Luggage - Rollerboards v Spinners and Size Recs for Long Trip

[Anonymous]

Preparing for a few upcoming overseas trips. Buying new luggage for first time in 20 years.

What do you recommend in terms of size. I see checked luggage as small as 25 inches being touted as capable of storing whatever is needed for a week long trip. Seems small?

Also, I had an old rollerboard. Worked fine for me. But I see all these "spinners" being advertised. What do you recommend?

[Anonymous]

I have both spinners and rollererboards and I prefer spinners so I'm not dragging luggage through the airport. Although a carry on is tight for a week, if you can make it work it makes traveling much more efficient. Perhaps I just have bad luck, but the airlines have lost my luggage several times on international flights and it is a pain getting it back if you are traveling around.

[Anonymous]

Will you have laundry access? I prefer to do laundry anywhere I travel. Because of that, we pretty much just travel with 1 carryon per person or 1 large checked bag per 2 people. Just depends on whether or not we have free checked bags or not.

Also, LOVE our samsonite spinners. Always get them for a great price at TJMaxx.

[Anonymous]

Be aware that international carry on sizes are smaller than domestic.

[Anonymous]

I know I'm in the minority, but I much prefer 2-wheel cases to the 4-wheel spinners. I travel carryon only 99 percent of the time, and you lose at least an inch of packing space with a spinner. But there are only a few options for non-spinner bags. I can pack for a week in a carryon, but I also usually do some laundry while traveling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be aware that international carry on sizes are smaller than domestic.

Just coming to mention this. International carry on sizes are tiny. Last trip, I got away with carrying on on the way over, but they busted me and made me check my bag on the way back. They had people checking every single bag before you went through security. Next time, I may just go ahead and take a bigger bag, since it will have to be checked, anyway.

[Anonymous]

That happened to me last week! I was outraged, but I guess it's true.

[Anonymous]

I have 24 inch bag roller bag that I check for long trips. It seems huge to me for most trips but I am a pretty light packer. I have a 19-20 inch roller bag for carry on that meets the international standards. I have actually used that for a week long trip to Asia but I was moving from city to city and able to rewear business clothing and needed very little casual clothing. Also did laundry at one hotel. It works better for 2-3 day trips.

Never had a spinner and don't really see what the advantage is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be aware that international carry on sizes are smaller than domestic.

Just coming to mention this. International carry on sizes are tiny. Last trip, I got away with carrying on on the way over, but they busted me and made me check my bag on the way back. They had people checking every single bag before you went through security. Next time, I may just go ahead and take a bigger bag, since it will have to be checked, anyway.

+1. My normal samsonite carry on has logged maybe 800k miles. It recently got denied boarding on Lufthansa and they yelled at me that I should have checked it. I hate to argue, but it fits in the overheads easily! You really just can't win with luggage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 24 inch bag roller bag that I check for long trips. It seems huge to me for most trips but I am a pretty light packer. I have a 19-20 inch roller bag for carry on that meets the international standards. I have actually used that for a week long trip to Asia but I was moving from city to city and able to rewear business clothing and needed very little casual clothing. Also did laundry at one hotel. It works better for 2-3 day trips.

Never had a spinner and don't really see what the advantage is.

The main advantage is that you don't have to tip it or have it facing any particular direction in order for it to roll. We roll ours "untipped" more often than tipped. And my young kids can easily maneuver them. Obviously its personal preference.

[Anonymous]

I just bought new luggage for the first time in forever at Costco (very lightweight samsonite spinners set). I am not loving the spinnesr. the four wheels are annoying to try to keep balanced while moving fast. Rollers are much easier to pull through quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be aware that international carry on sizes are smaller than domestic.

Just coming to mention this. International carry on sizes are tiny. Last trip, I got away with carrying on on the way over, but they busted me and made me check my bag on the way back. They had people checking every single bag before you went through security. Next time, I may just go ahead and take a bigger bag, since it will have to be checked, anyway.

+1. My normal samsonite carry on has logged maybe 800k miles. It recently got denied boarding on Lufthansa and they yelled at me that I should have checked it. I hate to argue, but it fits in the overheads easily! You really just can't win with luggage.

Yep. My US sized carryon fit into the overhead bin on the way over, but they made me check it on the way back (same Air France airplane model).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just bought new luggage for the first time in forever at Costco (very lightweight samsonite spinners set). I am not loving the spinnesr. the four wheels are annoying to try to keep balanced while moving fast. Rollers are much easier to pull through quickly.

I was just looking at those. I'm not sure I like the hard sided carry ons or not. My carry on is pretty much shot at this point though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just bought new luggage for the first time in forever at Costco (very lightweight samsonite spinners set). I am not loving the spinnesr. the four wheels are annoying to try to keep balanced while moving fast. Rollers are much easier to pull through quickly.

I was just looking at those. I'm not sure I like the hard sided carry ons or not. My carry on is pretty much shot at this point though.

I got the softsided ones at costco. I feel like hard sided ones are more prone to break/crack/scratcg

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know I'm in the minority, but I much prefer 2-wheel cases to the 4-wheel spinners. I travel carryon only 99 percent of the time, and you lose at least an inch of packing space with a spinner. But there are only a few options for non-spinner bags. I can pack for a week in a carryon, but I also usually do some laundry while traveling.

I'm with you on this one. I prefer my Swiss Gear Wenger roller - the wheels and handle have been great - whether at the airport or cobblestone streets. Unfortunately they have now gone to spinners so I'm holding on to my old ones as long as I can have more space (and better type of space) for packing. I have their bags in different sizes depending on the trip. Assuming I have access to laundry I can pack 2 weeks in their smallest bag so I can use it as a carry on. With that said the flight over to Europe is one thing and if you do a connecting flight within europe you may have different bag requirements - make sure you read the airlines rules.