Need carry on luggage, duffel, or backpack. Recommendations?

GomezAddams

GomezAddams

Wandering and wondering
Staff member
The wife and I find ourselves in need of carry on luggage. Requirements: Inexpensive ($50 each range). Max capacity. Absolutely must be slightly under 22" x 14" x 9".

There's no end of carry on "spinners" (hard shell cases on 4 wheels) in that price range, but I don't know about durability. And, wheels are not even a requirement for me - I'd rather gain that physical space back on the inside of the case.

I'm open to traditional luggage style cases, backpacks, or duffels. However, whichever it is needs to be close to 22" x 14" x 9" without going over.

Whatcha got?
 
I've gone through this many times. Here's what I found.

1. Format starts to make a larger difference once I'm at destination. You can 't narrow down backpack vs. duffel, for example, until you know what you're going to do with it at your destination. Are you roaming South America, moving every 1-3 days? Backpack. Are you heading to a destination where you'll stay for 3 weeks? Duffel. I avoid backpacks except for backpacking.

2. Which is why wheels are crucial. Am I willing to schlep a bag through my airport, or a bigger US airport like Phoenix? Sure. Then I wind up in an airport at a developing nation where I have to go 1/4 mile between buildings ... and all of a sudden, those wheels are a godsend. Always get wheels if possible.

3. As much as it flies in the face of my wish to not be part of mindless consumptive waste, I view non-crucial baggage as ultimately disposable. No $130 'bombproof' duffels for me; I'll take that one for $22 on Amazon, thanks, and hope it lasts the trip and then some. I've done pretty well with this, and I've put things through some serious shit. The way I look at it is if it sucks for $22, who cares, but if I have a $150 duffel with an annoying issue, I lost money I can't recover. Stay cheap.

You sound very focused on the dimensions, which makes me think you are taking a flight on a smaller plane and you don't want to / can't check your bag. In this situation, soft sides are your friend.

Back in the day when I was on flights daily, I got a roller-duffel from Costco because some of my flights were on smaller, commuter airlines. It was thoroughly unremarkable, neither cheap nor 'nice,' and certainly didn't impress the other poor, no-life bastards in first class. But sonofabitch, that thing still goes on trips with me, in no small part because they have an end compartment that is perfect for isolating shoes from clothes, and it's so 'flimsy' that it can fit in the overhead of most Embraer prop-jets.
 
Perhaps I should have mentioned the reason for the need. The wife and I are flying to Miami to take a cruise. The flight has a connection with a 55 minute layover in Chicago. Having flown through Chicago many times, I know it is very hectic, and gates are often separated by large distances. While airlines will hold connecting flights for connecting passengers if the flight is late, they won't hold long (if at all) for luggage transfers. Ordinarily, that's not a big deal - the airline just puts the luggage on the next flight, and the airline delivers them to your hotel.

However, a cruise ship would be gone by the time the next flight gets from Chicago to Miami, so whatever luggage we check makes the same flight as us, or it sits in Miami for a week*. Our solution is to pack as much as possible into a carry on for each of us, and take one checked bag of non-essentials. That way, if the checked bag doesn't make the transfer, we are still good.

It has to be slightly less than max carry on dimensions because I cannot take a risk that it would be rejected when boarding (the first hop of our trip down is a puddle jumper).

The wife agrees with my logic on carry on, but I know she won't want to spend much on carry on luggage, since we normally don't do carry on when travelling (she rarely flies, and when I fly, I check a full size case because I don't like schlepping my CPAP machine around as carry on). I figured a duffel or backpack might be a bit cheaper (and have more room).


* Interestingly, I did notice a blurb on MSC's web site where they will attempt to get delayed bags to you en-route. I suppose they have agreements with air carriers to fly wayward bags to the islands along the itinerary. No guarantees, though.
 
You know, I wouldn't worry about it. I have traveled from rural Bolivia up through 'All The Nations Airports' (Archers of Loaf reference) and in my experience, luggage always stands a better chance of making a flight. In fact, just last month, I saw my luggage make a flight I couldn't (they couldn't fix the jetway and let us out ... goodbye, bags, have a good trip and see you when I get home).

Having read your scenario, I'd say that the absolutely crucial shit should fit in a backpack. I use a Wenger I found for $7 at Savers. It has enough room for a laptop (I bring an iPad), a few personal items, a fleece, and a spare change of clothes. In my case, I have an Izod sport shirt (sort of a polyester polo with a nicer collar) and stretch khaki shorts. Those roll up to nothing in terms of size.

Anything else I feel like I can deal with it when I get there. I once had a bag taken in the Dominican, I just bought some local clothes. $40, not a biggie.

TLDR: I'd just check stuff, not worry, and have one excellent Wenger-style backpack for my grab and go.
 
Fan of backpacks here. Easy to carry and soft bags fit on places hard cases won't. I recently scored a Samsonite backpack, with laptop pocket, wheels, and an extensible handle that fits in nearly all hand luggage requirements. Was a bit more than your $50 budget but it's going to be a mainstay for trips for years.
 
I am strongly pro-backpack.

I overpack because I’m one of those people who can’t leave the house without a half-dozen books.

But there are some very nice backpacks in the 40L-45L range that fill carry-on requirements. With compression packs, that works really well.

They work well on bicycles, on public transit, and hiking.
 
I always check a bag because I have to travel with tools, but put me in the backpack column for carry-on. Makes it especially easy to walk through massive airport concourses while rolling the luggage. It also is guaranteed to fit overhead in just about any plane - not like those "carry-on" pieces that some dimwits just HAVE to bring onboard, that they spend 3 fucking minutes in the aisle trying to smash into the overhead :mad:
 
GomezAddams said:
The wife and I find ourselves in need of carry on luggage. Requirements: Inexpensive ($50 each range). Max capacity. Absolutely must be slightly under 22" x 14" x 9".

There's no end of carry on "spinners" (hard shell cases on 4 wheels) in that price range, but I don't know about durability. And, wheels are not even a requirement for me - I'd rather gain that physical space back on the inside of the case.

I'm open to traditional luggage style cases, backpacks, or duffels. However, whichever it is needs to be close to 22" x 14" x 9" without going over.

Whatcha got?
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1) spinners take up room that could be used for more packed items, get the two wheelers
2) Go to a store like Macy's if you have one around, they're always almost going out of business and luggage is always on sale
3) I take a small under-seat backpack and a carry on bag and that's it. Be like me.

The last carry on bag I bought was a Delsey and it is awesome. Simple, you don't need a hard shell for carry on luggage, also takes up more space and adds weight.

Check this one out - regular price $180, on sale for $79.

https://shop.delsey.com/product/sky...ttribute=755af9b9-fbe0-4d1d-8ef6-d1b71fbddb8c
 
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I'm another fan of backpacks for travel; waaaay easier/faster/betterer than wheels
 
I have a hard-sided spinner, but you have convinced me to get a backpack for my October trip. I will only need to carry enough for two days and the backpack should handle it all.
 
If I'm traveling for around a week, I pref a 18 - 22 liter backpack. Shop features & price; savings on a bargain backpack that's uncomfortable to wear after 1 hour or too damn big and catches on everything are soon forgotten. I find them more portable, less obtrusive, more comfortable and don't really need much more capacity.
 
Lerxst said:
If I'm traveling for around a week, I pref a 18 - 22 liter backpack. Shop features & price; savings on a bargain backpack that's uncomfortable to wear after 1 hour or too damn big and catches on everything are soon forgotten. I find them more portable, less obtrusive, more comfortable and don't really need much more capacity.
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I couldn’t get by on 20L for a week, that’s simply not enough space.
 
Flamencology said:
I couldn’t get by on 20L for a week, that’s simply not enough space.
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I'm a pretty light packer to begin with and I have a good amount of multi-use 'technical' clothing that packs small and layers for adapting to various conditions so I generally don't need a lot of space and I can be very mobile.
 
Lerxst said:
I'm a pretty light packer to begin with and I have a good amount of multi-use 'technical' clothing that packs small and layers for adapting to various conditions so I generally don't need a lot of space and I can be very mobile.
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I'm also a big fan of this approach, but it definitely depends on clothing needs. having to bring multiple types of shoes and/or dressier clothes are what usual ends up making it not work, but if there's no need for that then this is definitely the way to go, IMO.

also yet another use case that argues strongly for a kindle over hardcopy books.
 
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