Folks, I need some ideas. Here's the situation:

First, I definitely have an odd job. I used to be an airline pilot, but like many airlines mine went out of business in 2008, and I wound up working for a private individual from the middle east, flying a very luxurious worldwide version of the B-737. It's a very good job, but naturally it has some associated problems.

Since there aren't many folks who would work all year long on the road we have two complete crews, and every five to six weeks we swap out . . . wherever in the world the jet happens to be parked. Usually it's in Europe, but it could be anywhere.

So far this sounds like a glamour job, and though it pays well and we do have some opportunities for sightseeing, the actual work part of it is much more tedious than one would think. Often we'll fly all day and night, stopping just long enough to get some rest, then back at it again. And we can go for weeks that way. Sometimes we're parked in a great city like Madrid or London for weeks on end, and the only complaint becomes a lack of new sights to see.

Anyway, due to the nature of this job I need to pack enough to last six weeks, from underwear to razor blades and toothpaste since there are times we don't stop long enough to find a drugstore or mall. And in the middle east you can't get a lot of the things you take for granted in the states.

I have a large suitcase with three uniforms and everything else to last me. My last crew swap was in Paris; I arrived after a 40 hour trip from Honolulu, only to find my suitcase had gone missing. This was a panic situation since everything down to uniforms was in the lost bag.
Fortunately I carry a small bag with a change of clothes, but once I hit the ground I've got to be ready to fly, and in the case of a lost bag it may never be reunited with me because we may never get back to that place again.

This was a disaster. I spoke to Lufthansa and got a claim started, then went to the CDG airport hotel. The bag was located--that's another story: with an eight hour stop in SFO United missed transferring the bag to Lufthansa for the flight to FRA--but the following day, before the bag arrived, our principals were ready to leave, and I made them late waiting for my bag to come in. These are not people who want to be kept waiting, and it was made very clear that it better not happen again.

So. . . what I've come up with from now on is carrying two suitcases, splitting everything in half, so that I at least have one uniform and one full set of "civies" with me. But two suitcases are hard to manage because pilots carry flight bags as well. Mine is small, but it's one more thing to carry. We call it the "bag drag," constantly packing up all our stuff and moving. There are porters of course, but much of the time we wind up at little hotels in out of the way places like Ibiza or Shannon and we're on our own, dragging what seems like a ton of stuff around.

I'm open to any suggestions to help me solve this. The lost suitcase has happened to everyone in the crew, and many times the suitcase follows us around the world and either never gets reunited with its owner, or winds up by default being sent to the home address on the tag, which is useless for the five weeks you don't have it. There have been gals who simply bought new clothes as they went, which wasn't very much fun or very satisfactory, and guys who wound up not coming out of the cockpit because their uniforms were MIA and they were in jeans and a dirty t-shirt and looking for clothes all the way around the world. This is the second time it's happened to me, but it was pure luck the first time that we were in Miami, and I was fortunate enough to be able to run to a mall and buy some clothes. To substitute for uniform shirts I just used short sleeved white shirts without epaulets. I got some funny looks, but I got by.

One of the engineers carries two suitcases. He has to carry a bag full of manuals with him and it's a difficult shuffle, but that's been his solution after the airlines lost his bag.

What I'd love to find is a rollaboard that I could pack half my stuff in and once I got my big suitcase (half full), I could collapse it and put it inside the big one, or somehow attach it without a lot of difficulty.

Does anyone have a similar problem, and if so a solution? Or anyone have any ideas?

Any creativity at all will be greatly appreciated!

Any place on the plane you could permanently stash an extra uniform and a couple of shirts? So it would be there even when you weren't working. Sort of Like leaving an extra outfit at your "office". Maybe both sets of crews should get together and create some sort of emergency stash to use when their own stuff goes missing.

If it's really that critical to have your bags, then they should not be sent as checked luggage. You should be shipping those bags by FedEx or UPS or whatever.

Important stuff should get shipped by companies that actually care and take responsibility for the items under their control.

I am in somewhat similar situations; I fly for weeks at a time, often changing climates several times during a trip. I can't follow the FT mantra of 'carry on only', which tends to be the Monday out/Friday back type of flyer. I'm in locations and situations which may range from smart business casual (not the American version), to formal business attire. I may be in the jungle one week and in a formal office in London the next.

I carry enough in my 20 inch Travelite Delite and Longchamp flight bag to make it through a week or more if required with no checked bag. That means a full change of clothing, extra tops/underwear/bras, essential makeup and toiletries, tights, 2 laptops, and other essentials. In your case it would mean adding the flight bag but subtracting some of the clothing I carry, so doable.

Worst case I know how to supplement by online purchases if absolutely necessary. Shopping local for clothing/shoes just isn't an option for the very tall, large footed woman in parts of Asia, for instance.

I have a rollaboard that fits inside my checked suitcase - the checked suitcase can then expand by several inches (unzip a zip)to hold the extra clothing / weight of the other bag. Presumably you have no weight / size issues once on assignment. The carry on bag itself expands - when expanded it isn't legal carry on size for any airline I know of, but it is very useful in a destination when I need to make a side trip by train etc. and don't want to lug my larger case with me (but a regular carry on size doesn't quite cut it). My bags are Delsey.

just have him buy you new stuff.

That's the first thing I thought of. Surely a 737 being used as a private jet would have space to stash an extra suitcase for every crew member on both crews. Or even just extra work uniforms and essentials for the crew members.

If not, have at least one work uniform in your carryon when you are flying to the crew exchange point.

Since the OP used to fly for an airline, he's seen the LuggageWorks rollaboards, but not everybody knows that they sell extra clips that you can have sewn on to another bag.

So the rollaboard can carry the flight bag on the j-hook, laptop bag or backpack on the top against the handle, and a large duffle bag clipped on the top and resting against the flight bag. So everything is one unit instead of dragging around two.

As far as what to pack, I'd consider dumping things like cotton t-shirts in favor of Under Armour, ExOfficio, etc. Clothes made out of technical fabrics are much more packable in addition to being easy to wash in a sink if needed and way more comfortable. SmartWool lightweight merino wool socks are great, too.

I can't see why the plane couldn't have extra uniforms stored aboard.