Packing Methods

Packing a single carry-on bag for air travel involves more than just what you pack. To be successful, you must select the right bag and know how to pack well. This article focuses on packing methods and organization, rather than bag selection.

Whichever bag you decide upon, be sure to check that it meets the restrictions (size, weight and dimension) of your airline well before your scheduled travel. You don’t want your careful packing to be all for naught as you attempt to board the plane bag in hand.

Start by identifying what you need to pack.

Travelers with Mobility Issues

More than a few times now I’ve sat next to passengers with mobility issues who have had to suffer the humiliation of having their assistive devices placed far beyond their reach by a flight attendant after the passenger is seated. Imagine, able-bodied friends, how you would feel if you had to wait for someone to get your cane from the overhead bin when you wanted to make that trek down the aisle to the back of the plane. And good luck getting anyone’s attention if the beverage cart is making its rounds.

Traveling with Your Laptop

Keep your laptop in a neoprene case and stow it under the seat in front of you for easy access during your flight.

Stowing your Luggage

With more people carrying on their luggage these days, it’s important that everyone be courteous and stow luggage as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Often the first folks of the plane (those “window seaters,” who are often leisure travelers) just toss their stuff into the bins without a thought as to whether anyone boarding later will have luggage space.

To maximize space in the overhead bins, stow suitcases width-wise and not length-wise, which will add at least one more roll-on back per section. After all the big bags are up, then lay your coats or jackets on top, where they’re less likely to become wrinkled if the plane hits turbulence and the bags shift.

Look at this waste of space I encountered of a recent flight. If the owners of these bags had turned their bags in the other direction, there would have been room for another bag. In the end, there was room, because I got up out of my seat, turned the bags, and helped an elderly passenger put her bag in the empty space.

Packing for a Business Trip

Just because the economy has tanked . . .

. . . doesn’t mean you’re not going to travel.

In fact, now that many of us are trying to economize, short get-aways can take the place of longer, more expensive vacations and prove to be even more relaxing. Knowing how to throw a few things in a bag and still have all you need, or taking just one bag as carry-on and avoiding extra baggage charges is a great skill. And let’s face it, watching the baggage carousel go ’round at the airport has even less entertainment value than watching dryer at the laundromat.