Need to Update My Flight Carry-on Bag, Recommendations Sought !!

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by Leo99
It needs to have wheels. I use a Delsey carry on. Cost about $70. It's been on many, many trips and covered many, many miles on its wheels.


Which one of these fits in a regional jets overhead AND holds 5 days worth of clothes and stuff?

UD

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by Danno
Originally Posted by StevieC
I bought this as I fly a lot for work and it's great. Fits perfectly in the overhead bins and it's super durable material. Really happy with it. It's not rigid other than the bottom middle section so the less you put in it, the more it will compress.
(Canucks, it's sold in Canada too on Amazon.ca)

Having no wheels gets old in a hurry. The airport walks can get pretty long, US gates at Pearson are quite a walk.
I'm 6 foot 200lbs, why do extra hauling work if you don't have too?


Pearson is an airport I have flown out of regularly and I don't find it bad resting on the shoulder. Maybe if you have it overloaded sure, but generally it's fine. I had my laptop in there with a change of clothing, my phones, documents for the tradeshow I was attending etc. and I walked through O'Hare and Pearson with it no issues, quite comfortable. But I guess it's preference.

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by UncleDave

Having no wheels gets old in a hurry. The airport walks can get pretty long, US gates at Pearson are quite a walk.
I'm 6 foot 200lbs, why do extra hauling work if you don't have too?


My aeronauts have hidden backpack straps - fixes that problem and makes gate to gate travel a hands free painless affair.

Carry ons with wheels always greatly reduce capacity and add weight - plus on cobblestone streets like in Amsterdam wheels are a giant pia.

UD




Those Aeronauts are excellent.

Airport walks are always long but remember, just when you think you have walked the longest there is a airport out there that is even longer.

Gate 1 at Hong Kong from arrivals.
Terminal 1 at Narita from one end to the other.

Fortunately, good airports have moving sidewalks and light rail.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by PimTac
I have the Tom Bihn TriStar bag. It can be a backpack or a shoulder bag. It can carry quite a bit and be cinched down to fit. I've traveled quite a bit in the past several years with this carry on and it still looks new and is fully functional. Also it's made in the USA.


https://www.tombihn.com



Tri star is solid choice as well

It is more structured where the areonaut is more open.


UD

 

[UncleDave]

The Narita haul is a pain -

My Hong Kong jaunts have been ok so far.

The one that gets me is any flight from LAX to LHR customs and baggage is all the way from one side to the other with only a few walkways.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by LoneRanger
Any frequent fliers? I'm not. Have a trip coming up in two weeks that will have me on a CRJ 200 or similar regional jet, and a 757. I need a new carry-on bag and would be interested to know from any frequent fliers what's a good one that you can put a lot of clothes in but still within size limits. 5 day stay so might be able to get all my stuff in the carry-on and not have to do baggage check. Available on Amazon Prime a plus.

This is currently on sale for $33.

http://a.co/d/b8AUvmO

For occasional travel, it should be just fine. On the CRJ200, you'll probably have to gate check it.

 

[propuckstopper]

I am surprised no one has mentioned Briggs and Riley. Simply an unbelievable warranty, and great products.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
Originally Posted by LoneRanger
Any frequent fliers? I'm not. Have a trip coming up in two weeks that will have me on a CRJ 200 or similar regional jet, and a 757. I need a new carry-on bag and would be interested to know from any frequent fliers what's a good one that you can put a lot of clothes in but still within size limits. 5 day stay so might be able to get all my stuff in the carry-on and not have to do baggage check. Available on Amazon Prime a plus.

This is currently on sale for $33.

http://a.co/d/b8AUvmO

For occasional travel, it should be just fine. On the CRJ200, you'll probably have to gate check it.


And you'd have to check it for sure on a 145 - most airlines will make you gate check anything with wheels on a 145.

UD

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by UncleDave
Originally Posted by Leo99
It needs to have wheels. I use a Delsey carry on. Cost about $70. It's been on many, many trips and covered many, many miles on its wheels.


Which one of these fits in a regional jets overhead AND holds 5 days worth of clothes and stuff?

UD


Nothing that holds 5 days worth of clothes will fit in a regional jet overhead. You leave your bag just outside the plane door and pick it up the same place when you land. You put a little tag on your bag that they'll give you at the gate. Easy peasy.

 

[rubberchicken]

Originally Posted by Danno
My take is this.
Go to Walmart, get a 4 wheel carry on, I bought a Swiss Gear for $50. You can also take another personal item so I take a mid sized back pack. The 4 wheel goes on sky check and the back pack goes over the seat or under. Nothing gets checked.
Did a 4 day golf trip to Nashville that way. More than enough room.

I bought a Swiss Gear carry on as well. It seems to have held up, and mine has a padded pocket for a laptop which the wife appreciated. Its probably been on about 25 flights total (counting all legs) so I am not sure that would be considered heavy usage. But it does not s*ck. SInce I typically use a laptop on flights, I always pack mine in my special backpack, made by Victronix, which has held up quite well under demanding use.

 

[rubberchicken]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW
I haul a ton of gear all over the world. Ogio makes the best bags I have ever used.

I have an Ogio Renegade RSS and 2x Ogio Rig 9800's that go everywhere with me.

5.11 makes a great durable bag, but they mark me so I have stopped using them. I never got into the rolling carry-ons. Cumbersome and difficult to maintain positive control over.


5.11 bags mark you ? As in: expensive bag, so the cabbies and pick pockets zero in on you ? Not sure I follow what your saying.

 

[ecotourist]

My wife and I just spent 3 weeks in Amsterdam and all over Norway with 2 carry on, rolly bags and a small back-pack. We did wash underwear a couple of times.

We used 2 TravelPro carry-ons. One is quite a bit lighter than the other. One airline was really sticky about weight, and weighed absolutely everything. So we had to check one of our carry-ons because of the weight - which cost quite a lot.

So consider weight when buying a new bag. I prefer the 2 roller, rolly bags. You can put an extra bag of groceries on top and walk quite comfortably. We walked at least a mile from time to time with our rolly bags. Good exercise for +/- 70 year olds.

They say there are only 2 kinds of visitors to Europe, those who are travelling light, and those who wish they were. You should have seen some of the tourists struggling with very large hard sided bags plus a carry-on. Not nice when running for a train or a trolley, or wrestling them into overhead bins. They looked at us quite enviously.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by Leo99
Originally Posted by UncleDave
Originally Posted by Leo99
It needs to have wheels. I use a Delsey carry on. Cost about $70. It's been on many, many trips and covered many, many miles on its wheels.


Which one of these fits in a regional jets overhead AND holds 5 days worth of clothes and stuff?

UD


Nothing that holds 5 days worth of clothes will fit in a regional jet overhead. You leave your bag just outside the plane door and pick it up the same place when you land. You put a little tag on your bag that they'll give you at the gate. Easy peasy.



Nothing with wheels will. Not every airline lets you gate check, some force you into a sizer at check in, or simply disallow wheeled bags on regionals.

An aeronaut 45 will hold 5 days of stuff and fit into a regional jet overhead- no wheeled bag sized for international carry on or allowable on a regional comes close to this capacity.

Zip away the backpack straps when you board and it's a compact bag you can stuff anywhere.
When you deplane snap the backpack straps on and enjoy a hands free journey to wherever you are going.

The only downside is the cost - its a very expensive bag, but extremely high quality. Huge YKK zippers and enough stout to heft the entire loaded bag on one shoulder strap.

The zippers are the weak point on these cheapo bags - other supposedly "high end" bags are really lacking here - if it doesn't have genuine YKK zippers - its basically disposable.

UD

 

[RooflessVW]

Originally Posted by rubberchicken
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
I haul a ton of gear all over the world. Ogio makes the best bags I have ever used.

I have an Ogio Renegade RSS and 2x Ogio Rig 9800's that go everywhere with me.

5.11 makes a great durable bag, but they mark me so I have stopped using them. I never got into the rolling carry-ons. Cumbersome and difficult to maintain positive control over.

5.11 bags mark you ? As in: expensive bag, so the cabbies and pick pockets zero in on you ? Not sure I follow what your saying.

As in, I travel to a lot of places where you don't want to immediately stand out as someone who works in US Defense.

A Coyote Brown 5.11 does that instantly.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted by StevieC
I bought this as I fly a lot for work and it's great. Fits perfectly in the overhead bins. Also fits under the seats if not packed to the brim.
It's super durable material. Really happy with it. It's not rigid other than the bottom middle section so the less you put in it, the more it will compress.

I also use it for 1 night stay-overs in far away cities I visit for work. Fits everything I need for 1 night.

https://www.amazon.com/Gonex-Travel-Luggage-Water-Resistant-Pockets/dp/B072LNS82N/ (Canucks, it's sold in Canada too on Amazon.ca)



After 35 years of flying, this is also my solution. I prefer the soft bags, without any frame or wheels. They cram into any space, are comfortable on the lap if necessary, such as when you want to remove it from under the seat to stretch your legs out. And so on.

In fact, I have a good collection of them in various sizes. The smaller ones are high end "Gulfstream" logo bags, from the company store. They are great for 2-3 days. I have a leather one like the above with zippers (and one in ballistic nylon) . It's awesome.

 

[Astro14]

After 32 years of flying, in a very different environment, I'll say - 2 wheel, strong frame, 9x14x22 bag. No bigger. Don't expand it.

I walk long distances in airports. The wheel bag:

1. Fits in the overhead of everything except the E145*.
2. Is strong enough to be checked**
3. Allows me to clip a backpack or other bag onto it, and then roll everything smoothly, easily, through the airport.

The problem with a soft bag is that you have to carry it. No worries if you go from FBO to ramp, but that sucks if you're walking around a big airport.

My Luggage Works Stealth bag has survived thousands, that's right, thousands of flights being checked. Dollar for dollar, it's cheaper to get a really good bag that survives, than it is to buy a cheap bag that gets destroyed after a few flights.



*It'll fit in the overhead of a CRJ, but I'm not enough of a jerk to take up all that overhead space on a small plane...

**And mine is checked at least twice on every trip, as I commute from ORF to EWR. So, it's getting checked 8-10 times/month. I've had the bag for several years.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by Astro14
After 32 years of flying, in a very different environment, I'll say - 2 wheel, strong frame, 9x14x22 bag. No bigger. Don't expand it.

I walk long distances in airports. The wheel bag:

1. Fits in the overhead of everything except the E145*.
2. Is strong enough to be checked**
3. Allows me to clip a backpack or other bag onto it, and then roll everything smoothly, easily, through the airport.

The problem with a soft bag is that you have to carry it. No worries if you go from FBO to ramp, but that sucks if you're walking around a big airport.

My Luggage Works Stealth bag has survived thousands, that's right, thousands of flights being checked. Dollar for dollar, it's cheaper to get a really good bag that survives, than it is to buy a cheap bag that gets destroyed after a few flights.

*It'll fit in the overhead of a CRJ, but I'm not enough of a jerk to take up all that overhead space on a small plane...

**And mine is checked at least twice on every trip, as I commute from ORF to EWR. So, it's getting checked 8-10 times/month. I've had the bag for several years.


As soft bag that has hideaway backpack straps does not have to be carried.

 

[Astro14]

You won't see one pilot or flight attendant carrying, or shouldering, a soft bag.

Might work for some people.

Not for me.

Or the hundreds of thousands of pilots and flight attendants that spend most of their days on the road and need to carry several days of clothing.

 

[UncleDave]

Originally Posted by Astro14
You won't see one pilot or flight attendant carrying, or shouldering, a soft bag.

Might work for some people.

Not for me.

Or the hundreds of thousands of pilots and flight attendants that spend most of their days on the road and need to carry several days of clothing.



Pilots and passengers have different needs and follow different rules.

9x14x22 hard sized bag will NOT fit on many international carriers sizer or allowed overhead.

https://travel-made-simple.com/carry-on-size-chart/

 

[Astro14]

UD - you recommended a 9x14x22 bag. The aeronaut 45. Nice bag. Well made.

Soft sided. No wheels.

But still 9x14x22.

Only times, in over a million miles as a passenger, yes, over a million, not flying as crew, that I've absolutely had to gate check a bag of that size is on an EMB-145, and flying into Poznan, Poland on one of the smaller Euro carriers. Now, I gate check my bag on RJs out of courtesy to others.

So, you and I are recommending the same size bag, and you're suggesting that the hard bag won't be allowed, but the soft one will?

Since the OP is traveling in the US, the allowable/fit issue becomes moot. Soft sided vs. hard is an interesting debate on what survives gate checking, because he will still have to gate check the aeronaut on smaller airplanes. Unless he's a total douche that attempts to takes up the whole overhead on a CRJ, but that's another subject. Most FAs at regional airlines, won't allow a bag that big, be they backpacks, soft side, whatever.

They know.

And the only criterion remaining is: sling it over your shoulder, or roll it.