Carry on and Personal Item Question - Anxiety!

[AnxietyTraveler]

Hi all,

I have a lot of anxiety about travel. I haven't flown in quite some time but will be doing so in about 2 weeks via Southwest. Just a brief trip from LAX to St Louis for 2 nights. I need some advice on my trip.

My plan was to take a small carry on luggage and a backpack as a personal item which would hold my laptop and other tech items.

I went to re-read the required dimensions for the personal item and realized that the personal item cannot be more than 8.5 inches wide? My 13 inch Macbook Pro is already 8.2 inches wide. If I add any sort of bag to it then it'll be at least 10 inches wide, let alone the backpack I have is 12 inches wide. What sort of backpack is 8.5 inches wide?

Am I overthinking this? Do I need to fit my laptop into the carry on luggage instead since I'm not gonna be able to fit it into some sort of 8.5 inch bag? I figured putting a laptop into luggage that would go up in the overhead bin wouldn't be the best of ideas.

Ahhhh anxiety! Any help on this?

[dfwskier]

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@AnxietyTraveler wrote:

Hi all,

I have a lot of anxiety about travel. I haven't flown in quite some time but will be doing so in about 2 weeks via Southwest. Just a brief trip from LAX to St Louis for 2 nights. I need some advice on my trip.

My plan was to take a small carry on luggage and a backpack as a personal item which would hold my laptop and other tech items.

I went to re-read the required dimensions for the personal item and realized that the personal item cannot be more than 8.5 inches wide? My 13 inch Macbook Pro is already 8.2 inches wide. If I add any sort of bag to it then it'll be at least 10 inches wide, let alone the backpack I have is 12 inches wide. What sort of backpack is 8.5 inches wide?

Am I overthinking this? Do I need to fit my laptop into the carry on luggage instead since I'm not gonna be able to fit it into some sort of 8.5 inch bag? I figured putting a laptop into luggage that would go up in the overhead bin wouldn't be the best of ideas.

Ahhhh anxiety! Any help on this?

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Not to worry.

Your   personal item size shouldn't exceed 18.5 x 8.5 x 13.5. The 8.5 is the max height to allow it to fit under the seat in front of you.  I expect your laptop will fit inside a 18.5 x 13.5 inch foot print.

Hope you have a great trip 

[AnxietyTraveler]

According to the Southwest website, the 8.5 is the width of the bag. Are you certain? I guess you could be right though... the 8.5 being the floor of the plane to the bottom of the seat above the personal item. The diagram seems set on it being the width. Arg!

[AnxietyTraveler]

This is the bag i wanted to bring as my personal: eBags Professional Slim Junior... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JPEO84K?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

My other bag would be in overhead storage.

[SWDigits · Accepted solution]

The picture on their site is illustrative, they literally don't care about which edge you call the width, the bag just needs to fit under the seat. Here is the exact wording from the Southwest site:

"- Personal-type items include purses, briefcases, cameras, food containers, or laptops (case included).
-Your personal item must be stored under the seat in front of you, fitting within 18.5 x 8.5 x 13.5 inch dimensions."

Source: https://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/baggage/carryon-bags-pol.html

[AnxietyTraveler]

Ahhh ok. I apologize for being so..."newb" with this. So much anxiety.

I appreciate the support and help all.

Thank you!

[byrdbrain591]

So my underseat spinner suitcase at 17.25" x 13" x 9" won't fit under the seat?

[jksobonya]

It isn't very logical to have a carry-on item that is only 8.5 inches or less in length. That would exclude a ruler from being brought on board among many other things! 8.5 is the "height" of the suitcase / item, not how long it is. 

Happy traveling!

--Jessica

[jksobonya]

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@byrdbrain591 wrote:

So my underseat spinner suitcase at 17.25" x 13" x 9" won't fit under the seat?

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That sounds slightly too big because of the 9", but it's hard to say if you could squeeze it in the overhead or not? Southwest (and every airline) has a bag check size indicator either by the check-in terminal and/or near TSA I believe, so you can check and see if your bag fits before taking it through TSA or checking it. 

--Jessica

[gsking]

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@byrdbrain591 wrote:

So my underseat spinner suitcase at 17.25" x 13" x 9" won't fit under the seat?

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I can check the dimensions on mine, but it fits readily under the seat without issue.  It's a hardshell spinner from Costco.

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