Carry on Luggage

[sevencyclist]

School me on carry on luggages.

Briggs Riley vs Rimowa vs Tumi

4 wheels vs 2 wheels

Sized to fit overhead and not asked to check in for most domestic and some international travel to big cities. (common sized planes 737, 757, Airbus etc)

Thanks.

[rwsaunders]

I'm on my second one in thirty years of traveling and 2 million air miles...TravelPro 22" suiter. Good for 4-5 days on the road and always fits in the overhead.

Travelpro Crew 9 22" Expandable Rollaboard Suiter - eBags.com

[joosttx]

As a Diamond member of Delta that means I fly over 125,000 miles yearly the best bag I found is this.....


Wheeled Medium Trip Garment Bag | Tumi North America Site

[Peter Polack]

I read an article a few months ago stating the airlines, in an attempt to squeeze more fees from fliers and pack more fliers into planes, has REDUCED the dimensions of permissible carry on luggage. The downside is thousands of travelers would have to replace their current carry on with new, compliant luggage. I understand this varies on a per-airline basis, but caveat emptor.

What a racket.

While I can't recommend a specific piece, I can recommend you check the airline web sites to find the new dimensions and then ensure the new bag you purchase meets the regulations. Otherwise you'll have a lot of aggravation pleading your case at check in.

Google "airlines reduce dimensions of carry on luggage" for info.

[sevencyclist]

As a Diamond member of Delta that means I fly over 125,000 miles yearly the best bag I found is this.....


Wheeled Medium Trip Garment Bag | Tumi North America Site

Tumi makes stylish bags. How did you fit this bag into the overhead bin? Perhaps Diamond member has more allowance, right?

[sevencyclist]

I read an article a few months ago stating the airlines, in an attempt to squeeze more fees from fliers and pack more fliers into planes, has REDUCED the dimensions of permissible carry on luggage. The downside is thousands of travelers would have to replace their current carry on with new, compliant luggage. I understand this varies on a per-airline basis, but caveat emptor.

What a racket.

While I can't recommend a specific piece, I can recommend you check the airline web sites to find the new dimensions and then ensure the new bag you purchase meets the regulations. Otherwise you'll have a lot of aggravation pleading your case at check in.

Google "airlines reduce dimensions of carry on luggage" for info.

Thank you. Exactly. I have read some posts about bag that always worked now needed to be checked, and sometimes charged to do so at the gate. I would like to avoid that scenario and go with a bag that meets requirement. What I don't know is whether the listed measurement by manufacturers actually conform, or a "vanity size."

[joosttx]

Tumi makes stylish bags. How did you fit this bag into the overhead bin? Perhaps Diamond member has more allowance, right?

That bag fits into overhead bins without issue except for regional jet (like all other traveler roller bags).

[funcrusher]

i have a 20 year old tumi garment bag that is built like a tank...the newer stuff i have not so much

if i were to buy a new carry on today, it would be the rimowa...the design makes more sense to me and the bags themselves are lighter

also depends on what you're packing...

[11.4]

I travel over a quarter million miles a year and am a luggage junkie anyway, so here goes.

1. Tumi: They made their name on the Alpha line and have tweaked it all along, finally with a renaming to ... of course ... Alpha 2. Frankly the older Alpha stuff is a bit tougher and has some nicer features. For example, the new zipper pulls are black paint and chip right away, while the old ones are a pewter anodized version. The newer handles probably work just as well as the old ones but have a hinge in them that seems pointless; the grips are ever so slightly better. Tumi has tried all kinds of different luggage, but not much really sticks in the marketplace except Alpha. You can now get original Alpha at really good discounts (both Tumi outlets and various online sources including eBay). Note that Tumi used to have a lifetime warranty (and they must hate me for continuing to use a few older pieces with that warranty) but now it's staged and pretty minimal. That's a huge turnoff, especially if you ever have to check anything. Tumi is probably still the most stylish, but it doesn't have the best feature set or best warranty and not even the best construction any longer.

Briggs & Riley: Not as stylish as Tumi but built for war and equipped with a lifetime warranty. Get the Baseline series, not any of the others. Baseline is the toughest for regular flying. It has some funky issues such as excessive floppy internal pockets for pens and cards and stuff (I've never found uses for most of them and they just get in the way). Their expandable cases are very good -- they use internal brackets rather than Tumi's zip-around design to collapse them, which makes them a little more versatile. They did a quasi-upgrade by making the internal brackets ratcheted so you can squash it down to an intermediate opening if you just need a little room, plus it lets you pack the bag full, close it, and then sit on it until everything compresses and you're back to regulation height for carry-on. Not much of a deal if you pack properly anyway, but it's there if you're a sloppy packer. Also, B&R puts the pull-around arm on the outside of the bag -- it's really not relevant because it has to go somewhere and when it's inside the bag itself is just slightly bigger, but if nothing it lets them make it a little sturdier. I did find that the B&R rollarounds have a stop on the handle extension that just matches most computer bags so I can grab the handles of both at the same time -- Tumi doesn't quite do that so they force you to slide the computer bag over the handle (which still slips around) or you risk having it slide off the roll around and falling (little things matter a lot when you're traveling a lot). Neither Tumi nor B&R have decent pockets for anything but miniature water bottles or small soft drink bottles -- nothing like you find on backpacks and the like. Great warranty and great service. Talk to luggage dealers and they nearly all like to sell B&R as their best brand -- the warranty makes it easy for them, and it's just sturdy. It could look a little better, but their pieces have outlasted matching pieces from Tumi. I typically travel with a couple B&R rollarounds and with a Tumi computer case -- style where it's needed, brawn where it's needed. B&R also makes a compact folding garment bag which packs up to the size of a small overnight bag but can hold 2 suits, 3 shirts, and misc. I love it for traveling with suits. It isn't a roll around but it can perch on a roll around if you don't have a computer bag to carry on as well.

Rimowa: Here it gets complicated. The most expensive Rimowas have extruded aluminum seals that lock against each other. Very pretty, but the first time they get dinged, you can't close the suitcase any longer. The most expensive ones also have aluminum bodies rather than plastic, which aren't even the lightest but also ding up. If you are carrying on, don't let cab drivers throw your bags in the trunk, etc., and you want to spend that coin, they are very very pretty. They get scuffed anyway but that's part of the look. For durability, get the zip-around bags with the plastic bodies. Those are much lighter than either Tumi or B&R. You can't squeeze more into them by stretching the case, nor can you collapse the case to fit a subsized luggage space. Smaller casters that are very high quality but are tough to roll on rough surfaces (part of the weight-reducing strategy). Inside they are pretty plain, but I don't need a lot of pockets anyway -- if you want built-in pockets, Rimowas may not be for you. Everybody is making similar zip-around plastic-shelled bags these days if you aren't exceedingly brand-conscious, but check weights and construction carefully -- Tumi has some, for example, but they are as heavy as Tumi's regular cases. Totally bulletproof, but no weight savings and much more expensive.

There are other brands you might check, but you're looking at the three basic road-warrior brands.

As for 2 versus 4 wheels, having four wheels lets you walk the bag without tipping it, which is a little nicer when standing in line, which may or may not work pushing it down an airplane aisle, and which gives you four wheels that can muck up. It lets them use shorter handles (I've tried some 4-wheelers and the handle isn't long enough to pull the bag comfortably if you tilt it over onto two wheels, so just check that out. Four wheels are more popular these days, but I don't have any preference for it one way or the other. I will say that with two wheels, they can recess them into the bag and protect them better, but with four, they tend to stick right out and are more susceptible to getting hit in cab trunks or if you have to check them. (Always assume you will have to check the bag at some point.)

As for sizing, I always go with International CarryOn sizes, partly because they are the same volume but slightly shorter and are required for flying overseas. I am a distinguished honorable super-flier on most of the airlines and they let me get away with murder, but storage spaces on newer planes are actually better than they used to be -- an old 737 had horrible storage that didn't fit a regulation roll around bag end-on, while new Boeings and Airbuses can take something vastly oversized. However, I think the aisle has gotten narrower as they are packing more seats and trying to give seats slightly more room, and that may be in the consideration for smaller bags. I've had a couple planes where I couldn't roll my traditional airline-standard bag down the aisle, but it's rare.

If you are considering computer bags, don't bother with these TSA-friendly ones. Too many tend to jam in the conveyor belts anyway and frankly, if you're flying much, go TSA PreCheck and you don't have to open the bag anyway. And if you go overseas at all, TSA-approval doesn't mean anything and you still have to remove your computer.

Hope that helps. You might check out Carryology | Exploring Better Ways to Carry and a variety of other travel luggage sites for lots of cool alternative products and reviews. There's a lot of information out there.