Carry On Luggage Recommendations

[berryvillebomber]

Hello,

 

I am looking for carry on luggage recommendations.  We will be taking a Viking Ocean cruise soon.
Should I be concerned about the size and will it pass airline requirements.
Flying to Iceland from Washington DC.

 

Thank you.

Michael

[Haqdeluxe]

3 minutes ago, berryvillebomber said:

Hello,

 

I am looking for carry on luggage recommendations.  We will be taking a Viking Ocean cruise soon.
Should I be concerned about the size and will it pass airline requirements.
Flying to Iceland from Washington DC.

 

Thank you.

Michael

You will be best served for the long haul to look for European/International sized carry-on luggage. Probably the strictest airline is Air France. Check their site and work of the guidelines they have published. YMMV

[Squawkman]

They vary from airline to airline. Assuming you’re using Viking air, there’s a link on MVJ which gives carry on limits by airline. 

[Clay Clayton]

We love our Away Bigger Carryon and as long as the airline isn’t one that has a weight limit for carry-on, have had no issues doing so. 

[Jim Avery]

If the OP is looking for carry on brand information I agree with Clay.  We have had AWAY large carryons for years and are amazed at what we can pack.  Best rollers available too.  Can't wait to stuff them again and head out...   First things first...

[kag3120]

We just returned from the Homelands cruise. We flew on Air France, KLM, and Delta. We used the Away bigger carry on.  We were able to bring them on board each airline even though we were sure we exceeded the relatively meager weight allotments on all but Delta (FYI it is total weight of ALL your carry on items added together). 

Surprisingly, there were NO questions re our bags, no weight checks. Perhaps because CDG and Schipol are having so many other problems, but I didn’t see any strict management of carry on bags. 
 

We love our Away §(bigger)carryons. Packs alot, quality materials, smooth rolling. Easy to maneuver. Recommend!

[Clay Clayton]

You may be right about the current restrictions being relaxed or maybe each airline is different. When we flew on TAP in business, they weighed our carryons and we had to check them. 

[Karry66]

21 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We love our Away Bigger Carryon and as long as the airline isn’t one that has a weight limit for carry-on, have had no issues doing so. 

These are very attractive and look like they would hold a lot, but my question really is…packed full and within legal weight limit, could a short 75 year old woman lift it overhead to the bin?

[Jim Avery]

53 minutes ago, Karry66 said:

These are very attractive and look like they would hold a lot, but my question really is…packed full and within legal weight limit, could a short 75 year old woman lift it overhead to the bin?

I doubt it.  The AWAY bags, empty seem to weigh near nothing but you say legal limit.  50 lbs?  That's a pretty good lift.

[Twitchly]

Away really, really needs to bring back that bright red carryon.

 

So does anyone here own the TravelPro Platinum Elite 21” carryon? I keep hearing good things about it, but it’s expensive — and currently only available in black. 

[dreamercruise]

22 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We love our Away Bigger Carryon and as long as the airline isn’t one that has a weight limit for carry-on, have had no issues doing so. 
Question - Which one is better, Away Bigger Carryon or the smaller Carryon? Don’t want to end up having to check the bag for exceeding size limit.

[Clay Clayton]

50 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

Away really, really needs to bring back that bright red carryon.

 

So does anyone here own the TravelPro Platinum Elite 21” carryon? I keep hearing good things about it, but it’s expensive — and currently only available in black. 

Maybe now that Serena has announced her retirement they will bring it back😂

 

I have one friend and one former boss who both used to swear by Travelpro but both have reported their most recent carryons (no idea which model) have lost their handles.  FWIW, both travel weekly for work so they give their luggage a real workout. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Clay Clayton

[Jim Avery]

The bigger carryon fits overhead bins perfectly in "normal" jets.  Regional jets gate check either one. 

[Clay Clayton]

21 minutes ago, dreamercruise said:

22 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We love our Away Bigger Carryon and as long as the airline isn’t one that has a weight limit for carry-on, have had no issues doing so. 
Question - Which one is better, Away Bigger Carryon or the smaller Carryon? Don’t want to end up having to check the bag for exceeding size limit.

We went with the bigger one since it meets “most” carriers requirements. But it is larger than some.  We have yet to have to check it except for the budget European carriers (EasyJet, RyanAir) but I don’t think the smaller carryon would be allowed onboard those.  YMMV. 

[Clay Clayton]

1 minute ago, Jim Avery said:

The bigger carryon fits overhead bins perfectly in "normal" jets.  Regional jets gate check either one. 

And for what it’s worth, they do fit in some regional jets. We were worried about them on Delta E175 but they fit!

[janetcbl]

2 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Away really, really needs to bring back that bright red carryon.

 

So does anyone here own the TravelPro Platinum Elite 21” carryon? I keep hearing good things about it, but it’s expensive — and currently only available in black. 

I have the Travelpro Maxlite 5, very similar to the Platinum Elite, but slightly lighter and much less expensive. It held up beautifully during our month+ long trip, including air travel. Still looks like new.

 

 

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

Was looking through our Iceland pictures and came across this. You can see our Away bag in the bin. As I recall we did not have it expanded. 

[Twitchly]

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Was looking through our Iceland pictures and came across this. You can see our Away bag in the bin. As I recall we did not have it expanded. 

Does it always fit sideways like that, or are you ever able to store it with wheels going in first?

[Jim Avery]

We can put ours in wheels first on most planes.  Only had to check on regional jets.  That's the larger carryon.  

[Twitchly]

One more question (for now) for you AWAY carryon owners, or other hard-shell  luggage folks: Do you miss having a pocket on the outside? I’m wondering about inconvenience pulling out my bag of liquids or my laptop in the security line. I assume you guys must keep those in your personal item rather than your carryon?

 

I see that AWAY does make a carryon with an outside pocket, but that model doesn’t expand. Hmmm. 

[Haqdeluxe]

7 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

One more question (for now) for you AWAY carryon owners, or other hard-shell  luggage folks: Do you miss having a pocket on the outside? I’m wondering about inconvenience pulling out my bag of liquids or my laptop in the security line. I assume you guys must keep those in your personal item rather than your carryon?

 

I see that AWAY does make a carryon with an outside pocket, but that model doesn’t expand. Hmmm. 

Take a look at Level8...

LEVEL8 Unisex Adults Casual, Black, Carry-On 20 Inch https://a.co/d/ioHK0Lo

[lisaatric]

Love my Monos. Researched Monos vs Away and decided on the Monos. 

[Clay Clayton]

2 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Does it always fit sideways like that, or are you ever able to store it with wheels going in first?

On regular size planes, wheels first works. But this was on a commuter jet. 

[Clay Clayton]

2 hours ago, Twitchly said:

One more question (for now) for you AWAY carryon owners, or other hard-shell  luggage folks: Do you miss having a pocket on the outside? I’m wondering about inconvenience pulling out my bag of liquids or my laptop in the security line. I assume you guys must keep those in your personal item rather than your carryon?

 

I see that AWAY does make a carryon with an outside pocket, but that model doesn’t expand. Hmmm. 

Our Away bigger carryon is softish sided and does have a long not very deep pocket and does expand. We usually use it for our jacket or something else we don’t need very often.   I just looked on the Away website and it appears they are no longer making our bag.  Looks like they have gone to all hard sided. 
 

We both have Global Entry and therefor TSA Precheck so we can leave our quart bag inside if we don’t take an underseat bag. If we do, then the quart bag is usually in there as you surmised. 
 

My only complaint about the bags are that they take a god deal of space to open. Our old bags (we had them for 20+year) opened on the top so while it was sometimes hard to dig down it find something, it meant it was easy to leave them open in a hotel as a big drawer.  With these bags, you have to open them like a book in order to get to anything. #firstworldproblem

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, lisaatric said:

Love my Monos. Researched Monos vs Away and decided on the Monos. 

Which one do you have? And what made you choose Monos over Away?