Shopping for new luggage - Do the airline dimensions include the wheels?

[Perdita&Pongo]

Looking at buying one large suitcase per person instead of the 2 small/med each that we used to check.

When in the stores, the measurements do not include the wheels. At the airport are they gonna measure (if questioned) and include the wheels or how does that work?

 

[december]

I'd like to know too. I looked at luggage today-for the same purpose. I want all of us to have one big bag instead of the whole set, since you can't check more than that on most airlines anyway. I was looking at the 29 inch bags-are those ok on most airlines?

 

[bavaria]

anything over 26 inches will go overweight very easily, which is why one often finds 29 and 30 inch suitcases at the discount stores.

I would not purchase anything over 26 inches, unless it was a duffle bag.

 

[wee-haggis]

This is an excerpt from The Travel Insider website.

Is Your Carry-On Bag Legal?

Many luggage stores sell suitcases described as 'carry-on', but these suitcases are sometimes larger than the size most airlines will accept.

The safe maximum size is 45", in the form of a 22" x 14" x 9" bag. Some airlines allow up to as much as 55", but most do not.

Not only do luggage stores and manufacturers not always tell you if their bag is legally sized or not, but they also frequently mis-measure their bag. Their measurements generally are for the inside of the main compartment, and assume that any external pockets are of zero thickness, rather than stuffed full of things (which can easily add another inch or more) and ignore any external framing such as wheels and carry handle (which can also add another couple of inches).

If you should be very unlucky and find yourself forced to try and squeeze your carry-on into an unforgiving luggage template by the gate, even one extra inch - if your bag is already at the maximum - will be enough to mean it doesn't fit and you have to check the bag.

 

[CarolA]

Airlines measure EVERYTHING including the wheels!

 

[bicker]

That's why the newest recommendations is for folks to switch to non-rolling luggage, specifically duffles and such. They carry the most stuff while taking up the least space and incur the least weight.

 

[mrdiscranky]

That's why the newest recommendations is for folks to switch to non-rolling luggage, specifically duffles and such. They carry the most stuff while taking up the least space and incur the least weight.

Yeah, but carrying around all that stuff is a duffel isn't going to be any fun. Wheeled luggage that works is one of the great travel inventions of the last 20 years. I'm not going to turn my back on that. I'll take a smaller, easier bag to handle over something unwieldy, even if it means I have to pack less.

 

[bicker]

And that's really the choice people need to make: Convenience versus volume. We can't have both.

 

[msmayor]

We just bought two 28" rolling suitcases for our travels this year, and the stated linear dimensions have the bag at 58.5", so we feel that gives us the "wiggle" room we need for the wheels.

The cases themselves are about 10lbs, so that leaves us 40 for contents.

On our just-completed trip to Vegas, I packed more than enough clothes (didn't even wear some) and weighed the case at home...only 30lbs. Keeping a large suitcase under 50 lbs can definitely be done, especially travelling in the summer with light clothing.

We will be flying to Miami in November for a family cruise. Our plan there, to save weight for clothes only, is to pack NO toiletries in the suitcases at all. We're flying in the night before the cruise so we'll stop at a WalMart or Target and buy what we need there, and at the end of the trip just toss what's left.

 

[december]

That's why the newest recommendations is for folks to switch to non-rolling luggage, specifically duffles and such. They carry the most stuff while taking up the least space and incur the least weight.

Thank you-this helps make up my mind. We are hoping for an Alaskan cruise next summer, and I have my heart set on a Disney cruise soon too. A show on the travel channel recommended collapsible luggage for cruises. I think I'll get us all a new rolling duffle bag-the best of both worlds and much easier to store!

 

[bab31]

so being I have never carried my luggage on. we intend to this week. do I have this straight

Dh can have a backpack that fits under the seat as well as his carry on bag?

I plan on putting my purse in a beach type bag with a book etc that will fit under the seat and carry on bag as well

are we good to go?

 

[TDC Nala]

I have no idea how big my carryon is so I googled it. It's a 21 inch. It fits in the overhead bins of most of the planes I fly on, with the wheels angled outward. (It has 4 wheels)