Uncle Dave

Its a tradeoff.

I have tipped in favor of the Air Boss for business travel and the Aeronaut for leisure travel.

I find the Air Boss easier to pack for business trips because of the slightly trapezoidal shape of Aeronauts main cavity vs. the Air Bosses rectangular cavities work better for me as my suit folds end up as rectangular shaped bundles.
Its not impossible to fit a suit in the aeronaut though, just not as easy for me.

The aeronauts end pockets are better for shoes than trying to fit them in the Air boss at the ends of the cavities.

At security the air boss wins by a landslide as the metro(or many different cases) briefcase fits right inside the center cavity perfectly and with 2 quick zips to open and close your laptop is out and on the tray and the AB is zipped back up and on the conveyer- 5 seconds max. You don't have to set it down to open it up.

By contrast the Aeronaut takes longer to open as you have to set it down, unzip the U shaped flap, then you have to open up your brain cell (when oriented for handle carry one needs to turn it around and open it and its hard to do that without completely removing the brain cell ) then pull out the PC put the brain back in cell and then set the laptop down then reclose the flap for conveyance through the x ray machine. A comparative hassle.

The aeronauts one tie down strap design "forces" you to pack items you don't want sliding around on the bottom of the bag like a suit in a packing cube (if you want the zipper facing up) The net net of this plus one cavity means your laptop bag is forced to be on top of your suits and cloth pushing down on them potentially increasing wrinkles. By contract the AB has straps on either side of the cavities and with the laptop in the center you can minize pressure on at leafs one side in you lay the bag on its side.

I like the aeronaut a lot though and find with leisure travel the cavity issue become non existent (but not the security issue) and if you are one to carry 2 pairs of shoes the end pockets in the Aeronaut swallow them with ease.

Carrying a magazine or newspaper onboard is easier with the air boss because it has an outer flap that runs the length of the bag that snaps open and the mag slips right in down.

The Aeronaut has one non zip pouch on one end, and a zippered pouch on the other but neither will fit a magazine or newspaper so you have to put them inside.

I prefer the TB strap to the Red Oxx strap (by a lot)

I like the Tom Bihn fabric better, I find my bright blue AB a bit annoying, and prefer the subtler blue of the Aeronaut, Its worth noting after years of use, I have no noticeable wear on either.

The AB uses the mammoth YKK#10 zippers (sufficient plus 150% ) which could probably raise the titanic and the little monkey fists are very nice touch.

The aeronaut uses one size smaller YKK zippers(I think #9's), still well over adequate strength wise (sufficient plus 125%), but it has a neat weather resistance rubber flange that is superior in terms of moisture resistance. Its not going to cover you if you set it down in a puddle but if you are outside in a gale it'll probably keep more water out than the AB.

I like the handles on the ends of the aeronaut, a nice touch when pulling the bag down from any direction.

They are both simply great bags.

Uncle Dave