How much room for bags in ERJ-145 commuter plane

Hi everyone,

I've travelled on these ERJ-145 commuter planes before, but not in the configuration I will be travelling with soon. I'll be in a single seat (there's a column of single seats on the left of the plane, and a column of double seats on the right). I know my bag will easily fit under the double seats, since they don't usually have a divider between them.

What I want to know is: how much room is there under those single seats? Is it about half the size of the big space under the double seats? I need to make sure my camera gear bag will fit. I'll be carrying a Thinktank Airport Antidote V2.

Thanks!

The seat width for that plane is typically 17". The left side single seat has substantially less space, as you expected. Its less than half the total space under the two seat side. Your antidote 2.0 is listed at 11.75" outside width at their website so I would not expect it to fit under the seat in front of you.

This is based on memory from sitting on that side, not measurements I could find online. But the left side fuselage under cuts the seat by quite a margin. There is hardly room to place your two feet on the floor.

If you are close to the airport and took a tape measure, a short visit might get them to measure for you to be certain.

Hmm, maybe I'll just change my seat to one of the double seats on the other side of the plane.

If the flight crew is good, they may let you check the bag in a special hold. You get the bag back as soon as the plane lands, as opposed to waiting at the baggage carousel.

If the flight crew is good, they may let you check the bag in a special hold. You get the bag back as soon as the plane lands, as opposed to waiting at the baggage carousel.

There is usually a "gate check" for this sort of regional jet. This means that you will receive a "bag tag" at the end of the jetway or at the bottom of the stairs to the plane (if you are unlucky and don't get a jetway). The bag then is hand loaded into the hold of the aircraft. I would not count on it going into any "special" part of the hold, and would not do a gate check on any bag that is not strong enough to keep the contents from getting crushed (there may be 8 other bags put on top of it, unfortunately). Roller bags will not fit in the overhead, unless they are really little, and the FA or GA do not see them prior to you boarding (often they are strict and refuse you to even try to take them on). Almost always you will get your bag back in the jetway or on a cart if you get stairs at your destination, however there are a few places where the bag is put on the baggage carousel with the other stuff in the hold (not usually supposed to, so keep your claim stub until you get your bag back, and ask before you give your bag up.)

I suggest you make your carryon look as little as possible, so that you'll be able to take it aboard the aircraft. Mentioning that you have cameras inside will help your case.

Good luck, and have a great trip.

I've never seen them allow any roller bags into the cabin on those flights, except maybe those tiny Hayes X-Cases. Even when I had a Lowepro backpack it was too thick to fit inside the overhead (probably due to the laptop inside it), but it did fit under the seat with a bit of help. They never seem to complain about backpacks.

I was flying from Manado to Raja Ampat on one of those tiny airplanes with Lion Air last year, and my rolling bag that was only 8" thick fit just fine under the seat, to the astonishment of the cabin crew, who wanted me to gate check my bag.

I ended up changing my seat both there and back so I could put my bag under one of the double seats. I took a look at the single seats and they are terrible! There is less legroom than in the other seats, and hardly enough space under the seat for anything. Most of the people gate checked their roller bags, but one guy shoved his into the overhead bin but didn't bother to see whether it would close (it did not) and got quite an earful from the flight attendant.

Keep in mind regarding "gate checking". This is only something available in the US, not Indonesia!

Actually, they did have gate checking in Indonesia, at least on Lion Air, though they did cram a lot of stuff into the cabin.

Interesting! That's new! But did they give it to you on the jetway as you exited the plane, or was it just thrown in with the rest of checked luggage?

Well, it was thrown in with the rest of the luggage when you gave it to them before entering the plane, but was returned to you on the jetway.

Luckily all my camera gear was in a bag that fit under the seat so I didn't have to gate check my gear. Other photographers were panicking, as their photo backpacks were huge and didn't fit under the seat or in the overhead bins and were going to have to be gatechecked, however the plane wasn't full they so the extra photo bags were just piled in the back seats.