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This is an area where people can easily disagree.

Could I pack light enough for a 1-2 week trip so that I don't need to check a bag? Sure. But you know what? I don't want to be washing clothes in the hotel sink, or sending my laundry out, or go around wearing more and more deodorant to try and avoid smelling.

My carry-on is a backpack with stuff I either plan on using on the plane, or my electronics which I'm not going to check. And I'm not going to stick my bag under the seat just so that someone else can try and force a huge bag into the bin.

Personally, I prefer not to deal with the luggage carousel and/or luggage that mysteriously vanishes on the way to my destination.

>force a huge bag into the bin.

In which case that person should have been asked by the crew to check their bag, if it was indeed oversize or overweight.

When weight is a concern, try not using the carry on bags with wheels. Those bags themselves weigh about 6-7 lbs and the telescopic handle takes up space inside the bag. I use the Amazon basics carryon or the more expensive Patagonia MLC 45L both of which which weigh less than 2.2 lbs and are a breeze to carry on. It's amazing how much space and time (it's much faster to walk with these carry on's) you save when you use these. Oh and these provide O(1) access as they fold like a suitcase and not like a hiking bag which in my view has a best case o(n) access and worst case o(n^n) access.

I've lucked out with my carry-on bag, it's only 1.8kg (3.9lbs) despite the wheels, and the handle doesn't intrude too much.

The wheels on two-wheeled models don't intrude very much, I would definitely avoid the 4-wheeled models, you lose so much space to those caster wheels.

I thought about getting a backpack, but my back gets sweaty within a few minutes of walking with it.

I see Patagonia has redone the way the bag opens up and loads. Looks like a big improvement although I still prefer bags that are basically one big compartment; I just use my own organizers which are more versatile.

To your basic point, fully agree. I expect that at least some of the carryon issues are the result of business travelers taking rollaboards for one-night trips. Like you, I find soft over the shoulder/backpack bags a lot more versatile as well as being more space efficient. Yes, some people can't easily carry the weight but that describes a small portion of travelers.

I used a soft messenger-style bag for a long time, but in the end I simply got fed up with how annoying it was to pack, and how much care I had to take when packing, in order to avoid discomfort when carrying it.

The older Patagonia was very vertically oriented with a compartment divider down the middle. I liked it until I decided it just didn't accommodate bulky items well and wasn't easy to dig things out of. These days I mostly use an Osprey travel backpack which unzips to a single big compartment and that works pretty well for me.

I do have rollers on a couple larger pieces of checked luggage but I only use those a couple times a year.

I've switched to traveling with an Osprey backpack and will likely never go back to roller bags. I pack very light, even for weeks of traveling, though.

> I use the Amazon basics carryon

Which one? This sounds like good advice, but I just did a quick search [0], and in the first several results saw only hard-sided spinners and a backpack.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/s?field-keywords=Amazon+Basics+carry+...

> Most airlines allow 55x40x20cm(-ish) size cabin luggage, plus a so-called personal item, which can be as big as 40x30x15cm on some airlines, or described as a purse, a handbag or a slim laptop bag.

I take it you haven't flown on any of the major US domestic carriers in the past few months? With the new 'Economy Basic' fares, you only get a personal item. Carry-on bags are now an upsell.

I've been lucky enough to avoid traveling by US domestic flights, because similarly to what you say, they sound like a major shit show. So I don't have personal experience in that area, although my girlfriend was in SF for a conference earlier this year, and she said it was reasonably pleasant (on United, even).

I was referring to European and international flights, which I do have experience with.

Charging for carry-on is real shitty. At some point it will be cheaper and easier to simply have your luggage shipped to your destination instead of carrying it with you.

I work remotely in NY for a team in Virginia near DC. I make it a point to take Amtrak because of the carryon limits. Of course there's other perks, e.g. no TSA, less people, more seat room.

At the end of the day I'm technically not paying for it (thanks corporate card), so it's a little easier for me to exercise my preferences, but if you book at the right time and trains are a possibility you can get reasonable prices.

Unfortunately, if I were to choose the train, it would be a 12-hour trip to Stuttgart, at the very minimum. By plane it's 1 hour 30 minutes (figure 2 hours 30 minutes including check-in and luggage).

I'm not really the type of person to enjoy that long of a train ride.

That's a very niche advice. You can use the same reasoning to book hostels vs hotels -- it's ok if a bed and shared bathroom is all you need, but it doesn't always work.

Being critical about considering what you need and what you don't need when traveling is "niche advice"?

Sure, don't book a hostel or inexpensive low-frills hostel if you want to go on a resort vacation. But for the vast majority of people, a hotel room is where they sleep, shower and dress. Everything interesting happens elsewhere.

I think you'll find that a heck of a lot more travelers on a given plane only have carry-on than are planning to stay in a hostel.

People doing this really annoy me, especially as it's often half the flight trying to avoid paying for a checked bag.

I'd like to get on the plane, put my small backpack out of the way in the overhead storage, and depart.

Instead, we'll spend 15 minutes with people trying to cram their huge bags into insufficient space, and my reward for waiting until my row was called for boarding is to have my backpack jammed between my feet.

On short routes with good transport connections at either end (for me, London to Copenhagen) it's the biggest difference in experience between e.g. EasyJet and BA.

If people are having trouble putting their carry-on bags in the overhead storage, the bags are either too big or too heavy, or both. They should have been spotted by the crew and told to gate check their bags and probably pay an over-size fee.

If people would actually respect the size and weight limits, and realize that you can also put bags underneath the seat in front, it wouldn't be an issue.