When it comes to budget airlines line Ryanair and easyJet it’s easy to be lured in by the purse-friendly prices, with some flights on offer for less than £20, but where the cheapest tickets are you’ll often find extra fees. This is especially true for those who want to travel with more than the allotted free hand luggage item – and in the case of Ryanair in particular, you don’t get much for free.

With budget airlines’ free baggage allowance seeming to shrink continuously over the years, the experts from Which? Travel put some common packing hacks to the test – and found that those often touted as being the best, might not necessarily get the most items in your small bag.

Since Ryanair’s allowance for its under-seat carry-on and larger paid-for cabin bag is the smallest of most budget carriers, Which? used bags that fit the Irish-carrier’s restrictions.

“We used two under-seat bags with the dimensions 40x25x25cm: a tiny wheelie case by a brand called Travel Ready and a squishy holdall by Kono that went viral on social media for being the ideal Ryanair-sized carry-on you can fill to the brim without going over the strict dimensions,” said Which?

“And then two pieces of larger carry-on luggage: a hard-shelled suitcase and a rucksack (50x40x20cm), both Cabin Max.”

Though vacuum bags and packing cubes are often recommended by experts and influencers on social media, Which? isn’t sold.

“Read manufacturers’ claims, and these are miracle products. Packing cubes will help you ‘pack more in less space’ while one brand of vacuum roll bags boasts it will help you fit three times as many clothes into your suitcase,” they said.

“Head to TikTok and you’ll find video after video of users raving about ‘the sorcery’ of compression cubes and how they help them to cram more into their bags.”

However, when it came to packing the experts found that the vacuum packaging and cubes fit less than simply folding their clothes into the bags.

Similarly, they also found folding fit slightly more clothes than when they rolled. “Our results show you can forget the hype around vacuum packing and compression cubes. Even rolling our clothes didn’t give us an advantage,” said the Which? experts.

“Instead, we found that folding was best. We fitted 129 garments across all four bags using this technique – that’s 16 more pieces of clothing than vacuum packing.

“The compression cubes social media influencers sometimes promote also failed to impress in our test. They fitted in 11 items fewer than folding, although they were useful for stuffing in lots and lots of socks because there were plenty of gaps left around each cube. But considering we spent over £50 on these cubes, we expected them to work miracles.”

How much free luggage can you take with Ryanair and easyJet?

All Ryanair fares include one small personal bag which can be brought on board, such as a handbag or laptop bag, but this can only measure up to 40 x 20 x 25cm and must fit under the seat in front of you. Anything more than that and you’ll have to pay extra.

easyJet customers on a standard flight ticket are entitled to a slightly larger under-seat cabin bag per person on board for free. It can be a maximum size of 45 x 36 x 20cm including any handles and wheels.

And if you arrive at the airport with a bag that doesn’t fit in the luggage sizer, prepare to pay far more than what you would have if you’d booked an extra bag online.

The key to avoiding fees? Check your luggage allowance and make sure you pack strategically. “Even going over an airline’s allowance by a few centimetres could end up costing you,” warned Which?.