Choosing Checked Luggage

The rule nobody explains

Carry-on limits are three separate numbers, each checked individually. Checked-bag limits are one number: add the three dimensions together, and the total must not exceed 62 in at almost every US carrier.

That changes the shape of what fits. A tall narrow case and a short wide case with the same linear total are equally acceptable, which is why checked bags come in proportions a carry-on never does. It also means a single oversized dimension can be offset by a small one — which the carry-on rules never allow.

Use the manufacturer’s overall figure, not the packing size. Both makers here publish both, and the difference is significant: Travelpro publishes a 29 × 20.5 × 12.5 in case size and a 31 × 21 × 13 in overall size. The airline measures the second one — wheels, handles and all. How measurement actually works.

Both of these are over the cap as published

This is not a criticism of either bag so much as a fact about the category. Twenty-eight and twenty-nine inch cases are sold as checked luggage and, once you include the wheels and the handle housing, most of them publish a linear total above 62 in.

In practice, enforcement is inconsistent — checked bags are weighed far more reliably than they are measured, and a bag two inches over the linear cap frequently travels without comment. But frequently is not always, and oversize fees are typically charged per bag, per leg.

The safe answer is a 27 in case or smaller. If you want the volume of a 28 or 29 inch bag, understand that you are relying on a measurement that may or may not happen.

Weight is the cap that is actually enforced

Every checked bag is weighed. That is automatic and it is not negotiable, which makes the 50 lb standard allowance the number to plan around.

Nearly three pounds separates the two large cases — six percent of your entire allowance, decided at purchase. And a soft duffel used as checked luggage costs you almost nothing at all, which is a genuine option for anyone checking clothes rather than fragile goods.

Hard or soft for checked travel

The trade inverts relative to carry-on. In the cabin a bag is handled by you; in the hold it is dropped, stacked and belted, and shell material starts to earn its weight.

• Hardside — a polycarbonate shell flexes under impact and returns. It is the right answer if what is inside would not survive being crushed. It costs you three pounds of allowance for the privilege.
• Softside — lighter, more forgiving of an overpacked return leg, and it gives rather than cracks. It transmits impact to the contents in a way a shell does not.
• Duffel — the lightest option by a wide margin. No structure at all, which for a bag of clothes is not a problem, and for anything else is.

The warranty difference is unusually large here

Checked bags take the damage. That makes the warranty column matter more than it does anywhere else on this site — and one of these two publishes something almost nothing else in our ledger does.

Travelpro publishes its Trusted Companion Promise on the Maxlite 5 large check-in as covering airline-caused damage for the first year. Samsonite publishes a limited ten-year warranty against defects in materials and workmanship — which explicitly is not the same thing as a bag being destroyed by a belt.

Given that airline handling is the leading cause of death for a checked bag, that is the most consequential line on this page. How to claim, and with whom.

What to buy

• Best overall checked case → Travelpro Maxlite 5 29 in. 8 lb for a case this size is genuinely light, and the published airline-damage cover for the first year is close to unique.
• You are checking something fragile → Samsonite Winfield 3 DLX 28 in, polycarbonate, and accept the 10.96 lb.
• You are checking clothes and nothing else → a duffel. At 1.81 lb you keep 48 lb of your allowance, and there is nothing to break.
• You want to be certain about the linear cap → buy a 27 in case or smaller. Both bags on this page publish a total over 62 in.