Originally Posted by Adam Smith

Is it 16" or 15.5"? The AC limit is officially 21.5" x 15.5" x 9", and on the CR9, the bins are TIGHT to that limit in two dimensions. One of the 16", and the 8", fine. But that half inch of extra width, if it's there, that could be the difference between the bin closing and not. It might also depend on which CR9 you get. The bins break down like this:

• 21 aircraft (16 original AC CRJ-705s + 5 from SkyWest) have old bins, very tight as I described above
• 5 aircraft are new-build CR9s with bins that are very slightly bigger, but barely noticeable (I feel like they might have used a slightly thinner material for the bins such that they have the same exterior dimensions but a fraction of an inch more interior volume)
• 9 are newer CR9s with the Atmosphere cabin with much bigger bins

Get one of the 9 Atmosphere aircraft and you're fine, it will fit in the overhead. On the other 26 aircraft, hard to say. Most of them have a second closet up front that was originally installed to handle J passengers' carry-ons. But I don't think the ex-DL aircraft have those, and I've also had FAs in the last couple of years tell me that the closet couldn't be used to store bags. In which case it has to go in the overhead bin, and you potentially have an issue (or not, depending on exactly how wide your bag and the bins are).

So the bottom line is your bag might fit, but it might not. I wish I could give you a more precise answer, but at least it's a detailed one.