Will United allow me to use the Civita day bag as a "personal item"? In looking at United's website, the dimensions for the bag may be 1 inch to wide...I am flying to Europe soon and I am trying to pack lightly. I have a carry on that is ok...but it appears the personal item has to be quite small. I am not an experienced traveler....yet. Thanks. Joseph.
Just don't pack it full. The Civita bag is soft and scrunchible- so don't cram it full and it will be within size. Given the number of people who try to bring on multiple enormous carryons, you shouldn't be noticeable.
I had not seen them put a max size for personal item before, so thanks for pointing that out.
My husband always uses his as his personal bag. We fly United.
The personal item needs to fit under the seat in front of you. If you don't pack it full it will be fine.
You can always call United to confirm this, but in our experience, the other posters here are right. As long as it fits under the seat, you should be fine.
There is no sizing basket for the personal item and the gate agents don't have measuring tapes.
If it fits by kicking and squishing, it flies.
Actually, United has started installing sizers for both your carry-on and personal items at their gates. Below is a link from United's website that shows a picture..
http://www.united.com/CMS/en-US/travel/Pages/BaggageCarry-On.aspx
There's an extensive conversation over on FlyerTalk about this (link below). The sizer for the personal item measures 9 X 11 X 18, so it's actually a bit bigger than the advertised maximum dimensions. Personally, I have used the Civita day bag many times as my personal item with no problems.