choosing luggage

[SLP61]

Does anyone out there have advice on choosing light weight luggage?

Thanks in advance.

[Shak]

SLP61 you are on the right track in trying to find lightweight luggage. With many airlines allowing only one free check luggage you have to look the weight of your luggage to maximize the amount of cloths you can take in one bag. We have Travelpro luggage at he present time but as well constructed as it is it weighs almost 18 pounds empty. At the local travel store in the mall I ran across Eagle Creek luggage. Their 28 inch bag weighs only 10 pounds. Quit a savings! I have one on order now.

Shak

[Karynanne]

I have used Ebags for purchasing our lite-weight luggage. Heys makes a fiberglass type that is extremely lite-weight.

[BocaRoo]

We bought very lightweight hardsided luggage by Heys that was WONDERFUL for our trip to Europe. It's made of the same material as motorcycle helmets so it's strong, but very lightweight. We bought 2, 30" pieces locally and it was reasonably priced. You can do a Google search and find many sellers quite easily. We bought ours in orange and silver - which was great for spotting it on luggage conveyors and at the end of cruises in those vast rooms where you have to pick up your luggage!

[Lsimon]

We bought some nice bags made by Skyway called ultra no-weight. Our 29" rolling cases have a huge capacity and weigh in around 9 lbs. The luggage has held up pretty well over a bunch of trips - much better than it looks like it would have as it's lightweight construction is very no frills with relatively thin materials and construction.

[KY Deb]

Someone was reading my mind. I've been looking for light weight luggage and never thought about posting here with that question. I'm looking for a 25 In. one, as I will use that most often for other travels as well as cruises.

[moondoggie]

I'm a former luggage Buyer for a huge department store chain. I also worked for one of the aforementioned luggage companies, so I feel qualified to answer this question!

 

Consider different luggage for cruising vs other travel. Make your 'cruising suitcase' (and you only need one per person, trust me) more substantial, and your 'other travel suitcase(s)' lighter weight.

 

Why? Have you looked at the cages that are used to stack the luggage when you embark on a cruise? Have you seen the elevators stacked floor to ceiling with luggage during embarkation or debarkation? YOUR suitcase may be the one on the bottom!

 

When you fly, or travel by car, you have a much better chance of NOT having fifteen suitcases stacked atop yours, and handled by the 'gorilla' (remember the old American Tourister TV ads?) luggage guys?

 

We keep a set of hard edge/tweed fabric side bags and use them jonly for cruising. So far they've been terrific for almost 30 years. We do the rest of our travel with far less expensive softsided nylon pieces that we pitch when they finally give out.

 

Just my opinion...

[tuggers]

After a harrowing experience in Norfolk one year (first cruise of the season - dock workers put all luggage together, didn't use the colored tags) where it took over 2 1/2 hours to locate my 3 pieces of black luggage, I came home and immediately bought 6 or 7 of the polycarbonate, expandable, hardside bags by International Traveler. In school bus yellow!!

I have had them for about 3 years now and have been very satisfied. I believe the 30" case ( I have two of those) weighs 10#. I also have two 27", a 24" and two 21". I bought them from That's Our Bag (love the name!) and lucked out with a sale where each piece was only $60. Usually they are well over $100.

They have gotten nicks, scratches and black marks but any dents have popped right out. And you can clean them with most any type of spray cleaner.

I am, however, looking at a High Sierra drop bottom duffel because I can stuff more things in there. Not for every trip but for some.

As long as I fly US Air I will be allowed 2 bags. Unfortunately to fly out of my home airport I have to fly Delta. Delta is $80 for the second bag. Makes driving to Jax to pick up US Air a little more enticing. As long as gas stays under $4!:)

[Conrycol]

We buy most of our luggage from LLBean. They have some ultra lights now and you can't beat their guarantee.

[Lsimon]

Lots of good suggestions above! I looked around at a few web sites and see the luggage I recommended is no longer available but they have another one, Skyway Montage, which is about the same weight.

 

Both in the comments above, and in looking around, I see there is a lot more options for lightweight luggage than we we bought ours a few years back. I see quite a few large (28-30") bags at 10lbs on the on-line web sites in addition to some of those recommended above.

 

As for worrying about it not being too lightweight: All I can say is that we've had good luck on around 6 or 7 cruises since we bought our very light weight luggage. Although it looks very flimsy due to the lightweight construction, it has held up well. No damage (other than one small metal logo that has come off the front - cosmetic only) and nothing has been broken in them. So our experience has been very good and being able to carry an extra 5 to 7lbs of contents, as opposed to more heavyweight luggage, has been a big plus for us.

[hermang]

We bought some nice bags made by Skyway called ultra no-weight. Our 29" rolling cases have a huge capacity and weigh in around 9 lbs. The luggage has held up pretty well over a bunch of trips - much better than it looks like it would have as it's lightweight construction is very no frills with relatively thin materials and construction.

 

I bought a 26 and 29 from ebags a couple of years ago ( Skyways). Had issues with a zipper which a local Skyways repair agency fixed. It was light weight but the 800# Gorillas they use for baggage handling ruined the smaller one and the bigger one probably has one flight/cruise left.

 

I purchased a Travelpro from Ebags 2 yrs ago - reasonably light weight - a close out and I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

 

Looked at reviews for HEYS - not a lot of nice comments

 

Eagle Creek is expensive and the weight for the larger bag seems to vary by who is selling them.

 

LLBean is also expensive but I wonder if their outlet stores sell luggage

 

To spend a couple of hundred on a bag only to have the luggage handlers ruin it - doesn't make sense - maybe stick with the cheaper bags.

The 30" may not fit under the bed either.

 

Just my 3 cents

[Mysticks1]

Lots of good suggestions above! I looked around at a few web sites and see the luggage I recommended is no longer available but they have another one, Skyway Montage, which is about the same weight.

 

 

I have the Skyway Montage - purchased last year. It has held up perfectly so far through airlines including flying to Disney and letting them transport our luggage to the room and 1 cruise as well as a couple of car trips.

I bought it from ebags.com and got a discontinued color at a really good closeout price. It is a light sage green and although it wouldn't have been my first choice in color, I haven't seen another one like it and it makes finding it in a sea of black very easy. Ebags usually has free shipping with a minimum purchase.

[dmk]

Could anyone tell me the price range for a 30inch piece of lightweight luggage?

I am so tired of buying expensive luggage which gets masacered( first time out) by airlines and cruise ships.

[j!m]

briggs&riley make great lightweight bags and have a fabulous guarantee, if damaged they fixit doesnt matter whether airline did it or dog (cat for cat lovers) chewed it they fixit

 

they also make great rollin duffels, they holda ton of stuff, i even put suit in one, no problem just folded it up ina claning bag came out just fine

[Lsimon]

Could anyone tell me the price range for a 30inch piece of lightweight luggage?

 

I am so tired of buying expensive luggage which gets masacered( first time out) by airlines and cruise ships.

 

Best bet is to pick one out and price it on ebags.com ; luggage.com; and a couple of other online luggage stores. Since there are several options the price will vary depending on the bag you pick out. The 29" Montage bag discussed above is $89 on ebags with free shipping. Email them and ask if a sale is coming up or if there is a e-coupon available - they just might give you one. Also ebags gives a 20% discount for AAA members. I suspect some of the other online luggage merchants have similar deals.

 

 

You can also find some great prices on ebay but check the listings to make sure it is new with tags, unless you want it used. Also be sure to consider shipping as a lot of ebay merchants overcharge on shipping to make up for low sale prices. But I've found some great deals on ebay especially for items that are recently discontinued.

[hermang]

Best bet is to pick one out and price it on ebags.com ; luggage.com; and a couple of other online luggage stores. Since there are several options the price will vary depending on the bag you pick out. The 29" Montage bag discussed above is $89 on ebags with free shipping. Email them and ask if a sale is coming up or if there is a e-coupon available - they just might give you one. Also ebags gives a 20% discount for AAA members. I suspect some of the other online luggage merchants have similar deals.

 

 

You can also find some great prices on ebay but check the listings to make sure it is new with tags, unless you want it used. Also be sure to consider shipping as a lot of ebay merchants overcharge on shipping to make up for low sale prices. But I've found some great deals on ebay especially for items that are recently discontinued.

 

I would think twice about any 30" bag for 2 reasons. One is the tendency to overstuff hence overweight charges. I could never figure out how I can take 2 bags of 50# ( before the days of the surcharge) for free but if i take 1 bag at 51# it was overweight and they charged me.

 

Second issue - we had some issues putting our 29" Travelpro under the bed on the Radience - primarily because you had to shove it under the bed from the front and there was very little room. I suspecta 30" bag might be trickey and you might take up half a closet

[j!m]

yep b careful bout 30" bags some ailines charge for over-size and measure size by height+width+length

[Lsimon]

I would think twice about any 30" bag for 2 reasons. One is the tendency to overstuff hence overweight charges. I could never figure out how I can take 2 bags of 50# ( before the days of the surcharge) for free but if i take 1 bag at 51# it was overweight and they charged me.

 

Second issue - we had some issues putting our 29" Travelpro under the bed on the Radience - primarily because you had to shove it under the bed from the front and there was very little room. I suspecta 30" bag might be trickey and you might take up half a closet

 

Two good points - we always have to weight our bags as they are easy to overfill. We carry a small luggage scale with us.

 

Our 29" Ultra No Weight bags are relatively deep (12"+) and have somewhat stiff sides. They shove under OK on the M Class ships but it is a chore getting them under on the C class. The stewards will store for you if you don't have room - in our case they just did the more difficult work of lifting the beds on the C class Galaxy to get them under to store. Only issue during the cruise was that it prevented us from using them for dirty laundry storage, but the duffel we use for snorkeling gear and shoes worked fine for that.

[WooKeef]

Could anyone tell me the price range for a 30inch piece of lightweight luggage?

 

I am so tired of buying expensive luggage which gets masacered( first time out) by airlines and cruise ships.

 

 

The Eagle packs are pricey, but we looked at models from a previous year and were able to get them at a substantial difference. Often they have them in the backroom because they are last years. It can't help to ask and they are good bags.

[Gitte]

I bought Titan suitcases and love it.

 

Gitte:)

[hermang]

After a harrowing experience in Norfolk one year (first cruise of the season - dock workers put all luggage together, didn't use the colored tags) where it took over 2 1/2 hours to locate my 3 pieces of black luggage, I came home and immediately bought 6 or 7 of the polycarbonate, expandable, hardside bags by International Traveler. In school bus yellow!!

I have had them for about 3 years now and have been very satisfied. I believe the 30" case ( I have two of those) weighs 10#. I also have two 27", a 24" and two 21". I bought them from That's Our Bag (love the name!) and lucked out with a sale where each piece was only $60. Usually they are well over $100.

They have gotten nicks, scratches and black marks but any dents have popped right out. And you can clean them with most any type of spray cleaner.

I am, however, looking at a High Sierra drop bottom duffel because I can stuff more things in there. Not for every trip but for some.

As long as I fly US Air I will be allowed 2 bags. Unfortunately to fly out of my home airport I have to fly Delta. Delta is $80 for the second bag. Makes driving to Jax to pick up US Air a little more enticing. As long as gas stays under $4!:)

 

when we were going to Alaska - I got the idea to buy a rolling duffle for the land portion since we were going to be casual for 4 days. Ebags had their own duffel - I swear you could put your mother-in-law in it it was so big.

My BIL borrowed it for his Alaska trip and was very pleased. UNFORTUNATLY it is not lightweight.

[Parrot Mom]

Just bought ALL new luggage at a Samonite Luggage outlet store.. with twirly wheels..They are having major sales (and I found you can wheel and deal with them in this economy) with fantastic prices compared to E-Bag for the same item. While at the shop I ran across a little bag on wheels with a handle that fits under the seat.. which will solve the problem of a heavy over the shoulder handbag which has helped in giving me damaged rotator cuffs.. Our old American Tourister had traveled around the world and was really beaten up.. I dont care what price or quality.. the airlines will still murder the bags.. We do put around each piece a colored band and tie it tight...the luggage is blue, black does have its advantages. but Im beginning to see on E-Bag very colorful suitcases.

[debkjw]

\What luck have people had with taking duffle bags on wheels instead of suitcases? I have used then for a domestic flight 2 times and didnt have any trouble. Was wondering if others had problems with getting them ripped open or the fabric catching or tearing. They are very lightweight so you can stuff them full. I am going on a 49 day cruise around South America and need both warm and cold weather clothes. Want to be able to take the most I can with my snorkle gear. Some of these bags have a nylon type material and the ones I got in Hawaii are a canvas type material.

 

Debkjw

[GeriatricNurse]

Does anyone out there have advice on choosing light weight luggage?

Thanks in advance.

 

SKYWAY! Light weight and durable!

DW & I have travelled extensively with Skyway luggage! It takes a (severe) licking and keeps on (travelling); damage-free!

[GeriatricNurse]

\What luck have people had with taking duffle bags on wheels instead of suitcases? I have used then for a domestic flight 2 times and didnt have any trouble. Was wondering if others had problems with getting them ripped open or the fabric catching or tearing. They are very lightweight so you can stuff them full. I am going on a 49 day cruise around South America and need both warm and cold weather clothes. Want to be able to take the most I can with my snorkle gear. Some of these bags have a nylon type material and the ones I got in Hawaii are a canvas type material.

 

Debkjw

 

Bad luck travelling with duffle bags with wheels! Had one wheel ripped right off somewhere during baggage handling! Will travel again with a (durable) duffle bag WITHOUT wheels!