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Reader’s report: Sleepypod Air (and Olive!) on a United 737-900 plane

This started out as a post on Dog Jaunt’s Facebook page, but reader Marie kindly agreed that I could repost it here on the blog, where it wouldn’t scroll away. Olive is a cross between a Sealyham Terrier and a Connemara Jack Russell Terrier (officially, a “Heritage Connemara Jack Russell,” part of a project to ensure the survival of the Irish Jack Russell). Marie bought the Sleepypod Air (here’s my review of it) in the dark chocolate color — very pretty, and a nice change from black, but still dark enough to minimize its apparent size.

As Marie says, she and Olive were in an aisle seat; I don’t know precisely which version of the 737-900 they were on, but in all likelihood their plane had this layout; they were on the right side of the plane, probably in Rows 8-12.

“My new puppy, Olive, and I flew from Boston to San Francisco on a United 737-900. This is a photo of her under the seat in front of me in her Sleepypod Air In-Cabin Pet Carrier. She fit just fine even with the ends not folded up. I confirmed with the flight attendant that they were fine with this. We were in an aisle seat in Economy Plus which made the leg room decent. I am not sure I could handle this in the regular seats.”

A nice fit, even with one of those dratted aisle rails narrowing the available under seat space

A nice fit, even with one of those dratted aisle rails narrowing the available under seat space

Thank you so much, Marie! And welcome to your new home, Olive! I’m tagging this post so that it joins Dog Jaunt’s growing collection of pictures of carriers in action on planes.

5 comments

  • Kate

    I’ve flown on United 737, 767, 757 and CRJ planes plus SWA 373s and have never had a problem or been given any trouble using my Sleepypod Air to transport an 11 pound poodle mix.

  • Vee

    Hi! Did it really fit lengthwise like that in the aisle seat? That’s 22in extended, but the United carrier limit says 18in for soft carriers. I also read in United’s policies that travelers with pets have to be in a window seat (presumably because of the railing reducing space).

  • Hello, Vee — A lot of my posts (and a lot of reader reports) are about how carriers slightly larger or different in some way from an airline’s stated maximums still work as in-cabin carriers. This Air worked very well, as the picture shows, on this United 737-900. United has a variety of planes, though, and they all have different configurations — but the window seat requirement you’re remembering only applies to “an in-cabin pet in United Economy on Boeing 757-200 aircraft.” That’s reinforced by the picture on United’s main page about “Travel for animals” — look closely, and you’ll see that that blue & white hard-sided carrier is under an aisle seat. Generally speaking, the Air works nicely despite its length, because one or both of its ends can be temporarily folded up, if need be. I’m also extremely fond of the large SturdiBag, which is a regulation 18″ long (but exceeds the official height and width dimensions by an inch).

  • Andrea

    Ha, sometimes I wish I could hide under a seat when flying too:). This carrier does look fantastic and he could still look up at you for reassurance, love it!!

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