United Makes More Room for Carry-Ons

United Airlines, looking for a leg up in its battle against Southwest Airlines for short-haul passengers, has enlarged space for carry-ons and plans to hasten boardings by opening passenger doors in the front and rear of many planes.

The moves are among several aimed at reducing delays and wooing high-paying business travelers, but they may also ease the nerves of leisure travelers, who make up about 60% of United Shuttle’s passengers in California.

United Shuttle President Amos S. Kazzaz said the bin changes were completed in California about June 8. Officials expect bins to hold an extra 40 bags on a typical 737, which can carry about 120 passengers. Kazzaz said the larger bins will gradually be installed in 737s and 757s throughout the United system.

The boost in “two-end operations”--that is, opening two doors for boarding and disembarking, instead of one--will be adopted by August at three of the shuttle operation’s nine gates at LAX, Kazzaz said. In the San Francisco airport, two of United’s eight shuttle gates now use the two-door system, and two more are expected to take it up in the next several months.

(A Southwest spokeswoman noted that many of that carrier’s flights use two doors for boarding and that Southwest continues to lead the industry in on-time performance, with a 79.7% on-time rate January through April.)