Just bought a Travelpro 22" carry-on for $130 at a local mall outlet. Ouch! Looking at the selections here and the prices are much better, even though there isn’t one that’s the size I bought. Was tempted to buy the bigger Travelpro offered here but then thought about it. The big ones will have be checked. Baggage handlers treat luggage as oversized shotput devices. They love to throw these guys around. The checked Travelpro wouldn’t last long. So, if you want to check your bags, buy the mid grade cheap ones. The best made ones versus the poorly made ones will last about ten trips or so before they really are beat up.
When I began working with the two major commercial aircraft manufacturers and began traveling two to three weeks/month, I wanted new luggage and polled a lot of the pilots, flight crews and government employees I worked with and, at the time, most used and recommended TravelPro. I bought two pieces, an expandable duffel and a wheeled expandable carry-on. After 3 years of heavy use, including the worst the TSA could dish out, they both are intact and, except for some visible gouges in a few of the plastic moldings, are in excellent condition! I paid $400 total for both pieces and have had the pleasure of using quality luggage each trip. I don’t know if I’ll ever “need” to replace them but I’m sure glad I listened to all who recommended them!
I’m looking into new luggage as our last trip (SJC>CSL) our 10 year old luggage was looking rough compared to the other luggage coming around the carousel. Are there different levels of Travelpro? What level are the ones posted today?
Wow, I’m so excited. I have something meaningful to add! Finally!
So I JUST bought a travelpro bag (the travelpro anthem - from amazon 60$) for a week long business trip I had to take. I flew NYC to Orlando and I didn’t want to check a bag and waste time.
I didn’t have an appropriate carry-on sized bag and the briggs-riley I wanted was $300+. Yeah… my job sends me on business but I don’t make fancy-luggage-money.
Anyway, I digress. The bag wasn’t the lightest of the ones I considered. Wasn’t the best looking. BUT DAMN, it was great. It held so surprisingly much and after a week of abuse you wouldn’t know it had left the store. It could be sitting on the shelf and you would have no idea that a guy dragged/wheeled/tossed this thing around over concrete, airplane bins, stairs, etc.
The brand makes some good quality stuff. I have no idea what these bags are like, but I can tell you that I am beyond happy with my travelpro. I just hope I really don’t have to become a travel pro myself. Unless of course airports magically become awesome.
Buy a bag if you can justify the need. You probably won’t regret it.
Travelpro makes good stuff - I bought two of their bags years ago, after reading a lot of good things about their products on Flyertalk. (If you travel for business, you need to read Flyertalk.com!) Both bags have flown on a ton of flights and both have held up well.
One bag is a rollerboard that I use for shorter (workweek or less) trips, while the other is an oversized rolling duffel that travels as checked luggage on my longer trips.
A plastic “bumper” part on the bottom of the duffel did disappear, while it was traveling as checked luggage. However, that was no big deal – Travelpro has their parts catalogs posted on their website: Luggage Replacement Parts Catalogs & Luggage Repair | Travelpro I found the part diagram from my bag, noted the part number and description, then called their 800 number to order it. Travelpro sent me the part for free.
Two heads-up about specific models:
**Travelpro 28" Expandable Rollaboard Suiter - Chestnut: **This model is too large to be carried on US flights.
Woot’s “features” and “specs” tabs do not match – on the features tab, woot says this is 28" high and 20" wide while on the specs tab Woot says it is “24 x 15 x 10 inches”.
I’m pretty sure the “features” tab is correct – a 28" bag is 28" tall. That’s too big for carry-on.
Travelpro Platinum 7 30" Rolling Duffel: this bag weighs 10 lbs empty. Airlines will hit you with an “overweight baggage fee” if your luggage weighs too much. Delta charges extra for luggage that weighs over 50 lbs… so if you are checking this bag on Delta, you can only have 40 lbs of stuff in it unless you want to pay a lot more.
Excellent information! Your right about Delta’s (as well as others) 50 lb. limit, however I would contend that it would be the extremely rare traveller that would amass 40 lb. of content into a bag that size. I ran into the 50 lb. limitation on numerous occasions with a 36"w x 36"h x 24" deep wheeled aluminum trunk which carried gobs of cameras, cables, electronics, etc. My company merely paid the extra because the contents were essential to doing the job, but I don’t think the “average” traveler would be in jeopardy of exceeding that weight with the 30" Rolling Duffel.
with the complimentary checked luggage going down to 1 (or even zero, but with 2nd one being much more than the 1st one), people are forced to stuff as much as possible into the 1 luggage they check in. You either put all your heavy stuff in the checked luggage, or load them into your carry-ons and end up with a heavy one that you have to lug around.
Just a caution: make sure you select the correct line of products. TravelPro makes several product lines, some are significantly better than others. I served in the Air Force Reserve for several years and all 28 reserve pilots in our squadron were also airline pilots and each and every one used the “Crew” line of products. When I asked them for advice as to my own purchases, they all advised using the Crew line and to not consider anything on the lower cost side. they indicated that the Crew line was made for their (the pilots) hard day to day use, but the cheaper lines were no better than anything found in the dollar stores and wouldn’t hold up. I then bought the Crew line for myself and my wife disagreed and went for the lower cost alternative. 10 years later I still have my original Crew cases (Crew 4s and 5s). Now she does too and doesn’t want to discuss the subject
I mentioned earlier having two bags that are holding up beautifully … they are both Crew 4.
I bought a 20" TravelPro rollerboard back in 2002 or 2003 when I started traveling frequently for work. I think I paid $75 for it at Sears. I always check it when I fly. It’s definitely been tossed around and abused. I once got it back with a clear dirty tread print on one of the tags. It’s still in great shape. Just this year I noticed a piece on the side of one of the inline wheels chipped off, but it’s not noticeable and is still rolling around just fine, and since these are inline skate wheels, I can probably easily get a replacement. It also expands, so that I’ve been able to cram up to 10 days worth of crap in there though more commonly it’s been used for trips from 3-7 days. This is the best suitcase I have ever owned. I am amazed at how well it has stood up to repeated baggage handling abuse, stairs, curbs, and being dragged for miles over city streets in questionable repair.
I am totally sad this sale is now, instead of a month ago when I was in the market for a bigger suitcase for a long trip I’m taking in 2 days.
Edit: The one I have is from the FlightPro 2 series.
I’m really curious what people would pack in any non-oversized bag that size that would bring it above the 50 lb limit. Bowling balls? Cinder blocks? I think the most I ever topped out was about 35 lbs including the weight of a the largest sized Samsonite Oyster purchased in the 80s stuffed full of winter clothing and necessities for a 10 day trip to the then USSR. At least 1/3 of that weight was probably the bag. It was not a light bag. It seems they still made this suitcase until around 2009, and that version was 13 lbs.
Well, what does one pack into a checked bag that could possibly push the total weight to over 50 pounds?
One time I flew to the far east and promised an author friend that I would lug a few copies of his books over for him. Those ten books, at about 3.5 pounds each, pushed the weight over. I had to hand carry a few of those books into the cabin while the rest flew in the bag. The books were printed on glossy paper which added to the weight. The Nobel winner published through Wiley. That favor endeared me to him. Now, every time I have a question on black holes and gaseous mass I text him.
If one have specialized equipments that has a bit of metal contents, then they could easily add up to alot of weight. One can’t go all titanium just for the sake of reducing luggage weight.
I usually split up my gears so some more sensitive ones goes into my carryon which frequently tops out over 30LB for each of the the rolling suitecase and backpack.
I’ve had specialized luggage bags that the mfg makes for military and public safety applications. The airlines still ripped it. I guess if the bag is loaded absolutely to the max, the handlers will just grab it from anywhere, including exterior application pockets.
This information is directly from the item on Amazon, so I surmise that is where it originated.
**Product Description
28" Expandable Rollaboard suitcase with built in suiter and easy access full front pocket
Travelpro’s Crew 7 is the next evolution of the iconic Crew line that pilots and flight crews have used for years.
ASIN: B0028K2C5Q
Product Dimensions: *24 x 15 x 10 inches; 9 pounds*
Shipping Weight: 9 pounds
Item model number: 4070828-Chestnut-One Size**
From the Travelpro site:
Dimensions:
L20" x W12" x H28"
50cm x 31cm x 71cm
Weight:
13.5lbs / 6.1kg
Glass bottles filled with very expensive liquids…
The reviews for the 28" suiter are not that great on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Travelpro-Luggage-Expandable-Rollaboard-Suiter/product-reviews/B0028K2EGI/ref=dpx_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1. Most of the reviews are from 2010, nothing recent. So has this stuff just been sitting in a warehouse somewhere??