Never pay more than 50 percent of the suggested retail price for a carry-on bag. Or any other suitcase for that matter.
If you travel at all, you need a good carry-on these days. But you do not need to pay a lot for it. Carry-ons have become such an essential piece of travel gear that you will find carry-ons as part of the back pack/duffel bag lines as well as among the industrial-strength suitcase offerings. Such ubiquitous opportunities mean good prices and good features.I have owned a carry-on or five, and I recommend you ponder the following as you peruse your many options: Don't even consider buying a wheel-less carry-on. Even for a short jaunt from curbside to gate, your shoulders will thank you for those wheels.
Keep a measuring tape in your pocket when you go carry-on shopping. You want to buy a bag that you can roll down the airline aisle, then slide (as opposed to jam) into those oddly configured overhead bins. Approximate carry-on dimensions: 22 inches by 14 inches by 9 inches.
Buy a bag with a handle that slips out of the long side of the bag. When the handle is on the short end, the bag tends to "spin out" during your dash to the airline gate. I speak with the voice of experience -- skinny-end-handled bags are unstable.
Individualize your bag. Mongo luggage tags and bits of yam are discrete luggage identifiers. I prefer luggage straps myself because they serve several purposes:
1. Luggage straps discourage luggage handlers from taking a peak inside the bag. Carry-ons are soft-sides, zippered things, after all. It doesn't take much to open them.
2. A sturdy strap secures the bag's contents. I often fill my carry-on to the brim, sometimes with moderately fragile items I have surrounded with clothing and other protectors during packing. The luggage strap helps hold the items in place during the jangling transit process.
3. Luggage straps identify my suitcase. Surrounding the luggage carousel with my fellow travelers, I find that 90 percent of the bags are the same size and color as mine, black being the color du jour. The luggage strap immediately tells my neighbors, "Keep looking. This is not your bag."
A colleague told me a story that makes the case for my luggage strap idea. In the dead of night, he and a bunch of equally tired returnees dumped all their black carry-ons into the back of the airport parking lot van.
The driver, also weary, gave no heed to who put what in and who took what off. My friend, the last one off the van, took the remaining bag -- right color, right shape -- without so much as a look at it. He was home in Tooele before he realized the bag was not his. A week and a major hassle later, he and the nice lady in Rock Springs, whose bag he had, exchanged carry-ons. I'm telling you, luggage straps are a swell idea.
Buy sturdy luggage straps with a hearty buckle and/or a lock. Bags take such a beating that you need a luggage strap that has some teeth -- literally. Straps without them are wimps. I have had them fall off despite the textbook camp crafter knots with which I have tied them. Some newer model luggage straps have locks. I have tried several types, and they seem to work well, but you still have to cinch the straps so they are tight.
Look for a carry-on bag with an expandable compartment. My most utilitarian carry-on features an expandable pouch on the front that gives me another 4 inches of packing room. Granted, if I use that pouch, I must check the bag because it won't fit in the airplane's overhead bin. I love the option of packing more on the way home, though.
Now seriously, never pay more than 50 percent of retail price for a bag, no matter what its features. Look at discount and department stores and travel speciality shops for luggage tags, straps and the carry-ons/suitcases themselves. Comparison shop tags, straps and the rest of the travel paraphernalia. These accessories seldom go on sale, but they do come in a variety of prices.
Luggage, on the other hand, is almost perpetually on sale in every type of retail outlet. And if you find a nice purple carry-on, call me. I am awfully tired of black.
Dr. Carol Clark has won national awards for her consumer writing.