Carry On Confusion!

As you say, this topic has been beaten to death. No one can predict what new rules or situations might come down in the future. The best you can do is buy for now.

Or buy the smallest possible bag and pack extremely light. If it is the size of a school backpack, it will probably be good for quite awhile (or until they eliminate carry-ons all-together!)

Check the international baggage weight and measurement limitations for the airlines you will be flying on.

My daughter and I each carried on the Rick Steves' Roll Aboard and each had a day back pack (medium size) on KLM.

We told them our backpack served as our purse. We had not problems.

Always check the airline specs.

There are several people concerned about this issue. Some have gone to the Tom Bihn Western Flyer as a guess at which way the airlines will go. BTW I saw on CNN where only 10-20% of baggage at JFK made it on to planes yesterday. We may have a new crop of "one baggers".

Count me as a fan of the Western Flyer. It's quite compact, well-designed, and can be worn with a sling across the body or carried as a suitcase with a shoulder strap or by the bag handle. It's perfect when I'm flying airlines with draconian weight or size policies (like Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, etc.)

I agree that you can't predict what the airlines are going to do--though the newer airplanes being designed by Boeing and Airbus have larger than current sized overhead bins, which suggest that probably carryons won't be banned. (Also, the prevalence of laptops that cannot be safely checked into hold storage means that a hard-core ban on carry-on will cause a real hullabaloo. Can't see an airline wanting to be the first to do it...) I do think that the next move will be to charge for carry-on baggage as well as checked bags...

My solution to your dilemma is to have three cases, and all currently work at least in theory as carry-on: a 20 inch rollie from Eagle Creek, my trusty ten year old RS convertible wheelless pack (which has the greatest capacity) and my new Western Flyer. I bring whichever one makes the most sense depending on where I am going and what I need to bring, and know that each of them are sufficiently rugged that they could be checked without harm to the case or contents.

If you can ditch the wheels, the convertible carry-ons, when not overstuffed, are soft sided and can shrink to fit smaller limits.

Kathy, my most recent bag purchase is a Campmor Essential Carryon. It's similar to the RS bag, but slightly smaller, thinner material, and somewhat lighter. Main point is that they sell it for only $30, so if the rules about size change, you would not be out a lot. I used it in Germany for two weeks last fall and it was very adequate. At this point I sure wouldn't invest in a several hundred dollar roll aboard bag.