Fodor's carry-on guide

Everyone’s talking carry-on bagsthis summer, even though they may be an endangered species. Travel super site Fodors.com has a carry-on buyer’s guide - wheeled and convertibles.

If your bag's heavy anyway...

Why not go the easy route? If you must pack an 80-pound monster and pay extortionate overweight fees you can now at least avoid dragging the beast. LiveLuggage mpw offers motorized luggage. From London’s Daily Mail:

Powered by a rechargeable 12-volt battery pack in the base, the case can cover a mile-and-a-half fully loaded.

Each has a laser-etched serial number, so that if lost, the finder can contact its makers, Live Luggage, who email or text the owner.

The case, which has a plug-in charger, similar to that of a mobile phone, works by providing varying power to the wheels, depending on how hard the user pulls it.

Pressure sensors built into the handle monitor how hard the case is pulled.

 

The wheel motors switch on the moment you tug on the handle

The engines then provide torque to compensate. So as the user walks, it follows them as though it weighs nothing.

 

Free and easy no more

Another opinion piece if favor of fees for carry-on luggage:

It might make sense to limit the size of the checked bags or to charge for additional checked baggage — or even charge people for carry-on luggage. Checked baggage is considered pretty safe, whereas carry-on luggage has to go through extra screenings. It makes more sense to charge for carry-on bags than checked baggage. - EnidNews.com

Pocket scale saves $$

This cool digital pocket scale from Magellan’s could pay for itself if it keeps you from going overweight on one flight! It’s way cooler and more portable than my old analog model. Be careful though, everyone in line may want to use it!

Update on June 19, 2008 by Frank@OBOW

And they have a second version as well.

 

More on the squeeze

American and United airlines “will station airline employees or hired contract workers at entrances to security screening lanes to intercept customers exceeding the carry-on limit of one bag small enough to fit in an overhead bin and one “personal item” like a purse or briefcase. That could slow passengers trying to get through security, and collecting the fee at ticket counters and airport curbs could make lines longer. Boarding airplanes could be slower, too, with heightened stress as customers maximize carry-ons to avoid fees and then push to board early enough to find space in overhead cabin bins.

American plans to more aggressively pull customers aside at boarding gates if the airline thinks they have too much carry-on baggage, as well as step up announcements about size limits in gate areas and on airplanes. United says it is still formulating its plans, but may try to gate-check bags for customers in later boarding groups before boarding begins for fully booked flights.

All three airlines say it’s possible that metal templates - which prevent larger bags from making it through X-ray machines - will be reintroduced. That’s a tactic that angered many customers in the past and was eliminated when the Transportation Security Administration took control of screening after the 2001 terrorist attacks.”It’s something we’ve looked at in the past and may look at again,” says Mark Dupont, American’s senior vice president of airport services planning.’ - eTurboNews (underlinging my own - Brad)

Travelpack talk

Here’s a post on the Motley Fool board that constitutes a nice overview of some of the better travelpacks.

Carry-on coping strategy

If you’ve read the posts below you know that the trends in luggage policy for the carry-on traveler are all in the wrong direction. Policies like American’s are going to drive unprepared novices to stuff checked-luggage loads into carryons of every size. This means full bins and persnickety gate agents - and even talk of the TSA taking over luggage enforcement. And you know that can’t be good. So, how to prepare? The light must get lighter. Be prepared to arrive at the airport one day soon to find a UK-style one-bag rule (no personal items). So, though it’s not required yet, plan as if your personal item has to fit in your main bag. That’s a start. Also, because the bins are filling up your legal carryon may not fit. Consider an undersized bag. Go soft-sided, no-wheels if you can. Rigid rollers are hard to stuff. These are trying time for the traveler. Be ready for anything in 2008.

And now for something completely different

A different take on the luggage squeeze:

Instead of charging for checked bags, airlines could probably raise more revenue and improve the quality of the flight experience by doing just the opposite: charging for carry-on luggage.

Under this arrangement, flyers determined to keep their bags within arm’s reach can pay a premium to do so. And those who want to save money can do so by checking bags free of charge.

Such price incentives would shorten security lines, bring order to boarding, and help bring out the humanity in all of us at airports. Imagine: Even late boarders (who are willing to pay) could find space in an overhead compartment – perhaps even the one above their own seat. -  opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor

Update on June 19, 2008 by Frank@OBOW

Another voice calling for carryon charges - not checked charges.

2008: Year of the great baggage squeeze

It’s going to get worse. As baggage fees drive amateurs to carryon-only, get ready for the squeeze as the bins bulge. And watch the size of your bag - templates may be coming back:

All three airlines say it’s possible that metal templates — which prevent larger bags from making it through X-ray machines — will be reintroduced. That’s a tactic that angered many customers in the past and was eliminated when the Transportation Security Administration took control of screening after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

“It’s something we’ve looked at in the past and may look at again,” says Mark Dupont, American’s senior vice president of airport services planning.

United is in favor of bringing back templates, says Senior Vice President Scott Dolan, and US Airways Group Inc. President Scott Kirby says a return of baggage templates is “likely” at some airports. While security checkpoints are controlled by the TSA, airlines can pressure the federal agency to allow templates if a checkpoint serves a single airline, or several airlines with the same policy on templates. - WSJ/The Middle Seat

Can we expect a new crop of undersized carryons like the Tom Bihn Western Flyer?

San Fran's Flinn reviews carryons

John Flinn, an excellent travel writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, reviews several carryons here. He leaves out the high-end American-made bags but does cover the best of the rest.

Radical rolling

There is something new under the sun: the Zuca Pro roller is a radical bag that offers some unusual features and an eye-popping design. I can’t tell from the website info whether it may be a good one-bag solution or not. The interior room is somewhat under-sized and there are no dimensions given for the packing cubes. Still, it is intriguing. It offers a cabinet-like modular interior and is rigid enough to serve as a seat - try that with your backpack. Pricing ranges from $235-$285. I’ll be on the hunt for more info on the Zuca Pro…

Update on April 29, 2008 by Frank@OBOW

I should have noted that the Zuca Pro weighs just under 9 pounds - pretty average for a roller…

Carryon poll results to date

What brand of carry-on luggage do you use
Selection
eBags	15 votes
Samsonite	10 votes
Tough Traveler	2 votes
Tom Bihn	39 votes
Red Oxx	47 votes
MEI	11 votes
Victorinox	7 votes
Briggs & Riley	6 votes
Travelpro	8 votes
American Tourister	7 votes
Rick Steves	10 votes
Eddie Bauer	2 votes
Orvis	0 votes
Filson	3 votes
Boyt	0 votes
Tumi	6 votes
Eagle Creek	14 votes
Patagonia	7 votes
Jansport	4 votes
OTHER	24 votes

No real surprises here. The quality leaders (Red Oxx, Tom Bihn, and Eagle Creek) and the value leaders (Rick Steves and eBags) have made strong showings.  Vote in the right-hand column of this page if you haven’t done so.

Wheel-less and happy

Randy S. posted this excellent account (on the (Tom Bihn forum) of a successful transition from wheeled luggage to convertible bag:

“This is my first field test for my new Brain Bag and Aeronaut.

After hearing Leo Laporte rave about his Tom Bihn bags, I rushed to the website and immediately bought a Brain Bag to hold my 17” MacBook Pro and all of the associated stuff that comes along with it. I got the recommended Brain Cell to provide added support for the laptop, and perhaps act as a carry case when I don’t want the whole bag.

I’m a road-warrior, logging between 50 and 100 flight segments a year, mostly domestic US. I had been swearing by my Eagle Creek Switchback, using the daypack as my personal “laptop bag”. However, more than once, my laptop floating around loosely in the daypack has gotten cosmetically damaged.

The Brain Cell is a welcome change! It fits very nice, and the clips hold it well in the Brain Bag, to keep it all from coming apart as I (frequently) pull the laptop out for use or inspection at flight checkin. I also got a Snake Charmer, and can’t imagine working without that convenience now. I put the power cord in one side, and everything else in the other, so that I can easily pull out the power cord without it being tangled in everything else.

After using the Brain Bag for a couple of weeks, I decided I wasn’t ever going back to my Eagle Creek, so now I needed “the clothes bag”. Based on the “One Bag” site’s info about how much space and weight the wheels take up, I decided to try a non-wheeled approach for for the first time in years. This was a brave move, but boy, am I happy with the results.

I picked up the Aeronaut, opting for the smaller-frame backpack since I’m a small (but round) guy, and I don’t think I’ll be backpacking often with this. However, I stepped up to the Absolute Comfort shoulder strap, knowing that my back would be holding the Brain Bag while my shoulder (and neck) would be supporting the Aeronaut. I got a full size packing cell, two half size, and two small end-cap size cells, as recommended. (I’m still sorting out how to use these best.)

After packing the Aeronaut with my usual “reusable one week of clothes”, I couldn’t believe it… I still had space left over, and I could easily support the bag with one hand! My Eagle Creek rollaboard was never this light, even packed with a light loadout.

But the best part was on the outbound leg of this trip I’m currently on, to Brazil. My Delta flight from Portland to Atlanta got an hour weather delay, leaving me 15 minutes to get from the T concourse to the E concourse for my international leg. (Many of you reading know what this is like, I presume.) So, I grabbed the Brain Bag, and threw it on my back, and then slung the Aeronaut over my right shoulder and neck. I slung the bag forward in front of my waist, and grabbed both handles to reduce the weight on the neck. I ran like this to the tram, trammed to E, and then ran the rest of the way down to E1. Even carrying this, rather than rolling, it was still less effort, and I was especially happy not to need a double-wide space that the roller took. I might have looked a bit funny running with a big backpack sticking out my back, and a fullsize carryon in front of my stomach, but it worked, and that’s all that mattered to me.

I made my flight, and as I was getting settled in, I had just one small space over my seat to put my bag, the other spots already claimed by those that had a more leisurely connection. My Eagle Creek with its hard back would not have fit, but the Aeronaut fit nicely by “giving” just a bit since the sides are entirely soft. Again, a win for the Aeronaut. (If you’ve ever fought the center overhead storage in business class on a 757, you know the problems there, especially when someone else has a large rigid barely legal bag.)

So far, I’m very very happy… ” - original post

Update on April 30, 2008 by Frank@OBOW

More from Randy:

I’ve found that even though I look a bit like an oddly shaped Sherpa, the best way to carry my load was having the weight both in back and in front directly. I put my rather heavily packed BrainBag on my back (using the waist belt for longer distances) and I sling the Aeronaut around my right shoulder and neck but hanging immediately in front of my waist. Distributed this way, I found that I could walk rather long distances without having to relieve the shoulder strap weight of the Aeronaut, although I would grab the Aeronaut by the end handles when I was standing in line occasionally to reduce the neck pull. One other advantage of this arrangement is that I found myself standing up straighter… a loaded backpack has not done well for my posture over the years.

I discovered another odd benefit of not using a rollaboard: I have both hands free! It didn’t occur to me until I pulled out my iPhone to check the time and schedule that I was actually using both hands while walking down the concourse… something that is usually awkward and often requires stopping with the rollaboard.

Rck Steves sale

The Rick Steves convertible carryons are on sale (20% off) direct from the the Rick Steves travel store. I haven’t tested these but they come highly recommended and look to be an excellent value. Steves popularized the convertible years ago - sort of made the market. Thanks to OBOW regular Paul for the tip.

Price point perspicuity

Why does luggage cost what it does? And what does your money buy? Here’s such wisdom as I have on the subject. Let’s divide the type of luggage an OBOW reader might choose into three price categories (give or take a few dollars): $50, $100, and $200.

• $50 buys a bag made overseas that may or may not be a good value - the eBags Weekender Convertible comes to mind. This bag  is as comfortable as most on the back and the design is quite good. The quality is less so. I started one=bag travel with one of these years ago, but after a few uses a main seam began to fail. I know of another that came to its owner with defective hardware. The materials and construction are always suspect with a bag of this price.
• $100 buys a better-made overseas bag that usually has a decent layout and set of features. Think the Rick Steves bags and offerings by Victorinox and the outdoor equipment companies. These will almost always be serviceable bags that are reasonable values.
• $200 buys an American-made bag that should last as long as you want to use it under normal circumstances. These bags are produced by small, conscientious US companies that put a lot of effort into producing a quality product - like Red Oxx, Tom Bihn, Tough Traveler, and MEI.  This price point may represent a good value if you are a demanding traveler who doesn’t like surprises and doesn’t intend to change bags every year or two. You can also spend $200 or more for bags from reputable luggage companies which offer foreign-made bags of good quality, lots of features and excellent warranties.
  

You can of course spend even more for leather or some other variety of high-style luggage, but I’m assuming that most OBOW readers are more interested in quality than in ultra-expensive luggage whose primary purpose is to make the owner feel “special”.

Which category represents the best value? My theory is that in most retail categories you should go cheap or go for get-what-you-pay-for quality. In the luggage world this means spend $50 or spend $200. Buy a bag for a lifetime - or one for a year of hard use or a couple of vacations. This makes the most sense to me. A $50 bag is disposable; a $200 bag is still the cheapest element of your next major trip.

A word about sales: Good value can sometimes be had when a sale turns a $180 bag into a $120 bag. But American luggage companies rarely have sales. Why? Small American companies know how much profit they must build into a bag to keep operating. Their labor and material costs are high and they don’t change much. So they don’t have sales. Foreign-made bags are mass produced and marked up significantly. Cheap labor and materials make this possible. When a retailer buys 500 of a bag and it sells slowly they mark it down to near cost or below. It’s more important to a mass marketer to dump excess inventory so they’ll have the cash flow to move on to next years model or trend. The American companies are under less pressure in this respect since they maintain tight inventories and feel no need to replace their high-quality products with something new every year or two.

What do you think?     

TB Ristretto for mini notebooks

GottaBeMobile has posted a video look at the new Tom Bihn Ristretto cafe/messenger bag which is designed just for small laptops like the Macbook Air, 13-inch Macbook, and Lenovo Thinkpad X300. Since many light travelers are looking at the smallest notebooks this should be a welcome addition to the field. It’s very similar to the TB Cafe bags except it has built-in padding so no need to buy a sleeve. I’ll eventually get around to posting review of the TB large cafe bag which is an excellent day bag/personal item.

Update on June 25, 2009 by Frank@OBOW

The Ristretto has been redesigned/upgraded.

In defense of wheels

The aptly named poster High Roller has left the following comment on a couple of older posts where it probably won’t be widely noticed. He makes such well-reasoned points that I thought they deserved wider airing. His position on wheels (obviously the majority position) is only in the minority in a forum like this one. OBOW is for all sorts of light travelers and we’re going wrong if we can’t offer some helpful advice to the wheeling masses, so here goes:

(I had expressed my surprise at the tiny minority of our site’s poll respondents who expressed a preference for wheeled bags) 

“I sometimes find the attack on rolling bags a bit annoying too.

Sites pertaining to one bag travel seem to be populated by folks with a tendency away from wheeled luggage. From what I can gather, the majority of those voicing opinions on these sites are men, in reasonably good health, who travel regularly, who travel without children, in mostly casual to semi-formal environments. Thus the majority seem to have different travel requirements than I do.

A quick glance around any US airport shows that the one bag, shoulder bag group is the minority, and wheeled bags are very popular. The reason for this popularity? Are we all gluttons for punishment, or just too stupid to read a blog or two. No. For many travelers, a wheeled bag is actually a better solution.

My favorite argument against the wheeled bag is the cobblestone argument, I would like to see someone post a pic of a stretch of cobblestones inside an airport, or in a hotel, or a cobblestone sidewalk in a business area in the US. If the majority of your travel involves walking in the street in Europe, then maybe a shoulder bag would be the better choice.

In the past 15 years, I can only recall lifting my bag to carry it across a 2 lane cobblestone road once. Is that what the fuss is about? Believe it or not, my bag wheels reasonably well along most cobblestone streets, only those with a very harsh surface are truly prohibitive.

It is certainly possible to travel well with one bag with a roller. Even the godfather of it all, over at onebag.com reports using an external cart when his bag is heavy.

If your bag is regularly heavy due to business or personal requirements, go with the roller. The downsides to a roller are that the inclusion of the rolling apparatus causes a decrease in the capacity of the bag and an increase in weight, and that the presence of the wheels externally can make it a bit more difficult and a bit more messy to handle when getting it into or out of luggage bins. The huge upside is that you don’t have to carry it everywhere, and in the majority of travel situations you can roll.

All of the other proposed downsides to rolling bags: damage to hotel stairs, noisy wheels, injuring other people in the airport, inability to roll up a ladder, or over cobblestones, are pretty weak arguments.

A well chosen rolling bag can weigh about 3-4lbs more than a comparable bag without wheels, and will hold about one pair of shoes less (actually about 1.5 shoes, but bringing half a shoe has yet to prove useful for me— maybe it would help me find more cobblestones…).

Consider that if your bag is heavy, the alternatives are: 1) a carried bag without an external cart (i.e. lug it around), 2) a carried bag with an external cart (the onebag.com solution), and 3) a rolling bag. I’m not going to suffer carrying a bag too heavy to handle, so my options are 2 and 3. Taking an external cart negates the weight and capacity advantages of a carried bag. So if your bag is rarely heavy, perhaps 2 is the option for you. If your bag is regularly heavy— perhaps due to medical supplies or a company issued laptop & projector setup, or other heavy burden (try stuffing a 8lb, 17 inch laptop and 4lb projector in your Air Boss), then the roller is the way to go.

My rule of thumb is that if the bag weighs much more than 10% of the bodyweight of the carrier, then the extra 3-4lbs for a well chosen roller will probably be worth the tradeoff.

Knowing that a rolling bag is my better option, I try to use the information on these sites to maximize my own solution— and do my best not to be annoyed by those who are not seeking a solution, but seeking rather to criticize others for using a wheeled bag.”

The 10% weight rule is a good one. I hate to carry a bag that’s much over 15 pounds - that comports with your 10% rule. And my sympathies to anyone who travels with a mega-laptop and projector. I have found one way that using a shoulder bag helps my family (my wife anyway). She’s a teacher who leads trips to Europe. Going with one shoulder bag means I can carry (or roll) her bag, freeing her up completely to shepherd 40 kids and chaperones through Heathrow. Chivalry is not dead, and sometimes it carries a shoulder bag :)

Advice from Joe

“Even as airlines hike their luggage fees, they are losing more bags than ever before. That’s a double whammy you can avoid by packing smarter and buying better carry-on bags. If you don’t want to spring for the custom-made stuff from artisans like Myron Glaser, you’ll find capacious carry-ons from the better commercial suppliers. And when you must travel with lots of luggage, ship with Fed Ex, U.P.S., or the special services rather than paying for the privilege of using the inefficient airline system.”

- from air travel guru Joe Brancatelli - Portfolio.com

Packs & packing

Andrew Ho, a veteran poster in the Tom Bihn forums has some interesting stuff on his personal site: a packing list and comparison chart of convertibles & travelpacks (somewhat outdated but still good). Here’s hoping Andrew will contribute to our reader forum.

 

Here’s a very sweet deal (less than $80) on a convertible similar to the Victorinox Andrew mentioned, the Victorinox Travel Luggage Werks Weekender Travel Bag - Expandable.

 

 

Patagonia changes, stays legal

It looks like Patagonia has discontinued the One Bag undersized overnighter/laptop bag. Not to worry, the Tom Bihn Western Flyer is a very similar product and is probably even more versatile. Patagonia has updated their larger MLC® (Maxiumum Legal Carryon). It’s worth a look. 

 

Update on March 25, 2008 by Frank@OBOW

Someone has rightly pointed out that the Patagonia One Bag has been replaced by the Lightwire Brief, a very similar concept to the Tom Bihn Western Flyer - though more briefcase than suitcase.