We returned to Seattle on a JetBlue Airbus 320, so once again I crawled around under my row of seats with a tape measure, and here are the results. This post is part of an ongoing series recording under-seat measurements of the various planes we fly on. Keep in mind that most domestic and international airlines have rules about the maximum size of in-cabin pet carriers they allow on board (see Dog Jaunt’s handy charts under the “Taking your pet on a plane” tab above).

JetBlue A320

An A320 is a good-sized plane, comparable in size to a Boeing 737 and holding about 150 passengers. JetBlue’s A320s have three seats on each side of the aisle. There is a bulkhead in front of the first row of seats, so you can’t sit there or in the exit rows. There is only one class of seats, so the following measurements apply to all of the rows.

Your best choices are the aisle seat or the window seat.  The middle seat has boxes for electronics on the top and on one side, leaving an available space of only 8″ tall and 16.5″ wide. By contrast, the aisle seat space measures about 9″ tall and 19″ wide, and the window seat space measures about 9″ tall and 17″ wide. All three under-seat spaces are about 17″ deep (that is, measured from front to back). [2/28/11 Perhaps there are different A320 configurations in the JetBlue fleet? Today we flew on a JetBlue A320, and although the result is still the same (choose an aisle first, window second, and there is no third), the measurements were slightly different. On this plane, the aisle under-seat space was 10″ tall and 19″ wide and the middle under-seat space was 7.5″ tall and 19.75″ wide. I couldn’t measure the window under-seat space, because my seat mate was already in place.]

However, consider stowing your carrier front-to-back, not side-to-side. I’m writing this note on 8/14/11, just after a recent couple of flights on JetBlue, in an A320. I chose an aisle seat, but because I wanted to pat Chloe during take-off and landing, I stowed her bag front-to-back (instead of my usual left-to-right). As you can see from the picture below, it didn’t stick out too badly (I was helped by the fact that my seat mate had a truly enormous pet carrier, so mine looked petite by comparison). I like having the option of stowing Chloe’s bag correctly, if a flight attendant makes a fuss, but given how well this worked, I might consider a middle seat next time. It would be nice to sit next to my husband on these flights, instead of across the aisle.

We chose the extra legroom option on these flights, so that’s why you can only see my feet, not my entire lap.