Luggage and Travel Bags

Wheels or straps, how big the cabin really allows, and what survives baggage handling.

Updated

Luggage is the one category where the rules around the product changed more than the product. The bags in these reviews are mostly gone; the decisions are the same.

Size to the cabin, not to the hold

This is the change worth acting on. Budget airlines now charge more for a hold bag than for some seats, and a bag you carry on cannot be lost. A 35 to 45 litre bag that fits the overhead bin covers most trips, including long ones, and it imposes the discipline that makes travel lighter.

Cabin limits vary by airline and have tightened, so the bag that fits one carrier costs money on the next. Measure yours, including wheels and handles, which count.

Wheels or carried

Two larger inline wheels beat four small spinners on anything rough; spinners are lovely on a smooth floor and useless on a broken one.

What actually fails

Zips, wheels and handles, in that order, and almost never the fabric. So look for chunky zips with two sliders that meet in the middle, recessed wheels you can replace, and a telescopic handle that does not rattle. A guarantee that covers those three parts is the whole value of an expensive bag.

The things that make any bag work better

And know the rule that pays: on international flights the Montreal Convention caps airline liability at roughly 1,300 SDR, and you claim from the airline rather than the airport, before you leave the baggage hall.

Kept current

The reviews (56)

Written at the time, about gear that in most cases is no longer made. Useful for what the writer noticed, not as a shopping list.