Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is probably the first review I've ever written about a product I bought online, but I thought it would really help out a lot of people and lessen some of the stress that comes with flying with a dog in the first place. After an immense amount of consideration, anxiety, uncertainty, and searching all the pet carriers I could find, I finally decided to go with the XL Sturdibag and I'm extremely glad I did. We live in Italy, but I'm from New Jersey, and so I was traveling with my English Cocker Spaniel from Milan Malpensa Airport to Newark Airport for a vacation. My dog is probably the maximum size that could travel comfortably inside of this bag, and is probably the maximum that would even be allowed to fly in cabin. He is about 22" long (from chest to butt), 15" high (from the top of the shoulder to the floor), 6" wide (shoulder to shoulder), and weighs 11.3 kg. What made us so uncertain about him being able to fly in cabin with us was his height. The dog needs to be able to stand up inside the bag and turn around freely. The reason we went with the XL bag is because it is 16" high. According to acceptable airline dimensions for in-cabin pet carriers, this bag is technically too large. That was the reason why we were so nervous. However, considering the bag is flexible enough to lower down to 12", the bag was able to fit comfortably under the seat. I may have just been lucky this time around because in the airport no one really checked to see how the dog fit inside the bag, or if the bag was even too large to fit. I got more compliments on the bag than anything else. We got on the plane with no problems at all. He fit under the seat fine, and during the flight I even opened the front zipper for him to spread out more for the entire 9 hours of the flight. The carrier only needs to be under the seat for take-off and landing. Also during the flight I even took him out and put him on my lap for some time, just enough to stretch his legs. I did upgrade to an economy plus seat, but only because the bag is a bit long. I do not think it would be absolutely necessary to upgrade to economy plus, but I did it simply because it was my first time flying with the dog and I was unsure. Also, since my plane was not full, they blocked off the seat next to me considering I had the dog with me. The only downside I would say about this bag is that it becomes very heavy and difficult to carry the dog around in. But, I can't blame the bag, it's more because I put an 11kg dog inside of it. I just really have to recommend this bag to whomever is in the same situation I was. If you're in a bit of a predicament about which bag would be best to buy because you have "large-small" dog, this is definitely your answer.