Virgin Atlantic carry on bag 13lbs

I'm going to be dealing with this restrictive limit when I head to the UK for two weeks in June. I have a convertible weekender bag and will need to be creative with my packing. I find a lot of synthetic fabrics/materials are pretty lightweight. I will also be using a ScottEVest (SEV) to carry all my electronics (i.e., cellphone, camera, iPod Touch, USB charger), in order to lighten my carryon bag. I've been able to pack my bag with enough clothes for 5 days (will need to wash twice) and the total weight (including a pair of shoes) comes out to 12.8lbs.

Brent has a good idea to wear a travel vest. We are flying Icelandair this summer, and they have the same restriction. I might just use that idea- I doubt they'd make you take off a vest for them to weigh.

First, let this be a lesson to everyone to know the weight limit of your airline, and know it's acceptable, before buying tickets.

Secondly, with a limit of 13#, you shouldn't need a wheeled bag (I know, some people claim they have a bad back and can't carry anything heavy). If you go with a lighter bag, like the Outdoor Products Essential Carry-on (1¾#) you could get in 11# of stuff and still be under the weight limit. Or, if you limited yourself to the 7# of stuff you could carry with the wheelie, you could be under 9# (and really not need wheels).

Is a backpack considered a purse or carry on luggage. I'm still trying to fit everything. Thanks all
Joanna

Yes. Anything you are "carrying" is part of the limit. However, they don't usually count what you're "wearing."

Iceland air has the same restriction. Here is what we do;

We use the Rick Steves backpacks for our clothes. It is very light empty, and a weeks worth of summer clothes in the bag (no extra shoes and nothing else) is pretty close to a total of 13lbs.

They absolutely do weigh the bag!!

We then each have an additional carry-on "personal" bag (like a purse, computer case, messenger bag or even a very small shildren's-style backpack). In these bags we put things we will need for the plane trip, as well as anything else that is heavy, like electronics, liquids and toiletries. While we are waiting for boarding, we return the liquids, toiletries, and anything else we won't need in the next few hours to the main bag to be stowed overhead, and only keep the essentials by our feet.

Often our "personal" bag, which they don't bother to weigh, is almost as heavy as the main bag, until we get past the check-in and swap some of the items.

Personally, I would avoid trying to use anything that looks like a backpack for your personal bag, even if it's small. A large purse for women or a messenger bag for men would be better.

I haven't flown Virgin Atlantic, but I have flown Air New Zealand which has the same 6 kilo limit. They don't weigh "personal items," but they do limit personal items to purse-like or small laptop bags. In fact, on their website, they show a picture of a large, stuffed laptop bag--not qualifying as a personal item--and a smaller, slimmer laptop bag--ok as a personal item.

I got away with a tote-style women's purse, in which I had all of my heavy electronics-small laptop, noise cancelling headphones, and camera--my liquids and gels bag, and my guidebook and other papers, leaving only clothing for my main carry-on.

I'd think twice about whether I needed the wheeled bag if possible. I do appreciate that for some, carry-on without wheels isn't really an option. (Believe me, when I tore my rotator cuff, I couldn't have carried a backpack style carry-on no matter what. So I do understand that not everyone is lucky enough to have the physical ability to go wheel-less.) But for those of us blessed with the choice, you get to tote along a bit more stuff and stay under the guidelines.

Thank you all for your help! Looks like I'll be wearing special pants and vests with loads of pockets. I'll really look like a tourists!! Gotta go London is calling! Joanna

I flew that flight last week. They didn't weigh my carry-on either in London or SF and my weighed closer to 20lbs. It was all camera gear and a laptop.

I had the same issue with Virgin last year, and again just this month with Singapore Airlines, who only allow 7kg carry-on. In the case of Virgin, I successfully argued that since I only had carry-on luggage, I was a much lighter passenger than everyone else on the plane, but the tactic didn't work this time, and I had to check my roller bag.

Just wanted to add that my husband and I successfully did a Rick Steves City Tour in Rome (plus we added a few days in Paris and London) with just our carry-ons on Virgin Atlantic! I blogged about it at my Travelite site ("The Ultra-minimalist packing list: How I packed for Europe," at http://www.travelite.org/?p=90) in great detail so you can see how we did it. Enjoy!

Here is a way to reduce some of the weight of your carry-on. Scottevest. They sell travel vests and jackets with a huge assortment of pockets, even one specially made to carry an iPad. http://www.scottevest.com/index.shtml