Stop Buying Under-Seat Bags Until You Check These 7 Traps

If you're like me and want to buy a bag just because it's pretty online, stop. Today I'm going to test tote bags and backpacks so you know the seven features to avoid before you buy that personal item bag. To shop anything you're going to tap on the shopping sticker or the description below. Travel tip number one for all passengers is to check or google your airline's size requirements for personal item bags that fit under the airplane seat in front of you. Part one is the under seat tote bags. I'm going to show you some tiny flaws that make a big difference in some passengers. As a pilot's wife for over 24 years I have tested many under seat bags. The number one flaw is rigid fabric and the squeeze trap. If you have thick faux leather or hard case sides to your personal item bag it is not going to pass the squeeze test. Now you'll see that if you turn this travel pro one sideways it can squeeze somewhat but it is rigid on the sides. It's not a make it or break it feature but when you are thinking that some airplane seats have the battery pack or all the wires that a lot of the major airlines are using under the seat this may not give you space if it cannot squish and smush. As an alternative I would like to show you this tag along one from Kohl's. It is very lightweight and the pillow part is not a stiff fabric. It's high quality. It's very affordable as well. It's like a large purse but it can squeeze under the seat if it needs to. Another travel tip for any bag is to make sure that your personal item has a trolley strap to go over the luggage handles when you walk through the airport. This had the front zippered pocket and it has a light interior and look how wide it does open. You do have a back you do have a pocket for your laptop and it does have one zippered pocket on the inside. Many women forget to consider this very important travel tip and that is decide before your flight if you're going to wear it like a purse and then maybe harm your shoulder or if you want to use that strap as a cross body and do this test. I call it the smush and squish test. When you pack your bag make sure that it can smush and squish from the front and from both ends. If it is not you either over pack or switch bags. The number two flaw for any bag but tote bags especially is a dark interior. One travel tip is that early morning flights, late night flights or overnight flights they all will have all of the lights in the airplane out making searching for something mid-flight in a dark interior personal item really difficult and stressful and it may not bother you at all if there's a dark interior but for me that is a tiny feature that I will always avoid most of the time. See women are fickle. We need a bag for this personality. We need a bag for this type of mood. This tote bag from Samsonite is absolutely gorgeous but I want you to look at this fabric feature that I avoid. It's crunchy and can you see like on the outside how crunchy and stiff the fabric looks or appears to be that online you might not notice that but some people would not care at all because the inside is a light interior. We're looking at all the features that we care about. You get an in-flight pouch. You get zippered pockets on the inside. The zippers are excellent. You also have this added pocket in the back that is really hard to open or get to but if you're going to put just like a passport or something hide something down in there it's okay. We've got the trolley strap and then this front pocket is also like hard to get to. It doesn't open real wide. This is a tote bag I mentioned in one video and I told the brand I told BagSmart no I did not want to show it and this is the only reason why. They have these little knobs right here. You can adjust your strap height by moving the straps down each notch which I don't mean to do but I don't want them but this fabric of the tote bag is luxurious. I love it and the inside has a light interior. That's your computer area. Look how wide it opens. I mean it's fantastic if you like a tote bag like this and the feature on the front does not bother you and then you have the shoulder strap if you want to use that but I love that bag. I can't make this one pop up so I'll put it in the description below the video. The number three flaw to avoid is the hardware trap. You're going to avoid stiff and crunchy zippers. In one video last fall I showed all of my carry-on bags including suitcases and I told you that the Quince bags not their luggage but their backpacks bags were not the best at all. The zippers were hard and bulky and clunky and they scratched my skin and the airplane air is already dry enough that it really scratches and leaves a mark. Their fabric on the outside is really stiff and crunchy as well. One travel hack for backpacks that are a little too large is to choose the color black. It appears smaller just like a black pant helps your tummy or midsection appear smaller. I did buy this one. It is luxurious but see how this fabric is soft. It's not stiff. Their zippers are also excellent and this is one feature that I love and always test. It looks like an open bucket bag but it actually zips closed. It also gives you that snaps in this little organizer much like other tote bags that you would carry during the day. This organization feature is so brilliant. You've got space right there. You have a scrunchy elastic pocket here and here. Organization right here and look how deep it opens up but you're noticing one thing right? It's a darker interior so if that is a bad feature for you then you can avoid it. If you're a commuter this is a fantastic bag because you can use it as a purse later on in the trip. I just love that streamline. It does have the trolley strap and this is a sign of high quality features. It has the little feet for your bag to sit on. The absolute worst feature to avoid is an open bag that you can lose important items in airport security. That's the most important place. You do not want to lose important items but when you have it on its side in the airplane with turbulence or while you're in the lavatory somebody can go in your bag you want the zipper. If a bag does not have the capability of zipping pretty much all the way up avoid that feature. Now I'm going to show you part two. Backpacks for under the airplane seat and flaws that you can avoid. The next flaw is the oversized trap. I did not even try traveling with the foldy even though I bought it. I gave it away because it was way too big. The bento backpack does not have super smushy exterior but it can squish a little bit and it has fit under every airplane seat that I have flown out on major and the smaller airplanes from Milwaukee. Another travel hack that I learned with a backpack my black and white striped love book one is it angles down near the top of the backpack so it did not fit in there the normal way I would put it in so I turned it around so that the top went under the airplane seat first. It's just fine. You will also need to maybe change direction turn your bag 90 degrees and that'll help it go in more easily or more all of the way. My light gray love book backpack looks too large to a lot of people even though it is the 15.6 laptop version but here's the trick that I use I do not over pack it so that it can squish or smush if someone asks about it no one has ever questioned that bag size and the canvas part of that backpack is not thick and heavy canvas. The Bagsmart 38 liter backpack has compression straps on both ends of the backpack making it easy to compress if you are worried about the size if you are flying on a strict Australian airline this is a great option this backpack opens so wide and it has the little clipping capability to make it anti-theft look how wide and deep it opens for your flight and it's got several organization pockets inside it has the front little pocket that it goes all the way to the bottom and it also has the capability to lock for anti-theft the next flaw is the cheap lining this feature is what a lot of passengers do not check first and that is when you open your backpack or your tote bag that lining feels like it's loud enough for the entire airplane of passengers to hear your crinkly stiff cheap lining moving and if you keep that that liner is going to rip after use the bento bag is one of my favorite bags to fly with they are expensive but I bought it sometime this summer their lining is so it's light like I said before all of their organization is fantastic you can pack so much down in each side of their bento bag all right the next flaw is the dangling straps the Bagsmart backpack when I compress it there are so many straps hanging down and the zipper things hanging down that I hardly reach for it even though it is a fantastic bag I love this bag but I don't like all the straps hanging from it the bento bag the bento backpacks I've had three of theirs and they make it where the straps do not even dangle they are streamlined into one strap and that just bugs me about this 38 liter one it may not bother you at all okay so based on all of the bags that I have shown you for personal item use only I hope you have made a decision or you know to just keep the bag you have all right leave a comment down below and tell me which one you love absolutely from this list or if you have another one tell people about it thanks for your time you've probably said already oh that wouldn't bother me at all skip but that is why I made this video is because we all have so many different wants and needs and no way and I could do with that it's okay kind of style so that's what I'm going for