Tag Archives for luggage.
I’m not interested in the best at any price, or the cheapest. What I’m interested in is your thoughts on the best value overall – combination of quality and price – for someone who travels quite a lot. On many issues I have firm opinions. Here I will share my tentative thoughts.
A woman entering an airport is carrying – or, really, pushing – a suitcase so gargantuan it could potentially harbor not just her belongings but also herself. The man meeting her could fit inside, too. She waves at her travel companion who is already nearer to the check-in counter. The video is captioned, “Me when my husband only lets me bring one piece of luggage.”
The suitcase is larger than she is. How much can she possibly, really need to pack? And if anything is inside, surely the bag is overweight.
The seal on a $100 bottle of whiskey was “obviously cut” and one-third of the bottle was drained when it was collected at baggage claim. It didn’t spill. And it was packed by an industry professional. Who could have taken the precious Glenmorangie?
Hotels frequently offer to store luggage when a guest arrives too early to check in, or when they aren’t leaving town until after check-out time. Some bigger hotels even charge for this. I’d never trust belongings that matter to a hotel’s luggage storage room, and you shouldn’t either.
Marriott should take the position that guests and their belongings are safe at their hotels and it isn’t appropriate for a hotel to dispute liability when giving away a guest’s belongings and the hotel’s own video demonstrates they did it.
I wouldn’t trust the Marriott Marquis San Francisco with my belongings, but I also wouldn’t trust them in my guestroom either.
A software engineer who had flown IndiGo from Patna to Bangalore picked up the wrong bag, and the person whose bag looked like his picked up the wrong one as well. Despite several attempts to contact the airline IndiGo wouldn’t give him contact information to reach out to the other passenger in order to swap luggage. And, despite its claims to the contrary, they never reached out to the other passenger either.
So the passenger took matters into their own hands.
Shortly before the pandemic the handle on my Rimowa carry on bag broke. Or, rather, the rubber piece that forms the bottom of the handle of the bag broke off on one side. I tried to figure out how to fix it but had no luck. I wound up putting the bag aside for the pandemic, and only just came back to it. And boy have I been down the rabbit hole.
One of the better value spinner bag companies is Delsey, and Amazon has a two piece spinner set marked down from $130 to $49.99 with free prime shipping.
These are polycarbonate bags, and I suggest them in the value category at regular price. At $50 for two bags this is an amazing price for what you get. .
Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air was such a phenomenal movie for frequent travelers because as a top tier elite and mileage junkie himself he cared about getting so many of the details of life on the road right, and of course because he cast George Clooney in the lead role making airport security and hotel check-ins cool.
This is how we all see ourselves packing and cruising effortlessly through the airport…
In December Brazil advanced a rule to eliminate foreign ownership restrictions on airlines operating inside the country. There had been a 20% cap, and currently Delta owns 9.4% of Gol, Qatar 10% of LATAM, and United 8% of Azul — three airlines that control 92% of the Brazilian market.
The rule was temporary, requiring legislative action followed by the President’s signature. The President has one problem with the bill, and he announced it on YouTube.
Luggage, to me, protects the contents and makes them portable. Ideally a bag is durable, easy to maneuver, and the right size — if it’s a carry on bag then it should fit in airplane overhead bins (ideally even large regional jet bins).
Your bag should be sturdy enough to withstand the beating it gets from continued use and the abuse of being overstuffed. If checked it should be able to withstand the abuse it gets from baggage handlers, weather outside on the tarmac, and the TSA.
How do you feel about bags: cheapest possible, pay more for something agile, or invest in designer luggage?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
