Over the years we’ve seen mainline fleets receive the majority of passenger experience upgrades. While some of these changes do trickle down to regional fleets, they are not as noticeable and can still result in conflicting experiences, especially those switching from mainline to regional aircraft on connecting flights.
United Airlines is trying to smooth this out with the installation of much larger overhead bins on its Skywest-operated United Express Embraer E175 fleet. The larger bins can accommodate 29 extra bags versus the current configuration, giving them an 80% boost in space.
The carrier plans to retrofit these new bins on 50 of its 76-seater aircraft by the end of 2024, and is considering bumping up that number to 150 by the end of 2026.
United Express currently contracts five airlines to handle its regional operations. Of those five, Mesa Airlines, Republic Airways and SkyWest Airlines operate variants of the Embraer E175. Now that we know that Skywest will be the first to upgrade these bins, we will now have to see which of the other two also participate in the upgrade program if the airline decides to continue upgrading bin space.
Credit: Next Trip Network/Flickr | CC BY-SA 2.0 DE“Customer sentiment for the new overhead bins and signature interiors has been extremely positive. By helping to eliminate the need to gate check bags, we are seeing an increase in gate and boarding satisfaction,” said Linda Jojo, United’s chief customer officer. “This is just the latest way we’re working to create an industry-leading experience for all our customers – whether they’re on an international or regional flight.”
This is good news especially for those who travel exclusively with carry-on bags as they won’t have to worry too much about space availability on packed flights.
[Featured Photo: United Airlines]
