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Alaska Takes Delivery of 1st Boeing 737 With “Space Bins”

New Space Bins debuted by Alaska Airlines will accommodate over 50 more bags than previous models, allowing more space for carry-on luggage

Flyers aboard select Alaska Airlines flights in the coming months will notice a major improvement to the passenger experience, namely: more overhead bin space. The airline accepted delivery of the first Boeing 737 with new Space Bins Friday at Boeing Field in Seattle.

Thanks to the Space Bins, the 737-900 will be able to accommodate over 174 carry-on bags; a noted improvement over the previous capacity of 117 carry-on bags. The new bins will allow more travelers to carry luggage onboard with them and could potentially eliminate the need to gate check their bags.

“It’s a pretty impressive increase,” Sangita Woerner, vice president of marketing at at Alaska Airlines told USA Today. “Virtually everyone can carry on a bag, which is fantastic.”

The Space Bins have been highly anticipated across the industry, as airlines commit to new aircraft with the expanded overhead compartments. Both Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have committed to purchasing new 737 equipped with the Space Bins, as well as a number of international carriers.

While flyers will lose two inches of headroom thanks to the new overhead bins, Boeing claims a test group did not mind sacrificing head space for the ability to carry their luggage onboard with them.

Alaska will introduce the new 737-900 on select routes next month. Airline officials say they expect to have around 50 percent of Alaska’s fleet equipped with Space Bins within the next two years. Officials at Boeing say while operators of the 737 will have the option to retrofit, the new bins will not be available for other aircraft models.

[Photo: Boeing]

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3 Comments
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Grog October 13, 2015

"Boeing claims a test group did not mind sacrificing head space for the ability to carry their luggage onboard with them" --Faulty dilemma. "The new bins will allow more travelers to carry luggage onboard with them" --Funn, but I've never been refused a carry-on based on too many carry-ons being onboard already. "[This] could potentially eliminate the need to gate check their bags". --Ridiculous. The change would potentially increase the need to gate-check bag because the travelers' bags are now too large.

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AAJetMan October 11, 2015

Very clever. kudos Boeing!

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UncleDude October 11, 2015

Its hard enough at the moment to get infrequent travelers to put their bags in Wheels first, now they have to be trained to put them in Wheels First Vertically. However what really irks me is people with odd shaped carry on like Guitar Cases, Spots equipment or Display Stands, they manage to take up the space of 2 or 3 roll a boards.