missouriraider

A luggage question: I travel weekly, domestically. I usually have about 30 lbs of luggage and clothes total. I have mostly used rather cheap luggage which lasts about a year at a time, tops. I've been looking at polycarbonate luggage but haven't come to grips bout buying one yet. What I don't seem to understand is that looking at these, the side you put your clothes in doesn't have straps that you can pull down tightly to deep your clothes in place. The straps form an X in the bag but don't seem to me to pull down tight enough to keep things in place. Seems to me you would get to your destination with a wad of clothes in the bottom. Am I wrong? What am I missing.

NeverFirst

Edited to add: I re-read your post and realise that you didn't mention Rimowa at all. My apologies - in my mind I just see "polycarbonate = Rimowa"

First of all, with a suitcase which is reasonably packed (not too much free space) I have never had an issue with slippage as you describe (even before my Rimowa days with similar ABS cases).

Secondly even the most inexpensive "Salsa" line comes with a packing divider which is an unattached divider with pockets in (useful for keeping dirty underwear, or perhaps papers). You can see it on the right-hand side of this image (just the first relevant image I found on Google images).

As you go up in the Rimowa range(*) you then have multiple packing dividers (I think they call them "flex-dividers"). In the Salsa deluxe range, at least, I'm pretty sure you have two such dividers and can use one on each side.

(*)I'm not 100% sure that the "Salsa Air" line has these dividers, they may have been omitted to save weight but I think that's unlikely.

cordelli

Welcome to Flyertalk.

Straps add weight and require attachments to the side of the bag which eventually break. Many of the polycarbonate bags are a shell and they leave it up to you to pack.

Personally, I don't find straps all that useful, unless it's to tighten stuff down to get more in in which case nothing is moving around anyways.

That being said, there are quite a few bags out there that are polycarbonite and have straps or dividers.

Samsonite, Rimowa, Tumi, even some of the no name discount brands at Overstock have straps. You just have to look around for them or maybe step up from cheap luggage.

RobCH

I'm guessing that lightweight shell suitcases could be put under a fair amount of structural stress by cinch straps, and deform or crack if they were over-tightened, so that may be why simple elasticated webbing is preferred.