Thrifty Luggage for Air Travel

Briggs & Riley Under Seat Bag

Many of us are looking forward to traveling again after the Covid Pandemic. Flight restrictions have eased and people are taking to the airways in droves. Luggage is also being misdirected and lost enroute in record numbers. So how can you diminish the chances of lost luggage when you travel? Your choice of luggage and its contents can make a big difference in the enjoyment of your trip. The most important rule…TRAVEL LIGHT.

On most International and long haul domestic flights you are allowed one carry on bag and one personal bag like a back pack or purse. If you make careful choices, you can have all your luggage board the plane when you do and be within reaching distance. A 21″ carry on will satisfy domestic and international conditions for most airlines. Add an under the seat piece as your personal bag and you are all set. We travel for several months at a time with this luggage. Rick Steves travels with much less.

We chose fabric luggage after doing some research and this Briggs & Riley bag fits our needs for under seat luggage. It’s a very well-made bag with the handle mechanism on the outside of the case allowing for more storage inside. There are two outside compartments…one large and one small. The inside is a large compartment with additional storage in the flap. The undersea bag will hold our electronic devices and cords, a change of clothes, night clothes, electric toothbrush and flosser, any medicine and the 3-1-1 bag for liquids.

Briggs & Riley is quite pricey so I didn’t want to buy it new. They rarely have sales so I turned to alternative sources and found an excellent bag on eBay for a fraction of the cost. You can see from the pictures the bag looks new. We liked it so well my Hubby found one and purchased that for part of his luggage. It was also in excellent condition.

The picture above is of the 21″ TravelPro light weight case. TravelPro is another excellent brand the has been around a long time and is well made. This new line is quite a bit lighter in weight and has 4 spinner wheels on the bottom. This bag will fit in the overhead luggage problem for Domestic and International flights.

This bag has a zippered compartment on the outside for a laptop. It has one large compartment on the inside that is quite deep and holds lots of things you need to pack. I prefer one larger compartment to two smaller ones. There is a second zippered compartment in the lid. This is soft-sided luggage as well so has some expansion capability. It also has an actual expansion zipper you can utilize if needed.

I looked at Marketplace, eBay and other sites for cases like this and found some for quite good prices. However, my Hubby ran across an extremely good sale that beat all the other prices and purchased a brand new bag for a really reduced price. I was thrilled.

These are the two pieces of luggage I chose for our upcoming travel. the Briggs & Riley under seat bag and the 21″ light TravelPro bag. The larger is considered Carry On and the smaller my personal bag. Both can be wheeled and they can be stacked.

You can see here that they stack nicely making it easy to transport from one place to another.

So what is the best brand of luggage to take with you. That really depends on your budget. Top brands like Briggs and Riley or Tumi can cost over $600 for a 21″ case and over $400 for an under the seat case. Top brands carry lifetime warranties. This is investment luggage that will last you the rest of your life. TravelPro is another well-known brand and much more affordable and also well made. Being a Thrifter I like to find better luggage at more affordable prices. Using eBay, consignment shops, marketplace and sales you can pay much less for great luggage.