Seasoned Air Travelers - Best Luggage?

[nthach]

One good bag to have is a personal bag that is small enough to keep by your side whether you are flying or on the road. That bag can carry passports, medicine, and whatever essentials you might need. On a plane that saves you from having to get up and retrieve your stuff from the overhead bin midflight. Also convenient on a train or in a car.

I keep it a habit to have my backpack or a messenger’s bag with my laptop and important things and a smaller bag with food/snacks/water(the small lululemon reusable bags are great for this) if I’m riding the train or flying Southwest(or if I’m checking my carry-on for bigger liquids).

My Costco suitcase is great for checking in or carrying on. It’s a little bigger than the smaller roller bags I’ve seen people use on Spirit(who’ll even charge you for using the overhead bins).

 

[Kuato]

LuggageWorks are the ones most US airline pilots use for roller bags/carry-on. The higher-end product lines (like the Stealth Series) are FAR better quality than most anything you'll find in a department store. Plus the service department is very good and replacement parts are available for pretty much the whole bag.


https://luggageworks.com/

This. Having had a stealth series bag, with heavy usage for the last 12 years I can say they hold up MUCH better than any other bag I tried previously. Worth the investment if you're planning to travel a lot.

 

[dlundblad]

We bought a bright red buckle strap for our single bag for a trip to Mexico but it didn't complete even one trip. We met some very nice young Mexicans whose luggage was bursting open. So we gave them our strap. They needed it more than we did.

So we're in the market for another one.

That was very nice of you. Wish I could remember what brand ours is as we received it the Christmas before we got married for our honeymoon.

As odd as it seems, it doesn’t seem to get dirty and discolored like one may think. They’ve only been used a few times though.

 

[RooflessVW]

I have an Ogio Alpha 20 pack and a 5.11 SOMS.

The 5.11 SOMS got beat for 5+ years dragging it from FOB to FOB and across the world and back. At times it was packed with well over 100lbs of gear. It was in gravel, sand, and rain. It was sat on and stood on. it was usually at the bottom of the baggage pallets. Mice chewed holes in it.

On its final trip home FedEx broke a wheel off. 5.11 asked for a few pictures and they sent me a new one.

It's a beast of a bag but easy to handle even when overloaded and it kept all my stuff safe and dry always.

 

[mightymousetech]

If you want the best, and to buy it once, get a Rimowa. Period.

 

[Astro14]

Well, our Costa Rica honeymoon got canceled because everything shut down (April 2020), so we didn’t end up getting the luggage.

We did have an awesome road trip through Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and East Tennessee.

Dredged up this thread again because we’re looking again at getting some luggage. Neither of us really have anything decent.

Perhaps 1 good carry-on-sized bag for each of us, one large suitcase each, and one each of those bags (not sure what they’re called) that you pack dress clothes in.

Don’t need the most expensive; we usually shoot for about 7/10 in quality.

I’ll suggest (humbly) that my previous posts on luggage, packing and adapters are still good advice. Two carry on. A back pack for under the seat with essentials.

If you want more than a carry on, and I imagine that with three (soon to be four) on the trip, you will need that, get a good quality one. I still see broken spinners all the time, so stick with a two wheel bag. The two wheels are better protected and more damage resistant.

While infants under two can be “laps” and you avoid the ticket cost, that can be a terrible way to travel. Airplane seats are small enough. One tall guy, a pregnant lady, and a toddler crammed into two seats is a recipe for misery. Get the youngster his own seat, you need to bring the car seat, anyway, so set that one in his airline seat and buckle him in.

Car seats can only go against the window, otherwise they block emergency egress, so book three seats in a row.

And hey, despite the change in plans, and closures, at least one night on your honeymoon had a good dinner!

 

[john_pifer]

I’ll suggest (humbly) that my previous posts on luggage, packing and adapters are still good advice. Two carry on. A back pack for under the seat with essentials.

If you want more than a carry on, and I imagine that with three (soon to be four) on the trip, you will need that, get a good quality one. I still see broken spinners all the time, so stick with a two wheel bag. The two wheels are better protected and more damage resistant.

While infants under two can be “laps” and you avoid the ticket cost, that can be a terrible way to travel. Airplane seats are small enough. One tall guy, a pregnant lady, and a toddler crammed into two seats is a recipe for misery. Get the youngster his own seat, you need to bring the car seat, anyway, so set that one in his airline seat and buckle him in.

Car seats can only go against the window, otherwise they block emergency egress, so book three seats in a row.

And hey, despite the change in plans, and closures, at least one night on your honeymoon had a good dinner!

Great advice! Thanks Astro!

The wife and I still talk about that steak dinner! So nice of y’all to have us!