Air travel has gotten plenty exasperating in the past year. Beefed-up security means you have a better than ever chance of being delayed somewhere along the way to the plane. Set off a metal detector, and you'll be patted down as your personal effects pile up at the end of the X-ray conveyor belt. Get picked for a random gate search, and you could see your carry-on emptied in full view of your fellow passengers. Tip: Pack your newest underwear.
The most onerous rules have to do with new limits to carry-on bags. No longer will flashing a smile (and your elite card) at a gate agent get your extra or slightly oversized bag on the plane. The rule is one carry-on, usually no bigger than 22" x 14" x 9", and one personal item, such as a laptop computer case, camera bag, or purse.
What's an inveterate airport bag schlepper to do? How about buying a piece of luggage that consolidates your bags into a single carry-on that complies with all the rules and your needs?
Take the Upright Virtual Office ($170) from Atlantic Luggage. It looks like a standard wheeled suitcase but has a zippered front compartment for business files and a padded computer case in the back. Plus, there's enough room for a change of clothes and an extra pair of shoes. Here's another smart feature: Access to the computer is via a side zipper. That makes it easy to get to your laptop, either to run it separately through the security checkpoint or to remove it when the bag is stowed on the plane in an overhead bin.
Tumi has a variation on the same theme with its Deluxe Expandable Computer Brief ($595). This is really two separate bags--a laptop case that fits neatly into the main compartment of a wheeled carry-on. Perhaps the niftiest solution, though, is a three-in-one bag from Lodis. The Los Angeles company's Sculptured Zipoff Overniter ($350) zips apart into an upright overnight bag, a computer case, and an expandable tote. You can carry each separately, or zip the tote and laptop bags together for a briefcase you can take to business meetings, leaving your clothes at the hotel. But when you get to the airport, the three zip up into a single piece that's airline-compliant.
If you already have a carry-on bag you like, consider packing your laptop in that instead of its own bag. Many companies, including Eagle Creek, Travelon, and RoadWired, make padded sleeves for $20 to $40 designed expressly for the purpose. When it comes time to run it down the conveyor, put your laptop in the plastic washtub, sleeve and all. That's good enough at most airports. Tip: Tape a business card to the bottom of your computer so you can be paged should you inadvertently forget to retrieve it.
If you're really worried about losing your laptop, most of Swiss Army Brands' luggage ($99 to $425) comes with an insurance policy that will reimburse you up to $1,500 for your computer should your bag be lost or stolen.
If your bags are singled out for a more thorough search, it's a good idea to have everything inside arranged so the items are easy to see, take out, and repack. Eagle Creek pioneered the organized look with its Pack-It system, a series of zippered cubes and flat pouches ($7 to $22) with see-through mesh or mesh-plastic laminate tops. That way, latex-gloved airport inspectors won't have to spread out your smaller items in view of other people. A quick squeeze of a small bag full of socks and underwear should be enough. They're also easy to throw into a hotel dresser drawer once you've arrived.
Several manufacturers, including Swiss Army and Lewis N. Clark, sell similar packing cubes, and you can get a set of seven zippered vinyl envelopes from Travelon for about $20. But Eagle Creek's double-sided ones are the most cleverly designed. Clean clothes go into the open-mesh side of the envelope; dirty clothes, into the sealed plastic side.
Other smart ideas: Magellan's, a mail-order travel outfitter, sells a $10 nylon shirt case with a clear front that holds four shirts or blouses straight from the cleaners. Or, to avoid unnecessary rummaging through a deep tote, you can outfit it with Gore-Vaughn's Travel Pockets ($25), a flexible grid of 14 elasticized, 8-inch-deep pockets that let you pack everything upright and visible.
Then there's the Scott eVest ($140). A modern-day fisherman's or photographer's vest, this jacket's 22 pockets carry all manner of electronics, from PDAs to cell phones to cameras. The cavernous back pocket will even hold a small laptop. Best of all, because you wear it onto the plane, it doesn't count against your carry-on limit.
Of course, you can avoid most of the hassle of airports by not checking or carrying any luggage. Instead, ship it to your hotel the day before. Baggage-delivery services, once pretty much limited to golf clubs, skis, and bicycles, have expanded into luggage (table). They'll pick up your bags at your home or office and take care of all the details, such as alerting the hotel's concierge desk that your luggage is on its way or arranging for a pickup after you've checked out. The service isn't cheap, but consider this: Many airlines, including American and Continental, now ding you $80 for checking a third bag, or any bag that weighs more than 70 lbs. or measures more than 62 inches when you add up its height, width, and depth. If you meet all of those conditions, that's $240 for a single bag.
Without baggage, about the only thing you'll need to keep track of is your boarding pass and picture ID. Many travelers are now wearing them around their necks to avoid, for example, accidentally leaving their passport or driver's license at one of the multiple security checkpoints. An ID holder with a lanyard costs around $10. A version sold by Southwest Airlines on its Web site is a real bargain at 95 cents.
One last tip: Even if you're traveling lean, you still might want to consider Travelpro USA's Cool Survivor ($30), a lightweight carry-on that includes an insulated back pocket for hot or cold food. With today's early check-in times, longer airport waits, and airlines' new tightfisted meal policies, you can pack some decent food to get you through what's apt to be a grueling day.
By Larry Armstrong
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