Aug 1, 2008
Four-wheel luggage is currently booming in travel popularity, for reasons I find hard to explain
The addition of wheels to luggage marked a great advance in travel comfort, but didn't entirely eliminate the fatigue of dragging a heavy suitcase through airports. When you have to angle that luggage to permit it to move along on two wheels, there's still a considerable effort that's required to pull it along, especially for fair distances.
And that's the apparent reason why new four-wheel suitcases are enjoying such a heavy sale. I'm told that female travelers, as well as elderly travelers, are flocking to the four-wheel variety and find them much easier to pull. Why this is, I can't quite figure out; the suitcase apparently remains fully upright, and must either be pushed or dragged rather than pulled; and yet everyone to whom I've spoken sings the praises of the four-wheel suitcase.
Among the luggage manufacturers, Samsonite seems to be emphasizing four wheels to a greater extent than the others; its online catalogue refers to them as "Spinners" and devotes a number of pages to constant repetition of the claim that "Four twin spinner wheels provide near effortless mobility in any direction allowing the case to glide next to you." Although another big mail-order seller of luggage, Magellan's, seems to be offering four-wheel luggage, they make less of a fuss about it, and don't seem to market a catchy title for this innovation.
Can any of the engineers among our readers explain why a four-wheel suitcase is easier to pull than a two-wheel suitcase? Or is a physical therapist better able to explain the phenomenon?
Write and read comments about this post.
And that's the apparent reason why new four-wheel suitcases are enjoying such a heavy sale. I'm told that female travelers, as well as elderly travelers, are flocking to the four-wheel variety and find them much easier to pull. Why this is, I can't quite figure out; the suitcase apparently remains fully upright, and must either be pushed or dragged rather than pulled; and yet everyone to whom I've spoken sings the praises of the four-wheel suitcase.
Among the luggage manufacturers, Samsonite seems to be emphasizing four wheels to a greater extent than the others; its online catalogue refers to them as "Spinners" and devotes a number of pages to constant repetition of the claim that "Four twin spinner wheels provide near effortless mobility in any direction allowing the case to glide next to you." Although another big mail-order seller of luggage, Magellan's, seems to be offering four-wheel luggage, they make less of a fuss about it, and don't seem to market a catchy title for this innovation.
Can any of the engineers among our readers explain why a four-wheel suitcase is easier to pull than a two-wheel suitcase? Or is a physical therapist better able to explain the phenomenon?
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: luggage
Jul 24, 2008
Suddenly, the weight of your luggage has become a big deal. Pack light
In years past, if you walked up to the airline check-in desk with luggage that was reasonably over the posted weight limits, you could often talk the clerks into checking it anyway.
But now that the airlines are desperate for cash, people with heavy bags will find themselves slapped with an extra expense. Airlines are uniformly enforcing these policies to the ounce so that they may glean extra funds from overweight baggage fees. Even some conveyor belts at the check-in desks have been reprogrammed to stop moving if they sense heavy luggage.
On British Airways, the coach passenger's allowance is just 51 pounds. Anyone who goes over pays the equivalent of $50. If the bag weighs more than 70 pounds, the airline says it may not even be allowed on board. The charges on American Airlines, to take another example, are almost identical, and Delta charges $80. Worse, fees are almost always for each way, so double them for a round trip.
Although it might seem at first like the simplest of vacation advice, "pack lightly" is not always so easily accomplished. We all have a sense of when our luggage is becoming overstuffed, but we don't always know how close to the weight limits we actually are. Packing your bags is ultimately guesswork, especially when you're on vacation and about to return home with your souvenirs. Despite the fact that these overweight fees are hitting flyers in their pocketbooks, I don't know of any hotels that maintain scales for the purpose of weighing outgoing customers' luggage before it's brought to the airport for the flight home.
So it's imperative that you know how much your luggage weighs when empty. Get out the bathroom scale and rest your empty suitcase on it. Once you have that base weight, you will have a greater sense of how much more you can put into it before reaching the limit.
Simply knowing the weight of your empty luggage will go a long way in helping you avoid any unpleasant and expensive surprises when you show up at the airport and anxiously watch the numbers climb on the airlines' own equipment.
Write and read comments about this post.
But now that the airlines are desperate for cash, people with heavy bags will find themselves slapped with an extra expense. Airlines are uniformly enforcing these policies to the ounce so that they may glean extra funds from overweight baggage fees. Even some conveyor belts at the check-in desks have been reprogrammed to stop moving if they sense heavy luggage.
On British Airways, the coach passenger's allowance is just 51 pounds. Anyone who goes over pays the equivalent of $50. If the bag weighs more than 70 pounds, the airline says it may not even be allowed on board. The charges on American Airlines, to take another example, are almost identical, and Delta charges $80. Worse, fees are almost always for each way, so double them for a round trip.
Although it might seem at first like the simplest of vacation advice, "pack lightly" is not always so easily accomplished. We all have a sense of when our luggage is becoming overstuffed, but we don't always know how close to the weight limits we actually are. Packing your bags is ultimately guesswork, especially when you're on vacation and about to return home with your souvenirs. Despite the fact that these overweight fees are hitting flyers in their pocketbooks, I don't know of any hotels that maintain scales for the purpose of weighing outgoing customers' luggage before it's brought to the airport for the flight home.
So it's imperative that you know how much your luggage weighs when empty. Get out the bathroom scale and rest your empty suitcase on it. Once you have that base weight, you will have a greater sense of how much more you can put into it before reaching the limit.
Simply knowing the weight of your empty luggage will go a long way in helping you avoid any unpleasant and expensive surprises when you show up at the airport and anxiously watch the numbers climb on the airlines' own equipment.
Write and read comments about this post.
Apr 30, 2008
American Airlines has adopted United's fees for checking a second suitcase, dashing hopes that United's policy might be overturned
OK, it's official: American Airlines has just joined several mainly-smaller carriers (and United Airlines) in charging $25 each way for every piece of luggage in excess of one. This means all other U.S. carriers will now join the meanies and impose this substantial extra charge on suffering travelers ($50 for the second piece on a round-trip itinerary).
And you know what? The penalty may persuade a lot of misguided people to pack lightly on their next trip -- to their advantage. In Europe a month ago, I saw a great many middle-aged and elderly Americans each pulling two giant suitcases per person through Amsterdam airport. They were bringing that much because they feared looking ill-dressed or under-dressed by the few other Americans with whom they'd be traveling on a river cruise. They would undoubtedly later return home with suitcases of unused clothing.
On your own next trip, try under-packing. Bring one decent outfit for dressy occasions, one outfit for standard touring, and maybe a third outfit to be alternated with the second. The same with underwear. By simply accepting the prospect of periodically washing out clothing, underwear or socks using Woolite sprinkled into a bathroom sink, you'll transform your trip into a free-spirited, unburdened, light-hearted act of happy travel. There is nothing so pleasant as arriving at an airport with only a single small bag, gaining in that fashion the opportunity to take public transportation into town, winning your freedom from porters and taxicabs, avoiding the necessity to spend a full hour packing or unpacking every time you change a location.
Light packing is among the two or three basic keys to smart travel, an effective way to insure the enjoyment of your trip.
Write and read comments about this post.
And you know what? The penalty may persuade a lot of misguided people to pack lightly on their next trip -- to their advantage. In Europe a month ago, I saw a great many middle-aged and elderly Americans each pulling two giant suitcases per person through Amsterdam airport. They were bringing that much because they feared looking ill-dressed or under-dressed by the few other Americans with whom they'd be traveling on a river cruise. They would undoubtedly later return home with suitcases of unused clothing.
On your own next trip, try under-packing. Bring one decent outfit for dressy occasions, one outfit for standard touring, and maybe a third outfit to be alternated with the second. The same with underwear. By simply accepting the prospect of periodically washing out clothing, underwear or socks using Woolite sprinkled into a bathroom sink, you'll transform your trip into a free-spirited, unburdened, light-hearted act of happy travel. There is nothing so pleasant as arriving at an airport with only a single small bag, gaining in that fashion the opportunity to take public transportation into town, winning your freedom from porters and taxicabs, avoiding the necessity to spend a full hour packing or unpacking every time you change a location.
Light packing is among the two or three basic keys to smart travel, an effective way to insure the enjoyment of your trip.
Write and read comments about this post.
Apr 24, 2008
You now need a complex chart to tell you what can and cannot be checked on, or carried aboard, your flight, within the U.S. and abroad
Would you believe that the United States Tour Operators Association is now displaying (on its website) a multi-page chart showing you the numbers and sizes of suitcases you can check on, or carry aboard, the plane? It's at www.ustoa.com and reveals such stunning details as the fact that the weight allowance for domestic U.S. flights is totally different from the weight allowance on intra-European flights. There's even a different standard for flights within South America, and you can be hit in the purse if you're not aware of it.
To make things worse, a slightly different chart is published by the travel-clothing house known as TravelSmith at www.travelsmith.com setting forth -- to my eye (maybe I've been too hasty) -- slightly different dimensions or weights. Luggage is getting loonier all the time.
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To make things worse, a slightly different chart is published by the travel-clothing house known as TravelSmith at www.travelsmith.com setting forth -- to my eye (maybe I've been too hasty) -- slightly different dimensions or weights. Luggage is getting loonier all the time.
Write and read comments about this post.
Feb 20, 2008
Your carry-on luggage will be accepted on flights overseas only if it's small enough and under 22 pounds
We are starting to hear horror stories of Americans showing up for a Lufthansa flight in Frankfurt or a Ryanair flight in London and being prevented from taking a carry-on bag onto the plane because it is too large (or heavy). This doesn't happen that often at American airports, and thus we become complacent. We go to Europe, and whammo! -- our carry-on bag is too large.
It's extremely difficult to learn the exact outer specifications for carry-on luggage imposed by the overseas carriers. From a number of unofficial sources, I've compiled these dimensions: 21.7 inches by 15.7 inches by 7.9 inches. This seems a little small. So here's a request for help: do any of our readers have authoritative information? Can anyone cite the precise written source of these measurements, and the exact number of inches -- length, width, and thickness -- that our carry-ons can be? I'd be grateful to hear from you.
Write and read comments about this post.
It's extremely difficult to learn the exact outer specifications for carry-on luggage imposed by the overseas carriers. From a number of unofficial sources, I've compiled these dimensions: 21.7 inches by 15.7 inches by 7.9 inches. This seems a little small. So here's a request for help: do any of our readers have authoritative information? Can anyone cite the precise written source of these measurements, and the exact number of inches -- length, width, and thickness -- that our carry-ons can be? I'd be grateful to hear from you.
Write and read comments about this post.
Aug 13, 2007
A top travel secret: luggage is cheaper on the internet (first of a two-part series)
We need luggage to travel, and too often we pay too much for it. The high cost of high quality luggage has sparked the emergence of luggage stores on the Internet, which often undercut the normal prices because they don't have the expense of a brick-and-mortar business.
These e-luggage stores have grown immensely popular. They overcome the reluctance of some people to buy luggage without inspecting the product by offering free shipping (including on returns, if you're so inclined) and radically-reduced prices.
The leader in online luggage retailers is a Colorado-based company called eBags.com (www.ebags.com), whose website sells thousands of bags (far more models than even the largest store would carry) from dozens of popular manufacturers, including Samsonite, Eagle Creek, The North Face, Liz Claibourne, and Pierre Cardin. Shipping is free for most orders over $35; returns are free of hassles and costs: unused bags are refundable within 60 days; and the company includes a pre-paid UPS label with every shipment.
Ebags.com offers many options to help the shopper find exactly the right bag (or the right price). You can search by brand, style, price, bag material (canvas, suede, polyester, nylon, cotton, leather), best sellers, closeouts, and other categories. Each bag is rated by customers who own it on a scale of one to ten, and unlike many hotel-review websites, which often only have a handful of ratings on which to base your decision, many pieces of luggage on eBags have hundreds of reviews to guide shoppers along.
The closeouts section of eBags is where to find the very best deals. Recently, a JanSport expandable carry-on in a discontinued color with a retail price of $160 was selling on eBags for just $50. Even items that aren't closeouts are usually priced far below retail. A four-piece travel set from Samsonite that 263 of 286 eBags customers (92%) said they would buy again was being sold for $150, $70 off the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
Write and read comments about this post.
These e-luggage stores have grown immensely popular. They overcome the reluctance of some people to buy luggage without inspecting the product by offering free shipping (including on returns, if you're so inclined) and radically-reduced prices.
The leader in online luggage retailers is a Colorado-based company called eBags.com (www.ebags.com), whose website sells thousands of bags (far more models than even the largest store would carry) from dozens of popular manufacturers, including Samsonite, Eagle Creek, The North Face, Liz Claibourne, and Pierre Cardin. Shipping is free for most orders over $35; returns are free of hassles and costs: unused bags are refundable within 60 days; and the company includes a pre-paid UPS label with every shipment.
Ebags.com offers many options to help the shopper find exactly the right bag (or the right price). You can search by brand, style, price, bag material (canvas, suede, polyester, nylon, cotton, leather), best sellers, closeouts, and other categories. Each bag is rated by customers who own it on a scale of one to ten, and unlike many hotel-review websites, which often only have a handful of ratings on which to base your decision, many pieces of luggage on eBags have hundreds of reviews to guide shoppers along.
The closeouts section of eBags is where to find the very best deals. Recently, a JanSport expandable carry-on in a discontinued color with a retail price of $160 was selling on eBags for just $50. Even items that aren't closeouts are usually priced far below retail. A four-piece travel set from Samsonite that 263 of 286 eBags customers (92%) said they would buy again was being sold for $150, $70 off the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
