables on each airline page before you book.
Why we built our own system
Most baggage pages just restate the airline's fee table. That is useful, but it does not help you choose between two airlines on the same route. By scoring every airline the same way, we let you compare them at a glance, rank the best and worst for bags, and see the traps before the gate agent does. It is the guide we wish we had before every trip where bag fees quietly doubled the fare.
Think we got an airline wrong, or spotted a fee that changed? Tell us — we update these as policies change.