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Photo Friday: Daisy, in a large SturdiBag, under the seat of a Southwest 737-800 plane

I have flown with Chloe on a Southwest 737-800, but while I remembered a tape measure, I hadn’t yet figured out that it would be a good idea to include a picture of Chloe’s carrier (in that case, her large SturdiBag) in my post about the available space. Thankfully, Dog Jaunt has sensible readers, including Claire, who traveled either to or from Phoenix on a Southwest 737-800 plane with Daisy, her tricolor Cavalier, and sent a picture:

How familiar the sight of that little Cavalier nose is — this could totally be a shot of Chloe

I particularly like how Claire included the safety card in the shot, so it’s immediately apparent what kind of plane is accommodating that large SturdiBag so neatly.

Thank you, Claire! I’m adding your info and pictures to Dog Jaunt’s ongoing series of posts recording airplane under-seat measurements, and to Dog Jaunt’s ever-growing collection of pictures of carriers deployed under plane seats.

Related posts:

  1. Reader’s report: Large SturdiBag on a Southwest 737-700 plane Here’s another photo to share with you of a large SturdiBag in position under a plane seat, thanks to reader...
  2. Photo of Chloe’s large SturdiBag on a United 757-200 Too many times in the past, I posted airplane under-seat measurements without including a picture of Chloe’s carrier installed under...
  3. Pet carrier picture: Large SturdiBag on Virgin America A320 I’ve reported before about the dimensions of the under-seat space available (in the main cabin) on a Virgin America A-320,...
  4. Reader’s report: Using a large SturdiBag carrier on three Delta planes (MD-90, 767-300, and 737-800) Reader Tahoe, a Vizsla of undisclosed age, sent me a message with useful information about his people’s recent (well, frankly,...
  5. Update: Height of Southwest’s under-seat spaces (737 -300 and -700 series) Back in September 2010, I reported that the height of Southwest’s under-seat spaces, at least on a 737 -700 series...

See all posts about: Photo Friday: Dog travel photos, Pictures of carriers on planes, Under-seat measurements

5 comments

  • Nicole

    Thanks so much for the picture! I’m flying Southwest with my Havanese in Sept & have read varying stories about people not being let onto planes because of a carrier being too big. It seems that it’s really up to each individual ticket agents discretion so depending on thief personal opinion you may or may not get on? The large sturdibag is 12 inches which exceeds regulations by almost 4 inches. I know the bag squishes but did you have any issues at the ticket counter?! Do they measure the bags or just eyeball them?!?

  • Mary-Alice

    Hi, Nicole — I’ll answer too, since Chloe and I fly every month on Southwest, effectively. The bag does squish, and it needn’t squish 4 inches (though it could) because the under-seat space on Southwest is not a consistent 8.25″ (that is, rather, the lowest it ever gets, in limited spots, like under the life vest container). I have never had any issues at a Southwest ticket counter with the large SturdiBag. So far, they have just eyeballed it, and accepted my confident (because I am, indeed, confident after all this time!) assurance that the carrier works and Chloe travels comfortably in it.

  • Nicole

    Great Thanks! I read a story the other day a woman posted on some forum about the fact that she flew from New York (I think) to Little Rock on southwest-going everything was fine but on the way back they would allow them passage-even though they had flown the same airline there! All those kinds of stories make me fear the worst but I so appreciate your blog since you travel SO much, it helps to hear the positive side of things!

  • Shana

    Does anyone have any updated information on this exact plane and carriers? They told me they’ve recently added media boxes under the seats and it makes the available length only 14 inches for carriers. Just wondering if Delta allows part of the bag to stick out into the area your feet are.

  • Mary-Alice

    Hi, Shana — That’s the tricky thing about planes — even the same model of plane is configured differently on different airlines (and the bigger airlines will often have several different configurations of the same plane). This info for a Southwest 737-800 is likely not to be helpful with a Delta 737-800, and drat, looking at my list, it looks like I don’t (yet) have any info for a Delta 737-800 — please send measurements, if you can! It is my experience that a little bit of sticking-out is tolerated, though I aim for Chloe’s carrier to end up even with the metal feet of the seat in front of me. Also in my experience, the media boxes are on the sides of the underseat spaces, narrowing it, but not shortening it from front to back. We just flew on two different Delta 757s, and the underseat spaces on both were fairly modest, as they go, and Chloe’s large SturdiBag fit acceptably. Hope that helps, if only a little bit!

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