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Old Dec 6, 2014 | 7:39 pm
  #4  
lipoff
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15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: BOS/SIN
Programs: AA EXP/OW Emerald
Posts: 116
I have the Tumi Alpha 2 wheeled garment bag. It is really solidly built, very handsome, and has a lot of different compartments inside so everything can stay organized. The exterior dimensions are exactly 22" x 14" x 9"; it fits into almost all overhead bins the proper way, but because the two wheels are on both sides, and the wheels stick out a little bit, it sometimes has a little trouble going in easily. On an E190 it fits in just fine sideways, like other rollaboards.

It's got an interesting design, with the main compartment opening up by a wrap-around zipper. The main garment compartment is tri-fold, of course, and there are lots of straps and zippers to keep everything secure. Every bit of available space can be used with pockets and little compartments. There are several exterior pockets, but very little can be placed in them if you want the bag to fit in the overhead bin.

The wheels on this bag are on either end of the long dimension, so it rolls low and wide. On the one hand this is great if you stick a briefcase through the handle because then the weight of the briefcase is low and its not strenuous to move, and the whole assembly is very stable. However, this design also means that you can't roll it down the aisle of the aircraft, and so you have to be prepared to hold it in front of you. There are exterior handles on both the long and the narrow ends. They have thought of many little details: there's a metal ring so you can hang up the entire bag in a closet, and a special pouch inside for the metal hook that facilitates hanging, there are pockets for belts and ties, and accessories, and a removable divider in the exterior pocket to separate it for shoes, or make one larger pocket. A small ziplock bag could be easily extracted from the exterior pocket as well, and the hidden zipper mechanism comes with a TSA lock.

It's a very handsome and durable case, but it's also heavy --- almost 12 lbs empty, compared to 7 lbs for the Tumi Vapor international carry-on that I usually use. I'm not sure that a garment bag actually reduces wrinkling on suits anymore than properly packing them in a conventional case, but it certainly is convenient to take pack suits and dress shirts on hangers and take them out that way on the other end. The cost to that convenience is weight and reduced packing capacity. There is no obvious place for shoes other than in the front flap compartment --- at which point the bag may not fit overhead.

My criticisms aren't really about the Tumi per se --- more about garment bags in general. Perhaps some are lighter than the Tumi, but probably at the cost of features. In general, I prefer a slightly smaller case, and prefer a hard-sided case, which is why I don't fly with it very often. But when I do, it does its job very nicely.
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