You may be loading your carry-on bags wrong on the plane

December 11, 2023

Loading your carry-on bag in the overhead bin sounds simple (aside from testing your upper-body strength if you overpacked a bit). But, if you’re still doing it the same exact way you were 10 years ago, as shown in the photo below, the odds are high that you’re doing it wrong on some flights.

ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

While putting your carry-on bag in the overhead bin seems like a straight-forward part of flying, it’s also increasingly easy to get that simple task wrong if you don’t pay attention to the correct — and incorrect — way to load the bins for the aircraft you are flying on that day.

Newer planes are largely moving to overhead bin designs that are essentially taller to hold more bags on their side. I think of this method as “taco style,” as opposed to the older style of bins that requires you to lay your carry-on bags flat in a “pancake style.”

ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

This isn’t a brand-new development, as this trend of larger bins designed to hold bags on their sides has been around for several years. As new planes are introduced to airline fleets and older planes are retrofitted and retired, the odds have become higher that you’ll be on a plane with the newer, larger bins.

Loading your bag flat versus on its side may sound like a tiny detail that matters far less than other pressing inflight issues, such as window versus aisle. Still, if enough passengers get it wrong, the overhead bins can fill unnecessarily early; this necessitates some bags getting taken off the flight and checked while the plane is at the gate.

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That not only increases the odds some unlucky passengers are separated from their things, but it can also potentially delay the flight.

KYLE OLSEN/THE POINTS GUY

How to know when to load your carry-on on its side vs. laid flat

There is no true exhaustive list of what types of bins are on which aircraft. However, the general pattern is that the newer the plane — or interior on a retrofitted older plane — the more likely bags will load on their sides.

KYLE OLSEN/THE POINTS GUY

For example, many of the newer Boeing 737s, including the 737 MAX, have larger bins in the “Sky Interior” cabin layout that are designed to hold more bags loaded on their sides. In the Airbus family, you’ll find the AirSpace XL bins on new jets in the A220 and A320 families, including the popular A321neo used by American Airlines, JetBlue and now United Airlines.

A tip from the TPG aviation team is that even if your bag doesn’t quite fit on its side in the larger Boeing overhead bins, it may still fit that way on the Airbus version. The latter are a little wider due to the different curvature of the fuselage, which gives a little more space to the overhead bins.

United Airbus A321neo. ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

But you don’t have to be an AvGeek who studies the aircraft type in advance to know how to load your bag like a pro. Usually, there are simple-to-understand images in the bins that show you if you should go taco-style.

ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY

Take a quick look in the bins before hoisting your bag up on your next flight. Not only will you look the part of a frequent flyer, but you’ll be doing your part to help everyone’s bag fit on board and get to your final destination as soon as possible.

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