Travel Bags with Wheels?

[natdm]

When the wife and I got our plane, I sent her a link to some cheap but nice looking duffel bags. She liked them so we both got different colors, and now we have two duffel bags! Turns out they're pretty crappy. They also have no wheels, which is a rookie mistake. Mine broke the zipper and the carry strap on the first trip. 

Anyone have suggestions on travel bags for small-ish planes like ours? (M20K for me) I'm thinking a soft shell bag with wheels, so they can be stacked on top of each other and save space, but also wheeled through an airport. I've done too much damn walking with my bag, my flight bag, my wifes bag, and water bottles.

Extra points if they can be worn as backpacks, too.

I'm sure most responses will be "you're thinking too hard about this".. that's what I do!

[N201MKTurbo]

I just needed a new carry on bag. I know a couple of flight attendants and I asked them for recommendations. Two of them recommended TravelPro, so I bought one. I'm very pleased with it.

https://travelpro.com/pages/about-travelpro

 

 

[LANCECASPER]

+1 on TravelPro - buy once and keep it a long time. 

American Airlines lost my TravelPro back in 2005 (what was I thinking checking it in???). So I needed another one quickly - the Kirkland 22" that Costco sold back then was very comparable in quality - I'm still using it 18 years later and ten of those years I traveled for work. But the new Costco ones don't look nearly as well-built.

[Andy95W]

TravelPro makes nice stuff.

Just FYI- most Flight Attendants use TravelPro, but most airline pilots use Luggage Works bags.

https://luggageworks.com

Edited August 15, 2023 by Andy95W

[natdm]

3 minutes ago, Andy95W said:

Just FYI- most Flight Attendants use TravelPro, but most airline pilots use Luggage Works bags.

And as a sub-1000hr PPL, should I just go Adidas? 

[N201MKTurbo]

32 minutes ago, natdm said:

And as a sub-1000hr PPL, should I just go Adidas? 

No way, buy the Luggage Works and a big watch!

[Pinecone]

I traveled a lot internationally for work.  I finally gave in and bought Briggs and Riley.

Lifetime warranty, no matter what happens.  The airline breaks it, ship it to them, they will fix or replace.

So far (3 years) I am happy.   Less traveling now though.  But I picked up one of their larger carry on bags for the plane.  Fits nicely and rolls well.

[A64Pilot]

Thing is that to work well in a Mooney you need soft luggage that conforms to the shape of the baggage compt, and those don’t do wheels well, for wheels you need something that holds its shape and hard bottomed. My Mother back 50 years ago would pack some in pillow cases.

I think if you really need or want wheels you need to get a standalone wheeled luggage carrier, a sort of fold up hand truck. you would be surprised how small and flat some fold and a bungee of two for the duffle bag.

I hate real duffel bags, whatever you want is always at the bottom, Aviator kits bags work better, they come in different sizes because the real one is probably too big.

I guess you need wheels at Big airports? I never frequent those, too expensive, and well too busy with serious security rules etc. small airports your close to the FBO and they will let you drive the rental car or taxi right up to your airplane or all I have been to will. 

[natdm]

@A64Pilot the most recent example I could think of is that we were in Vegas. Coming in and out of the casino with a duffel bag, backpack, flight bag, and water bottle was rather annoying. Would be much nicer to be able to just wheel at least some of it around. So not necessarily the airports, but some of the walking we do during our travels. 

The standalone wheels isn't the worst idea and something I could/should have considered earlier. 

For everyone else, gahdamn you've got expensive taste in bags. I guess I got what I asked for though. 

[N201MKTurbo]

I've been traveling in the Mooney for years with a carry on bag. It fits perfectly. What's the problem? It fits through the hatch and you can get 4 of them in there if you try hard enough and then you can throw your backpacks and purses on top of the luggage.

[Pinecone]

I have the roller carry one for clothes and things.  A backpack for general stuff.  The back pack will sit on the roller with a strap for the handle to make it one unit.

Flight bag has shoulder strap.  Still have one hand free.

https://www.briggs-riley.com/collections/carry-on-luggage/products/essential-carry-on-spinner

https://www.briggs-riley.com/collections/laptop-backpacks/products/at-work-medium-cargo-backpack-kp426

 

 

 

[natdm]

48 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I've been traveling in the Mooney for years with a carry on bag. It fits perfectly. What's the problem? It fits through the hatch and you can get 4 of them in there if you try hard enough and then you can throw your backpacks and purses on top of the luggage.

Didn't necessarily have something that fit the use-case of medium sized, rolling, with straps. That was really it. 

Found this, I think I'll give it a try. Less than what I've seen here. I know you get what you pay for and I'm typically firmly in the camp of "buy once cry once" but I don't think I can bite a $300-500 bag for luggage just yet.

[Ragsf15e]

Yeah, airline overhead siz (“carry on”) with wheels is just fine.  You can fit several, although i think @N201MKTurbo must be a tetris master to fit 4.  You can get at least 3 and a backpack or two on top just fine!

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, Ragsf15e said:

Yeah, airline overhead siz (“carry on”) with wheels is just fine.  You can fit several, although i think @N201MKTurbo must be a tetris master to fit 4.  You can get at least 3 and a backpack or two on top just fine!

Ok, you got me. I don’t think I’ve ever put more than 3, but I seem to remember there was enough room for another. Maybe not.

[kortopates]

My wife and i used duffle bags for years to save weight - what a royal pain. Especially flying internationally when we always have a long walk and often have to pull everything off for customs.
A few years back I got a really light weight roller for my wife. i was instantly envious. My work travel carry on was the Costco one Lance mentioned. Never wore it out after a couple decades but it’s built like a tank. I think it was 8lbs empty!
Anyway i bought a TravelPro carry on - perfect for the mooney and is very light. Shouldn’t have waited 2 decades! Now handling luggage is easy.


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[BDPetersen]

I smile to recall my early airline days (pre-wheeled luggage) when they were derisively referred to as “whimp wagons”. We were so stupidly macho.
At one time we had airline pilots producing retractable wheeled luggage. I’m sure better stuff available now. Actually, I think the Hefty trash bags do just fine.

[Mooneymite]

Travel bag?

How quaint!  My wife tells me we are supposed to leave all bags behind and just buy what we need.  She insists it is the fuel efficient thing to do.

[GeeBee]

Luggage Works are great bag for an airline pilot, but they are too heavy for a light plane. Mine weighs a ton and since I retired I do not use it. It is built for hell, but too heavy for light aircraft.

Costco will warranty their Kirkland bag, but the warranty is null and void if you are a professional crew member. They caught on to the flight attendants scam quite a while ago and modified the terms of the warranty.

For the Mooney, I like the TravelPro bags. Well built, light weight and I can fit three medium sized units through the baggage door and in the baggage area of my Ovation. There are a lot of similar units out there but the TravelPro seems more durable and the best thing is there is usually a repair station in most major cities with a good stock of spare wheels, zippers and handles to repair them. I've got two complete sets of TravelPros (one for me and one for my wife) that have been on 5 continents over the past 10 years with only a zipper repair to one. Even more believe it or not, I got it repaired while on a trip to Australia in Sydney. That's service.

[Pinecone]

I have had various ones.  I had a Victorinox for many years.

One trip, riding the Heathrow Express, it fell over with the handle extended.  Bent the handle.   Now, I could just send my B&R in and they would fix it.

 

The B&R I have (linked above) has a neat feature. You can expand it to pack, then once you zip it shut, you can push it back down to the small size, compressing the clothes and it latches in the small thickness.

[Fly Boomer]

On 8/15/2023 at 3:34 PM, N201MKTurbo said:

I've been traveling in the Mooney for years with a carry on bag. It fits perfectly. What's the problem? It fits through the hatch and you can get 4 of them in there if you try hard enough and then you can throw your backpacks and purses on top of the luggage.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but I used to do a fair amount of international travel for business with only a little hard-shell under-seat bag and my computer.  Whenever I was met at airports by customers or colleagues, they would ask "Where's the rest?"

[N201MKTurbo]

10 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

Not everyone's cup of tea, but I used to do a fair amount of international travel for business with only a little hard-shell under-seat bag and my computer.  Whenever I was met at airports by customers or colleagues, they would ask "Where's the rest?"

You should start training classes for wives. 

[Fly Boomer]

2 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

You should start training classes for wives. 

I took my soon-to-be wife to Europe many moons ago.  I bought two "backpack suitcases" -- the ones that can conceal the straps behind a zipper panel.  These were nice with functional hip belts.  Mine was big, and hers was smaller.  She wasn't happy, but we enjoyed having nothing to carry through airports and train stations.

[natdm]

That was my goal for this one. Either roll or wear. I'm done carrying stuff, and I don't always like to roll it. Wife is onboard for this one.

[Bolter]

I find that luggage is always a function of the event.  Taking the Mooney with the family is one duffle per family member, family trip by commercial is the big bags, my business trips are one of my Briggs and Riley bags (which are awesome and over-built) plus a backpack laptop bag as carryon.  My biggest coup for packing the OVation has been working out how to fit 2 strollers into the cargo with the all the bags.  Many iterations of strollers and insertion methods, but it is repeatable.   It is a volume problem, not a weight problem.  

[natdm]

Don't speak to me about volume issues on ovations!! You've got a big ol' baggage compartment back there.