Best carry-on luggage to comply with budget European airlines

[brett]

I use the Eagle Creek No Matter What 20" rolling duffle. It is perfect for me.
DW prefers her Rick Steves carry on roller board because it is slightly larger and has multiple pockets.

 

[Scuba]

Both of those sound nice; we looked at them both but went with the more flexible, smaller backpack due to the 17.7” restriction on Sky Express.

 

[Live4Scuba]

I travel extensively throughout the world and have experienced my hand luggage getting weighed on multiple occasions. I'm a scuba diver and underwater photographer so I end up carrying on about 50 lbs worth of gear in hand luggage even though there is typically a 7kg weight limit. I'm usually traveling to remote parts of the planet and want to make sure my gear arrives with me. I couldn't care less if my clothes don't make it but my $15K worth of camera gear I don't want to put in checked luggage.

Here are some of the tricks I use:

- First, they typically only weigh the hand luggage at check-in and then give you a tag to put on your carry on bags showing that the bag has met the weight limit. I usually empty out my bag and leave all the heavy stuff with a friend or fellow traveler while I go check in. My bag is weighed, I get the tag and then I go back to put all of my heavy camera gear back in the bag.

- Second, I travel with a photo or fishing vest with lots of pockets. It's amazing how much gear you can stuff into the pockets. I try to fill these pockets with most of my heavy lenses, camera bodies, etc., so even if my bags do get weighed again while boarding the plane, the majority of the gear is on my body and not in the bag. Once I've boarded the plane, I put the gear back in the bag. I've only been pulled aside once to have my bag weighed before I boarded the plane and that was on a flight from Adelaide to Port Lincoln on a very small plane with only 5 seats.

The main trick is to make it look like the bag you are carrying is light. As long as it's the right size and you aren't struggling, you'll be fine.

The airlines that have given me the biggest trouble are Monarch (in the UK), Fiji Airways, Air Niugini and Real Tonga.

Good luck!

 

[Scuba]

Thanks Live4Scuba - great tips!

 

[brett]

Bottom line for us that in all of our travels over the past ten years-Euorpe, Asia, Australia, Africa we have never been asked to place our carry on in the stand to verify it's size.

Likewise, our carry on's have only been weighed three times. Once by an airline on which we did not have to pay for checked bags, another time at the Air Asia terminal in Kuala Lumper because there was an employee weighing everyone's carry on as they exited security and entered that section of the terminal.. And even then, our bags weighted 8 kilos instead of 7. The agent waved us in. Last winter we had 8 flights in SE Asia. That was the only time anyone bothered at any airport. Once more time in Vietnam (out of 4 flights) two years ago. Same story....no issue for being slightly over the 7Kg limit. Carry on size was eyeballed but that was it.

Same in Europe on our AIrMalta, Vueling,etc. flights. Only Lufthansa seemed to care and that was only at one airport-Venice.

We tend avoid the Ryanairs and the Easyjets. We often find that after one adds up all the extra charges the larger mainline airlines are often in the same ballpark price wise, sometimes less.

 

[Scuba]

This is reassuring, thanks. We have no choice but to fly Sky Express to get the destinations and schedules we want. My understanding is that the planes are quite small and that is why they’re pretty strict re carry-on size. Hopefully since ours will be within weight limits and not overstuffed, no one will care if it’s a few inches too long.

 

[sturbridge]

I love my Tom Bihn Aeronaut 30. Its a soft sided bag that meets European smaller size rstrictions. It unzips in a u shape so its easy to pack/live out of. It can be hand carried, carried with a strap or carried via tucked away padded backpack straps.

For packing, I try not to bring more than 3 of any one type of item (other than underwear). I use a "capsule wardrobe" where each top matches each bottom and buy a lot of items that are advertised as active wear (eg hiking shirts). The active wear is thin, and dries quickly. I aim for clothes that don't necessarily LOOK like hiking clothes, so they can do double duty for sightseeing or dinner out as well with a nice scarf.