I haven’t read through all the replies, but I flew to Europe last year on Lufthansa. It was my first trip over there and tbh I never paid attention to the carry-on dimensions (I did fly premium economy, which gave me additional baggage options).
I flew with the Calpak Luka as my carry on (along with a wheeled suitcase carry on, which I stored in the bin).
I adore this bag. It fit under the Lufthansa seat and met all the requirements of the quirky discount airlines that we flew around Europe on.
I personally HATE the Beis weekender. I have the smaller size and my girls have the bigger one. We all hate them. They are heavy before you put anything in them, and the wide bottom design makes them clunky and uncomfortable to carry. I used mine once. Did not get the hype at all.
100% to all of this. I should have known better but got caught up in the hype and bought a large one for both my D and I. It’s better/lighter without the bottom zip off compartment, but I still never use it. I don’t understand how it passed the market research phase…maybe they didn’t do any. I happily remain a backpack gal.
I fly a lot, sometimes standby where I don’t know ahead which airlines I will use or what hassle I ll go through in the airport. I tried a lot of combinations and what works for me is the travelpro international (5 lbs) and a Vera Bradley very light back pack (super easy to wash). I am in somehow limited budget. The travelpro I bought 120$ on sale and the back pack about 80$ form the outlet. I have a scale and stuff the carry on until it hits 17lbs. I have silk/light items so I can do one week travel with no laundry and I have super light refillable toiletry items. I find the back pack the best for my shoulders in case I need to carry and not rest on the carry on. I love how the beis looks but I tried a similar one and my shoulders couldn’t take it. For scheduled domestic flights I also have a standard size travelpro elite which I have used and abused to no end but it is too big/heavy for European airlines which check/weigh carryons frequently.
I splurged on a MZ Wallace backpack last year. I had money from my birthday, had a small discount code.
It’s super light, has a trolley sleeve and is easy to put over the bag or carry if I have to.
On my last trip, I checked my carry on for free as the airline offered that option. I was going home, the wheels on that bag weren’t working well. I was very happy to have the backpack option.
I also have the travel pro international carry on, I wished I had picked that bag for my last trip but I picked another. It was unfortunate. I found mine at TJ Maxx.
@silverlady I know that the airline will let me carry on my CPAP, it’s my husband who will grouse about another bag. That’s why I’m planning on putting it in my carry on with wheels. He wants everything combined into as few items as possible.
On a Southwest flight last week, the gate agent announced a number of times that passengers were allowed only 2 items - a carry-on and a personal item, and said to consolidate. Anything else, no matter the size, counted as a separate item. I was actually happy to hear this.
I wish the airlines called people out who bring on huge suitcases as carry-on. (I think they would have on this recent flight.)
Same. I feel like they are much stricter about this in Europe than here in the U.S.
Also, and we’ve talked about this on other threads, being stricter on what is allowed in the bins - like no jackets, briefcases, blankets or soft items that can be held or go under the seat (I know, men like to stretch their legs).
On a Europe leg, I had to beg a man to move his jacket and ball cap so I could my wheeled carry on in the bin. You would have thought I was asking him to give me a kidney
I have a large backpack I usually use as my personal item. It has a computer section, and lots of space. I can easily fit my toiletries, extra stuff, and two changes of clothes in it. And it has a strap that fits over the handle of my Travelpro carryon bag.
BUT I like the one @oldfort linked above. I just have to check the dimensions because if it’s the same as my SwissGear one, I won’t buy it. Otherwise…I’m getting it!
Oh, if there’s still space in the bin for those say on top of another bag, I don’t ask - I just move them out the way. I have seen others, including flight attendants, do that too. A number of flights I’m on now ask people not to put these up until all bags are on but, as everywhere else, there are always people who don’t see why the norms should apply to them.
I did once have to get a flight attendant to intervene when I was sitting in row 2 and the person in front of me at the bulkhead pushed her carryon back under her seat so I had no space at all for my stuff and then refused to remove it when I asked. I left it up to the cabin attendant to explain to her that she had to put it in the bin rather than get into an argument.
I am sure I posted this elsewhere, but when we took our trip to Europe and were worried about meeting the size requirements of their airlines, we wound up with backpacks by Osprey. Link below. Size is 9.1 x 13.8 x 21.7 inches, and it met their requirements at the time. I tried a bunch of different backpacks, and this one was great. Husband got the male version of it. https://www.osprey.com/ec/en/fairview-40-travel-pack-fairvew40f22-550?size=O%2FS&color=Black
So Lufthansa says their personal item diminsions are less than 4 inches high? How do these backpacks and softsided bags fully loaded with computers and change of clothes stay under 4 inches high?
Yikes! We’re taking a Viking cruise in a couple of weeks but we decided to book our own flights (wanted to control flights/seats). Although we have to get ourselves to the boat, I’m happy we went that route now.
I have both parts of the bag also, but I THINK (I could be wrong) if you buy them together one of the bags is a little different than if you buy them separately. I have the big one in blue/green, but the smaller one in black (that’s all that was available when I got them at REI).
I have a Swissgear rolling backpack which can be handy. It’s great for weekend travel - it meets US requirements for carry-ons. I’m not a big fan of the extra weight in a backpack. Since most of our overseas trips lately have involved hiking I usually bring my day-pack size Osprey for my carry-on. It’s big enough for at least change of clothes, toiletry bag, my watercolor travel stuff, journal and other miscellaneous stuff. I don’t like wheeling two separate bags. We usually walk to hotels from train stations dealing with bumpy sidewalks, one bag is bad enough!
Same here. I always prefer to book my own flights to avoid dealing with Viking (a third party) if anything goes wrong. We’ve booked business class, and even with their free economy flight offer, the surcharge to upgrade would have cost nearly as much as booking business class ourselves.
Hope you have a blast! Ours is not until October but wanted to add we chose the Viking Air but asked for direct flights. I had assumed probably Delta since we are out of Atlanta but we are taking Lufthansas out and KLM back - but, we are extending in Prague so have to fly to Frankfurt first, then back to Atlanta. No changes in anything so far.
