Will a Western Flyer fit under the seat on an passenger aircraft?

[PGJohnson]

I'm off on a three week trip and do not want to check my luggage as I have several connecting flights throughout (and I want to save my money for experiences, not baggage). While my Co-pilot (or Synapse 19 if I want to carry a little more) works great this will be a bit of an extended haul for me so I'm looking at the WF.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter

9:44 PST
Well...being the kind of adventurous guy I am I went ahead and decided to go ahead and find out for myself! Just grabbed a WF (Cardinal). Will be reviewing after a quick trip in a couple of weeks prior to the biggie!

[Frank II]

It depends on:

1) Airline
2) type of aircraft
3) seat location

Go to seatguru.com or seatexpert.com to see if there are any obstructions under your seat like the entertainment unit.
Then search the airline's pet carrier size limits. They must fit under the seat so if it's bigger than the WF, you'll be fine.

Usually, the middle seat of three has the most underseat room.

[Moose]

Don't overstuff it. I once tried to get a WF with a week+ worth of clothes and half a sheep fleece under the seat. No way it would fit. I got it in the overhead but just barely. Frank offered good advice.

[Vertandor]

I have managed to get the WF under the seat (on RyanAir flights, can't remember the plane models), and it slid in and out very nicely. Packed for a week's holiday in France in early summer, so not a lot of bulk required.

Obviously the caveats mentioned above by Frank and Moose apply, but it's worked for me so far

[Le_Pied]

Most of my experience is on United and TAM, but as long as the space is clear (no entertainment box), I have always had the WF fit under the seat. Also, the overhead bins of RJs have not been a problem. As mentioned above, check to see what your seat configuration will be, and select a good spot, if you can.
Remember, when packing the WF, make sure you pack all the way out to the corners to use all the available space and make the load as flat as possible.

[Le_Pied]

...I once tried to get a WF with a week+ worth of clothes and half a sheep fleece under the seat.

Wait. What? Half a sheep fleece?

[Moose]

LePied, yup, half a sheep fleece. My SIL and I split one from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I put it in a plastic bag and sat on it to squish it down so I could get it in the WF. While I got it in there it,um, expanded a bit. Made my WF look like it was about to have baby WFs at any moment. Good news was the fleece was really clean. We cleaned it up even more when spread out on the living room floor. There was surprisingly little smell.
Moose

Ps, it washed and spun up really well.

[Canonsue]

Today is my first trip with a WF. I plan to put it under the seat. I will report back if any problems.

Sue

[thehoax]

On most center sections of the 76/77 aircraft the middle and right seats have minimal interference with AV boxes under the seat. Take a look at the aircraft you normally fly and pick your seats accordingly.

[Lani]

In my experience, underseat space can often be narrower for aisle seats. You'd think it's the opposite, but it's typically because the metal frame that connects the seat bottom to the floor is recessed a bit (so people don't trip on it walking down the aisle).

For what it's worth, a WF takes up barely any room in the overhead, and because it has grab handles on both ends, you can shove it in either way and have no hassles grabbing it out when you land.

[Canonsue]

I had no problem with my WF, and it was full.