I’ve always wanted to try one of these bags.
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Flew home yesterday after much traveling. The tensest moment? When H got an upgrade and I did not!
Would he use miles to upgrade me? Was he confident I would get an upgrade in the last fifteen minutes before the flight? Would he ditch me in a middle seat in economy and move up? (Would two fat people sit on either side of me?)
I did get upgraded, and we stayed married.
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If by an unfair chance you didn’t get upgraded, could you have switched your seat assignment to his (assuming it wasn’t also a center) the minute his seat freed up? Just wondered if that is doable.
I don’t know. He could have kept his original assignment and handed his replacement his first class ticket. I did that once when flying with S2 when I was upgraded and he was not. The whole point was for us to sit together and chat on the flight so an easy choice and a happy stranger.
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While I don’t have that exact bag, I do use something similar with stowaway backpack straps: Cotopaxi Allpa
It’s a dream for shorter trips as a carryon. I have no trouble taking it on the orange line from Midway to the Loop and back. I now choose it over my rolling carryon because I love being able to wear it.
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DW and I did 7 weeks in Argentina (with both the hot summer climate plus Patagonia and hiking climate) and each only took a backpack…it takes practice but it is possible ))
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Do you know if you can use that bag as a carryon?
I got the 50L one, and think it’s too big for international flights.
There are some with backpacks who seem at times to forget how far out those extend. There have been several times that I have had to hold up my hands to keep from getting hit in the face when people turn around with backpacks on either when we are boarding or when people are coming down the aisle after I’ve been seated.
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I thought of this thread (and the original) the other day when I was in the theater. Second row seats so the row wasn’t really tiered from the front row. The guy in front of me had to be 10 feet tall. He never flinched the whole show and directly blocked center stage. I felt bad for the people behind be as I kept switching back and forth from his left ear to his right ear trying to see the actore.
Now I’m starting a campaign that tall people not be allowed to sit in the front row. Ever. Especially in front of me.
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If you click on the above site at the bottom after they show the sizes on people it talks about dimensions and if TSA compliant, etc.
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I have the 42L Allpa, which I use as a carryon on Southwest, but I think it is too big for international carryon use. The 35L measures 22x12x10, which is a three tenths of an inch too tall and one inch too deep, but given the soft sides it might still work?
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Soft sided bags filled with soft items may still be able to fit into baggage sizers and overhead bins that they are slightly too large for by measurements by squishing them a bit.
But note that some airlines (particularly but not exclusively based in Asia) have small weight limits for carry on baggage, and may actually weigh them before tagging them as allowed carry on bags.
I’ve used the Osprey Farpoint/Fairview 40L for several years. (Farpoint is the “male” version while Fairview is the “female” one). It works as a carry-on for domestic and international flights, though I’m not sure if it would work as a carry-on on budget international airlines like Ryan Air. I regularly use it for 2-week trips, and it’s very comfortable.
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Or… “If you can read the logo on my backpack - you are too close!” 
If you have a short connecting flight on a turboprop there are different carry-on allowances there as well. We flew Boston to Dublin (Airbus) then had a 1 hr flight to Glasgow on a turboprop, whose carry on max. length was 16". We were prepared and had no problems but a few were not happy to have their regular-sized carry on taken from them to be placed in the hold of the plane.
BTW, I was apprehensive about the possible noise on a turboprop (I had read they were really loud) but once we got up in the air, the noise was no louder than a conventional jet. I guess the turbo part overpowered the propeller noise.
We are doing 2 international bike trips in the next several months. We do plan to have check bags, but we also want to make sure we have some (most?) of our biking clothes with us on the plane, just in case our checked luggage gets lost. We already own a couple of carry-on bags, but I’m trying to make sure any new ones I get will meet the requirements of both European airlines and New Zealand Air.
The Cotopaxi 35L looks pretty good (even if it doesn’t have a water bottle pocket).
Any other suggestions?
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Or…. Don’t forget there are people around you!!!
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I am short and have had too many close calls with backpacks almost hitting my face especially while boarding or disembarking. I had to raise my arms in front of me multiple times to protect myself from getting hit. It is not that I am too close, it is you who is taking up too much volume.
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The other thread was closed, where airplane seating was discussed. I just wanted to point out, that Delta seems to have solved that impossible 16G question…this is part of an article I saw in the Boston Globe a few days ago…
“Last month, Delta Flight Products, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, unveiled a concept for an airline seat that folds up. This would allow electric wheelchair users to back into the space for the entirety of their flight.
The seat was group tested by wheelchair users and aesthetically blends in with other seats, takes 90 seconds to transform from a traditional seat to wheelchair mode, and doesn’t involve any expensive, dramatic structural changes. It could simply be swapped for a seat in the front row, and Delta Flight Products says it hopes to have it ready in 18 months. This innovation would be transformative for wheelchair users if it catches on in the aviation industry.“
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