Need a recommendation for carry on, don’t need a fancy one with a battery or anything like that. Something that will last for a looooong time. Don’t know if i should get 4 wheels or 2, just need to fit in the overhead and blend- in at the office, don’t want to stick out.
Tumi Alpha domestic size unless you’re overseas a lot. Seems everyone is going four wheels although I’m partial to two.
Interesting, I didn’t even know there was a difference between domestic and international carry-on size. Also noticed more 4 vs 2 at the airport.
Different airlines have different carryon size restrictions so there’s no official standard. Domestic airlines tend to be more relaxed. Tumi makes their best guess at each. I’ve found with the domestic size I’ve been able to fudge it and get by in every situation. My issue with four wheels is they’re entirely external so they shrink the size of the bag by about two inches to accommodate. The two wheel ones the wheels are housed in sort of a wheel well, which allows the overall dimensions of the bag to be slightly bigger. That and four wheel bags role away on inclines or say if you’re on a shuttle or tram and it accelerates/decelerates in any direction. In addition, the wheels on two wheel bags are larger, which I find handles rough surfaces like sidewalks, etc better. Plus I’ve just become used to it. But four wheels are really nice going up and down aisles and for people that weren’t able to master the whole two wheel steering thing. Anyhow, I’m not even sure Tumi is doing two wheel anymore on the Alpha, which is a real loss IMO. Also and this makes no sense, but for some reason I’ve always just felt the four wheel designs were more effeminate, maybe because women gravitate towards them to avoid lugging the bag up the aisle.
People also love Rimowa and Briggs & Riley which are slightly cheaper although both of those tend to do more hard shell design and I’ve never used them so I can’t really weigh in on that. People tend to poke fun at the idea of Tumi’s ballistic nylon like its a gimmick, but the reality is Tumi’s handle a lot of abuse and still look very good 10 years later as a result of the high durability nylon. I also like soft cases because they can be a bit more pliable in tight overhead situations etc and also I just hate the way hard cases look and feel. Lastly, Tumi’s customer service is really good. Although they were finally bought out by Samsonite a few years back and I am skeptical Samsonite will begin cutting quality corners in the name of efficiency if they haven’t already. Also, avoid Tumi Tech, it’s a cheap knockoff of Tumi, if you’re going to get the Tech to save a few bucks, you might as well go Rimowa or B&W which would be better.
Thanks for the big league post BS! Lots of good info.
alligator Tumi
I guess continental is technically the name for the domestic size. What I have and would recommend is the Tumi Alpha Continental Expandable (I prefer the optionality of expandable over the convenience of the dual access version although dual access is sweet and apparently more popular), I have the prior generation of this, I don’t see a two wheeled option: https://www.tumi.com/p/continental-expandable-4-wheeled-carry-on-01171621041/
You’re one of those Americans that doesn’t have a passport aren’t you?
Personally I think Tumi is quite pricey and I make do with a Samsonite 2 wheel bad boy I got on sale as part of a set with a bigger bag I use for long trips.
I also have a Swissport rucksack which usually gets me through 1-2 night business trips.
Edit: Swissgear rucksack not Swissport. I fly too much
Griingo, we discussed this, the US has as much culture as Europe, we just don’t need a passport to visit our Italy which we call Florida.
Drink all day, play all night Let’s get it poppin’ I’m in Miami bitch
Practically speaking, any luggage company brand like Samsonite or whatever is going to last a long, long time nowadays. You can upgrade to a more expensive brand, but it’s mostly going to be for style and design at that point. Supposedly, you should get something where the wheels are easy to replace though, as that’s the common failure point apparently.
Nowadays, other than if I need to bring a suit or other thing like that, I have changed carry on to one of those Ebags looking backpack things, as I feel a lot more mobile with this compared to with a rolling luggage. However, wife is not strong enough to carry those things, so I have to drag around a bag for her anyway when she is around…
CFA made me get one, *cough globalist! *cough, America first!