My daughter’s doing an overnight at a school and one of the things they’ve asked her to bring is a sleeping bag. Has anyone flown with a sleeping bag and not checked luggage? As it’s an overnight trip we were expecting not to check luggage, and I’d like to avoid unnecessary hassle and fees.
Roll it up tight and stick it in a backpack. If everyone is checking luggage anyway she should consider it too.
She’ll probably want a pillow too…
@bouders Good point. I’ve seen inflatable pillows at places like REI that would be packable for carry-on.
@Pheebers Airlines all list carry-on dimensions on their websites so you can figure out now if the sleeping bag will fit. Different sleeping bags smush up to vastly different sizes so if yours is too big you can maybe ask around to see if someone can loan you better suited bag. Remember that she gets one carry-on plus a “purse”. Us girls know what a loophole that can be. 
My daughter has a sleeping bag that packs small enough to fit in a standard carry-on rollaboard. Between a rollaboard for carry-on and a backpack as your “purse”, you can carry a lot of stuff without checking bags. (I wouldn’t check a bag for an overnight trip.)
Just buy it on Amazon and have them ship it directly there. A lot less hassle, especially if you have Amazon Prime (which I shake my fist at because it makes me spend so much money because the shipping is free).
I use it a lot when the girls are away over the summer at camp and need, say, 100 glow sticks…
Check with the school to see if they have some to borrow. My D hosts prospective students and says the admissions office has a few sleeping bags available. I suspect they do this just so people like your D don’t have to lug a sleeping bag on a plane! (And of course for those that simply forget)
@MotherOfDragons I think this is for an accepted student visit…would you really buy a sleeping bag and have it shipped for that? Plus where? It’s not like the kid has an address at the college she is visiting.
My kid took a down bag that crushes into a little bag, and took up a small amount of room in her carryon bag.
It should be warm enough in the room, so I’d recommend a very small backpacking sleeping bag and pillow (Amazon). They roll up incredibly small.
Thanks, all. We’re flying Delta, so it’s 45 linear inches for carry-ons.
The problem is that she’s already got a great sleeping bag, so I don’t want to buy another, but it’s pretty bulky and will barely fit in her carry-on, even with squishing all of the air out. I just tried.
It didn’t occur to me that the school may have some to borrow – I’ll look into that (although I’d question if they’re ever washed…) I got a message suggesting she just pack a blanket and sheet – that may be the way to go.
And…I just looked on Amazon and we can get a lightweight one for $20 – far less than checking a bag both ways. One review says it squishes to the size of a grapefruit. It hadn’t even occurred to me to buy a new one before.
Do you have a friend you can borrow a less bulky sleeping bag from?
Fly Southwest – free to check 2 bags.
Bring a pillow case and stuff her dry towel or sweatshirt in it overnight. Borrowing a sleeping bag from a school? Not so appealing to me.
Just saw you found a cheap one. That might come in handy for a college student who visits friends.
This may sound a little corny, but do you know a boy scout? Most will have a very packable, lightweight bag. My son has one that packs down to the size of a thermos bottle. If you were my neighbor, we would gladly loan it for a weekend.
Yeah, here’s one on Amazon for $20 delivered:
I’d have it shipped to the office that’s coordinating the accepted student stay, or have it shipped to the dorm room of the student she’s staying with (I’m assuming she knows that), or have it shipped to the dorm’s post office. There are a lot of contact points you can have it sent to if you ask around. Have it shipped to your contact person as an “in care of” line on the shipping address, then have your kid’s name on it. Make sure the contact knows it’s coming. It’s not a big deal, and it’s less to carry.
When we go on vacation at WDW, we’ll have a flat of water and food sent from Amazon prime to the front desk-it’s cheaper and easier than going out shopping.
When my son was doing a lot of college soccer camps we bought a small fleece sleeping bag at Target. It rolls up very small. It does not provide much warmth but does offer some protection.
Those fleece bags are also sometimes called sleeping bag liners. My son has one, and used it as a sleeping bag lots of times. It works fine if you’re sleeping inside with heat.
Walmart has very inexpensive sleeping bags that look like they would fold up small.
Looking at the itinerary for D’s upcoming scholars weekend at her chosen college, it seems she too will need a sleeping bag, so I set out to find something that compresses to a small size and found some that Amazon sells that do indeed rolled up to tiny proportions, much smaller than the one linked above. I think the one that I liked was about $25. This would beat baggage fees, though I’m open to flying whatever airline is cheapest, so SW is a possibility. I would not buy or ship something to the school only to leave it behind-I’m too cheap! D already has a travel pillow that compresses pretty flat. It will be warm where we’re going so she won’t need a blanket or heavy material.
My daughter’s school has enough trouble getting packages to actual students in a timely manner, never mind packages to potential students without a mail box. I wouldn’t send anything to a school and expect it to actually be found when visiting. Most visits are on weekends when the mailroom might be closed. There are often changes made to the schedule or who is hosting the student. People get sick and hand you off to someone else at the last minute.
Don’t mail packages.