How to avoid the bulging bag syndrome on Travel Bags

[backpack]

Specifically the Aeronaute and the Tristar.

I have packing Cubes and Travel Stuff Sack and I wonder if I should use the inner Straps or not?


Any experience shared and tip provided will be very much appreciated!

[Fat Crip]

In a word, no. Certainly not with the cubes.

In the Aeronaut I use the straps to hold a couple of large organiser pockets with business papers, before putting two cubes 'loose' on top, then my lap-top. However, if I'm bundle packing, as I've done for 30 plus years before I had cubes, I use the straps. It does mean that you get a bit of space top and bottom, and it can be a problem with RyanAirs's 20c.m restriction, so care and thought are required. As it happens, I find that using only one or two large organiser pouches as a 'core' to the bundle makes the right flatish shape for this.

With the Tri-Star, if you pull the straps tight, it turns barrel shaped as it pulls the top and bottom together. So, unless you have something really rigid in there, that is also at least as tall as the straps are apart, I wouldn't use them. Having said that, I do put them round my packing cube, but not tight, just as a belt and braces approach. I haven't tried bundle packing the Tri-Star, but, if your bundle is tight enough, and the right rectilinear shape, then the straps would probably be excellent. With cubes though, the main thing is to pack them as 'square' as possible... think Lego bricks rather than bundling, making sure you fill the edges as much as the middle. If your cubes are rugby ball shaped, don't be surprised if your Tri-Star is too.

[backpack]

My airline has a 5 mm less width than the Aeronaute, I got both the Aeronaute and Tristar in Dyneema, I can use either for myself.
What would you recommend?

I don't bundle pack I cube and zip plastic bag pack, Lego or Tetris style.

It seems that my husband is not getting the concept of weighted luggage and I might have to check his bag (lucky I didn't give all our non TB bags away)

If he bugs me too much, I use "the duffel", that stuff can hold two Aeronaute easily.

[Frank II]

The first key to non-bulging bags is to not pack too much.

I use packing cubes and I use the internal straps. Since the cubes/plastic bags you use are not rigid, the straps may help to compress them just enough to make that 5 mm difference if not then some. (Remember, the Aeronaut is not rigid; it can easily make most airline width restriction if not packed to the gills. ) Take a look at the photos for the Aeronaut fitting into most airline sizers.

The same goes for the Tri-Star. If you pack too much it will bulge out. But it you sensibly spread things out and use the straps to help, you probably won't have a problem.

Of course, the best thing to do is practice packing both bags and see which you prefer. Try it with the straps and without. Every person packs differently so every person's results will be different.

One other thing...when using the straps think of a horse. When you put a saddle on a horse, you want the straps just tight enough to keep the saddle in place. Too tight, and you turn it into a bucking bronco. The internal straps of a bag should be tight enough to keep the items in place and compress them enough to not have wasted space. Too tight and suffer the consequences.

[ceb]

I use the straps in both the Aeronaut and the TriStar just to keep the cubes from shifting. Like our friend FC said, if you pull them too tight then the bag turns fat in the middle.

I use a packing cube and a folder in the rear most section of the TS and the straps just hold everything in place and the plastic boards in the folders also help keep the shape. I can easily get three days worth of guy stuff (3 pairs of Dockers type pants, undergarments and sleeping wear) in the packing cube and three shirts and a couple of polo shirts in the folding packer.

[TavaPeak]

For Tristar, I use a compression bag approx the interior size of the large outside section (on the side by the backpack straps). I put 2 stacks of folded clothes side-by-side inside the bag, and compress the air out. Then I just fold the edges of the bag to fit inside that section. That keeps the clothing in a more narrow rectangular shape. It makes better use of Tristar dimensions for me than the Tristar full-size packing cube.

I'm not an ultra-light packer, so this is one way I can finesse the Tristar for what I need. Compression bags aren't ideal for keeping clothes wrinkle-free, but they work well for with Tristar, especially when I'm staying in one hotel.

[BJ Nemeth]

I have one of the early models of the Aeronaut (perhaps my favorite bag of all time, in Hunter Green), and it doesn't have the compression straps. But I don't miss them at all, and don't think I would ever use them.

I had never used packing cubes before buying I bought my Aeronaut, but I love them. Makes packing (and unpacking at my destination) so much easier, and really helps the Aeronaut keep its shape, which makes it less "sloppy" to carry thru airports and such.