I came up with a new easy rule whether wheel-less onebagging is something you should try:

If all your packed goods together weigh 14 pounds or less, it will be worth a shot to try out onebagging.

How did I come up with that?

First, onebagging is fantastic for many obvious reasons discussed here and on other websites like 1bag1world or onebag.com.

Second, onebagging means essentially also shoulder carry to profit from the portability principle to the greatest extent. Shoulder carry means the 10% rule of bodyweight applies, saying that one can normally carry with relative ease a bag that weighs 10% of oneself. Since the average weight of women in the US is around 176lbs (not kidding) and men are even higher than that, let's say that the 10% would often sit around 18lbs.

Third, most bags designed for onebagging weigh between 3 and 4 pounds (for the bag itself). So you subtract that from the allowable gross weight and you come out at around 14lbs.

Fourth, the beauty of onebagging is that you know you can ALWAYS take the bag with you into the cabin, easy in, easy out. That means you will want to use it also on as many airlines as possible. And quite a few airlines now have a weight restriction for cabin luggage sitting right around the 18lbs (8kg) point. Thus 18lbs makes perfect sense as the total weight of your one bag.


So you see, the 14lb rule of onebagging makes the entire process much easier. If you can adjust the weight of packed items down to this point, then it makes sense to think about an Airboss, Tristar or other.

Unfortunately, most professional travelers will be forced to carry some electronics and some documents with them. A really light professional load would be 8lbs. That includes a sleeve or light bag for the laptop and documents since a) the laptop needs some form of protection and b) it's not really very appropriate in many cases to show up at the client's with your travel bag used as an office bag; just doesn't look very professional. I say 8lbs are light because many briefcases already weigh 5lbs empty (again no kidding, try it out). But even with 8lbs that leaves you just 6lbs for clothes.

Sure for an overnighter that's plenty. But a five day business trip with 6lbs of other packed goods, requires a whole lot of restraint and discipline and concessions to make.

This is precisely the reason why so many business travelers and road warriors, especially in the US where there is not yet a cabin weight limit or a piece limit of 1, use one rolling bag and one extra bag.

I hope the 14lb rule establishes itself as a corollary of the 10% rule to answer the question whether onebagging is feasible for potential candidates.

Till