suitcase vs duffel bag

Looking at large suitcases (somewhere around 26"), wondering if a
wheeled duffel bag might be more useful. Anyone have experience with
duffel bags in checked luggage? Any recommendations?


--

When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.

....Marquis de la Grange

Cal wrote:
> Looking at large suitcases (somewhere around 26"), wondering if a
> wheeled duffel bag might be more useful. Anyone have experience with
> duffel bags in checked luggage? Any recommendations?
>

I did a duffle one year and was unimpressed. Everything shifts
around inside the duffel and gets messed up. There's plenty of 26 in
"soft sided" suitcases around that do much better. There is one
from Samsonite that is a combo of the two. It rolls and has handles,
and the bottom section is a separate compartment that is semi-rigid
and zips shut leaving an upper chamber. It also has side pockets as
well.

I bought a large duffel, about 30 inches long, on an impulse sale. I
used to travel for longer trips with two carry-on size wheeled bags
(which I checked), and then carried on a wheeled computer bag. Not
enough hands to even get them all down an airport hallway.

Plus, the duffel has a volume 2.5 times that of each former wheeled
carry-on flat bag. Oh goodie! Enough for a two-week trip. First
trip, I discovered, the duffel, maybe 3/4 filled, just tipped over the
50-pound airline weight limit. They go by weight of each bag -- agent
confirmed I could have checked two bags at 49 pounds each with no extra
charge. (Then she nicely didn't charge me the extra $25).

Next, public transportation to the airport -- 50 pounds in one bag was
a chore getting down the stairs to the subway, but the only time I had
to lift it.

But I still like it and use it. Easier to pack loosely, whether you
roll or fold. I take mostly casual clothes, so they either don't
wrinkle or doesn't matter.

Now I remember you asked about bag, not size :) I think I prefer the
wheeled duffel over the wheeled rectangular (even tho still "soft"
sided). The rounded shape gives me leeway in packing without having to
be exact. Plus, any bag expect to get crushed in the baggage handling.
The duffel will take crushing, while the constructed rectangle bag may
eventually have its rigid sides bent and not spring back, and the
zippers at the edges then don't slide easily.

Go Fig wrote:
> In article <1158021102.288315.70360@m73g2000cwd.. com>, Pete
> <PeteScherm@> wrote:
>
> > I have been travelling to Ireland from the U.S. annually, 3 to 4 weeks
> > per trip, for the last 15 years. I always travel with two large
> > wheeled duffels. If they are firmly packed, there won't be much
> > shifting of the contents when pulling them along. I load each one to
> > 50 to 55 pounds
>
> You will have to pay an excess baggage charge.
>
> jay
.................................................. .................................................. ..........................

Jay,

As of last May, the Aer Lingus checked baggage allowance was 2 bags, 70
pounds each max. It's been that way for at least 15 years. It may
change in the future, but we'll have to wait and see. I didn't have to
pay an extra fuel charge this past trip, either - but I'm sure I will
next May.

Pete