Flying with a rucksack as hold luggage...

[Bill]

Not done this for years but may need to carry my bag at the other end and it's more comfy than a duffel bag. I always used to put a rucksack in a thin holdall to help prevent the multiple straps getting snagged in conveyor belts etc.

Any thoughts? Or am I just paranoid??

[Mr Squarekins]

I use a noth face voyager duffel. That doubles as a rucksack, but the straps fold away to a holdall for easy stowage.

I consider it the best of both worlds. Ace to carry as a rucksack, good as a holdall.

Edited by Mr Squarekins on Thursday 16th July 19:03

[bigandclever]

Not paranoid at all, flappy straps get stuck in everything. What I do is get everything velcro'ed up .. 3 quid for a roll from Amazon, that kind of thing.

[Bill]

Mr Squarekins said:

I use a noth face voyager duffel. That doubles as a rucksack, but the straps fold away to a holdall for easy stowage.

I consider it the best of both worlds. Ace to carry as a rucksack, good as a holdall.

That's my other option. It's just not as comfortable as a rucksack with stiff back and decent waist belt.

[Matt..]

How big is the bag?
I use a 40L as a cabin bag and take a smaller backpack as personal item. I’ve used an under packed 60L as a cabin bag on a long haul flight but it was similar size to my 40L.

[ATG]

I use a 100l expedition bag and stick rucksacks and other kit in it. The bag has its own easily stowable shoulder straps. And it is an instrument of torture, so I recommend trying something else if you actually have to carry your kit any distance.

[valiant]

Flew with virgin and they insisted that it had to manually loaded so had to go on the trolley with all the other outsize, weird shaped and odd luggage due to the risk of straps getting caught in the conveyor mechanism.

Flying back they didn’t give a fig at LV and sent it on its merry way and it arrived safely.

So I guess it depends on the dude at check-in. Good idea to either tuck all the straps away as best as you can or to tape them together for flight.

[MC Bodge]

I also use an army kit bag that has stowable rucksack straps. I have put my expedition rucksack and spare kit inside it for flights, and carried it through Paris between CDG and Orly. I am used to carrying a pack, so it is fine to carry.

I have also had my large rucksack wrapped in cellophane before putting into hold baggage when taking it to SE Asia.

You could put it inside a canvas sack?

Edited by MC Bodge on Thursday 16th July 20:51

[Sonie]

Look at the Osprey Airporter,

[scot_aln]

If you Google "Rucksack Transit Cover" you should find some options. The one above being one but there are much cheaper suitable options. Eurohike for example have one for about a tenner.

[parabolica]

Not done it with a rucksack but my holdall has a detachable shoulder strap and KLM, Turkish, Swiss and United have all instructed me to remove the strap when checking it in to avoid it snagging anything.

[Bill]

Thanks all, definitely a thing then I've left it a bit late as I'm off tomorrow! Suspect I'll be using a duffel bag, fortunately it's only a mile or so but I'm not sure what else I'll need to carry.

Matt.. said:

How big is the bag?
I use a 40L as a cabin bag and take a smaller backpack as personal item. I ve used an under packed 60L as a cabin bag on a long haul flight but it was similar size to my 40L.

60l and I'm camping so it'll be full! We have a 100l one too but I'm hoping to avoid that. Think the rucksack back is too long full stop.

[Matt..]

Bill said:

60l and I'm camping so it'll be full! We have a 100l one too but I'm hoping to avoid that. Think the rucksack back is too long full stop.

I lack any trust of airports and airlines so always take non-replaceable items in the cabin. When I took my 60L as a cabin bag it was for a camping trip and I had a hold bag with all the less important gear and I discarded that bag on arrival. Maybe you re more trusting than me but losing things like my tent would have been a huge problem!

I took an Atom Packs Prospector 60L large as my cabin bag but under full so it was more like a 40L. Could you do similar and pack less then get the non-essentials when there? You can normally have a big bag and personal bag in the cabin so maybe it’s possible for you but not if your bag is way too big.

Edited by Matt.. on Friday 17th July 09:01

[TheLurker]

I've flown all over the world with both kit bags with the shoulder straps and rucksacks. Most of the time they just ask you to take the bag to oversized, and drop it off there. Some airports just put them through anyway with the standard bags, and never had an issue.

Only thing to be aware of is if you put it through with oversized, the bag will not come out on the conveyer belt the other end and will need to find the oversized items section, This can sometimes take a bit longer, but nothing too crazy.

[Collectingbrass]

As someone who used to install baggage systems I wouldn't fly with a rucksack in hold baggage, and if I had to I would either put it in a cover bag, wrap it (which brings its own problems of bags rolling on conveyor inclines) or in the oversize route.

[Every day a journey]

Lots of cling film

[768]

TheLurker said:

I've flown all over the world with both kit bags with the shoulder straps and rucksacks. Most of the time they just ask you to take the bag to oversized, and drop it off there. Some airports just put them through anyway with the standard bags, and never had an issue.

Only thing to be aware of is if you put it through with oversized, the bag will not come out on the conveyer belt the other end and will need to find the oversized items section, This can sometimes take a bit longer, but nothing too crazy.

This, although in some airports it does still come out on the conveyor belt.

I normally just tighten the straps, sometimes flipped around to the front, tuck the excess bits in and maybe put a rain cover on if I've got one.

[Bill]

Matt.. said:

Could you do similar and pack less then get the non-essentials when there? You can normally have a big bag and personal bag in the cabin so maybe it s possible for you but not if your bag is way too big.

Now you've made me more paranoid!! It's a scout camp so worst case an uncomfortable night/hotel before it gets sorted borrowing/buying essentials. Although I would miss my Alpkit Duomo mat...

[768]

Oh, sometimes it's against the T&Cs I think, but I normally put an airtag in these days.

[JayBM]

Years ago I bought a Northface rucksack/duffel that had stowable straps (both shoulder and waist), a zip attachable day bag and a stowable waterproof cover.

Having just checked their website they don't seem to do a modern equivalent that has both shoulder and waist stowable straps. However the Bacecamp Voyager range of duffels all seem to have attachable shoulder straps.