NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast - Pack Smarter, Save More: Expert Tips for Efficient Travel Packing to Overcome Luggage Hassles

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

Get expert tips on how to pack for travel efficiently and effectively, including clever ways to save on baggage fees. How can you keep luggage costs down during holiday travel? What are the best strategies for managing carry-on luggage, especially for international trips? Hosts Sean Pyles and Meghan Coyle discuss efficient luggage management to help you understand how to save money on baggage fees. They begin with a discussion of minimizing luggage costs, with tips and tricks on rolling clothes, borrowing essentials from family members, and sticking to a carry-on bag. Then, travel writer Jessie Beck joins Meghan to discuss effective packing techniques, including the benefits of using smaller bags to prevent overpacking, creating a versatile travel capsule wardrobe, and dealing with potential issues like gate-checked bags and delayed luggage. They also cover the importance of miniaturizing items such as wallets, using airline apps and AirTags to track luggage, and understanding airline compensation policies for delayed bags.  Check out NerdWallet’s roundup of the 16 Best Travel Credit Cards of September 2024: https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/credit-cards/travel  In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: travel tips, holiday travel, packing light, carry-on luggage, minimalist packing, efficient packing, luggage costs, baggage claim, travel capsule wardrobe, international travel, gate-checked bags, airline apps, AirTags, delayed luggage compensation, travel credit cards, lost luggage, winter travel packing, sports trip packing, travel sized items, packing strategies, holiday season travel, airline policies, carry-on only travel, luggage fees, and luggage tracking. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [e-mail]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend.

Are you really bringing all that? Do you need everything in that bag? Are you sure? Couldn't you do with just one pair of shoes instead of, oh, six? Well, if not, you're probably going to pay a pretty penny for luggage when you're traveling over the holidays might as well just get an economy ticket and be able to be a little bit more flexible. I think that's the most important thing for me. If I did have to make a last minute change, I can do that penalty free. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. I'm Sean Piles. And I'm Megan Coyle. And this is episode three of our nerdy deep dive into holiday travel and the costs therein. Megan, I know there are plenty of folks out there who are strict carry-on-only travelers, and I am one of them. I've not checked a bag in over a decade. Wow, so you're one of them. Okay. There's a lot to be said for that strategy,

as long as you can live with fewer choices. And there's a whole cottage industry around figuring out the best ways to stuff small suitcases and even wear multiple articles and long as you can live with fewer choices. And there's a whole cottage industry around figuring out the best ways to stuff small suitcases and even wear multiple articles and layers of clothing on the plane so they're not even in a bag. I have not gone that far yet. I mostly try to roll my clothes as tightly as possible so I can still have options while fitting everything in my carry-on. There are multiple reasons to restrict yourself like this, though. One is that your luggage will never be lost. Oh man, remember that period a couple of years back

when people were losing their luggage all over European airports? Yeah, what a nightmare. When you go carry-on, there's no losing your bag, no worrying about stuff getting stolen out of it. Another benefit to carry-on only is that you don't have to pay usurious fees to check your bags. You could put a kid or two through college for what it costs to have your bag fly in the cargo hold. I exaggerate a little bit, of course, but honestly, the fees are pretty bad when you add them on top of airfare. And choosing your seat and your airplane snacks.

Yeah, I mean, I'm carry-on only for two main reasons. The first is that I am impatient. I do not want to wait a baggage claim to collect my suitcase after I spent however many hours traveling. And two, I tried to be in control of my own destiny as much as possible. So handing off my bag to some airline and hoping it gets to my final destination is just not how I roll. And yes, that's a suitcase bun. I'm also a carry-on type of person most of the time. I hate waiting at the luggage carousel after a flight. I want to be at my destination already. John, not everyone can smush everything into a bag that fits in the overhead bin or under their seat, especially in the winter. And that includes holiday travel. I mean, if you're going anywhere with the possibility of snow, ice, frigid temperatures, you've got to have the boots, you've got to have the sweaters, you've got to have the puffer coats. Or if you're escaping in the tropics, I don't know, maybe you need 40 sets of swimsuits. Whatever the reason, if you're a bag checker, we've got some tips for you to try to bring the cost down.

All right. Well, we want to hear what you think too, listeners. To share your ideas and experiences around holiday travel with us, the good, the bad, and the insanity, leave us a voicemail or text the Nerd Hotline at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730-NERD. Or email a voice memo to podcast at nerdwallet.com. Megan, who's talking luggage with us today? Our guest today is Jessi Beck. She's a San Francisco-based travel writer for afar, a travel magazine, and she's done plenty of packing and unpacking in her career. And she'll share her knowledge of all things baggage.

That's coming up in a moment. Stay with us. Jessi Beck, welcome to Smart Money. Hi hi megan thank you for having me so tell us what are your travel plans this year for the holidays oh that's a good question for thanksgiving my husband and i are going back to the east coast to visit family but for christmas we're taking advantage of the fact that we both have a lot of PTO around that time. So we're going to go to Japan. Yeah, see the family another time when it's warmer. Oh my goodness, that sounds incredible. Have you been to Japan before?

Actually, we're going back to a hotel that we stayed in in February 2020, right when the pandemic was starting in Japan. So really excited to go back and say hello again. Well, let's get right into it. How much luggage are you taking with you for each of those trips? I am a pretty avid carry-on only packer. And actually that last trip I took to Japan in the winter to ski season, I only did with a 40 liter backpack and a small purse as my personal items. Okay, how many coats were you wearing on the

airplane? One very large coat and I was very hot. Are you going to do the carry-on only for both your domestic trip and your international trip? Yes, definitely. And I think it's almost a little easier when you're traveling to visit family because, you know, I've got a sister-in-law I can borrow clothes from. They'll have extra hats and mittens and all those kinds of things. If you forget your toothpaste, family will step in. Sports or ski trips can be a little bit more trickier to stick to the carry-on luggage. And tell us exactly what kind of bag you're using for these carry-on only trips. You know, I've always wondered how big the backpack cohort is in terms of luggage enthusiasts.

I've always used a travel backpack. I really love how much easier it is to move around the world with a backpack. I know some people will like disagree with me because they're heavy and all that stuff. For people who don't normally travel with backpacks, can you tell us like what is the difference between a travel specific backpack and just the backpack you use to carry your laptop or to go to school or work. Oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing. But when I first started traveling a lot in college and right after I was using this massive hiking backpack that I just kind of found in my parents garage. And it was like one, it was way too big. But it's also really difficult to get access to anything within the bag because a traditional hiking backpack is top loading. So you'll usually see the opening of the backpack at the top of it. Maybe you'll have a zipper at the bottom to be able to access things at the bottom of the backpack. But a lot of travel specific backpacks will have a clamshell opening. So they're opening a little bit more similarly to a suitcase. And

that makes it a lot easier to open your bag and see everything that's inside it without having to like take all the stuff that's on the top out. And a lot of them will also have some additional like pockets and organizational features. And some of them will also design with carry-on restrictions in mind. So they're really trying to keep it under that 40 liter limit. Yeah, one of the features I really like about my travel backpack, I have one from Dagny Dover, is that it has the sleeve on the back of it so that it can very snugly like fit over your carry-on rolling suitcase if you decide to do both backpack and suitcase. I really love that feature. So let's get back to your travels. How much is that going to cost you to travel backpack only?

For just the luggage, I will not be spending anything to bring a bag with me on either flight. I've noticed, and this is purely anecdotal, I almost never have my bag gate checked when I'm wearing a backpack. So if there's any other backpackers out there who have had a different experience, I would love to know. But I'm like operating under this theory that backpack people don't get gate checked as often as suitcase people. Not only I'm not spending any money, but I generally keep my luggage with me. For people who are going to take a carry-on bag or checked baggage, how much would you say they need to budget for bags if they're

traveling for the holidays this year? In terms of price for checking a bag? Yeah. Or even bringing a carry-on in some cases. That's true. Some airlines are now charging for carry-on bags. I always do that calculation as I'm booking the ticket. For example, I've tried basic economy a total of one time. Okay. And I was like, okay, I'm a light packer. I can do this personal item only. Visiting a friend in Chicago in the summer, easy, no problem. Got it. But I think for like most scenarios beyond that, the things you're losing by going from

an economy ticket to a basic economy ticket don't make that savings worth it. And especially if you want to bring a carry-on bag, like once you add on the cost of paying to have a carry-on bag on that basic economy ticket, you might as well just get an economy ticket and be able to be a little bit more flexible. I think that's the most important thing for me. If I did have to make a last minute change, I can do that penalty free.

Whereas you can't do that with a basic economy ticket. It definitely varies by airline. You're probably going to end up spending somewhere between like 30 and 50 each way. Definitely do that calculation and that math before you book your ticket because if you're traveling with a bunch of luggage, basic economy is not the way to go. I totally agree. And it makes it hard to compare prices when you're looking at basic economy versus economy versus budget airlines. There's so much you have to add up before you make your choice based on price.

I wish Google Flights had an easy feature where you could add all of that up to the total price of your ticket so you can see the actual cost of your ticket is going to be. But in short of that, you know, a simple spreadsheet works. I'm super nerdy. I love a spreadsheet. Same, same. Tell us what has happened to bag prices this year.

If people haven't traveled since the last holiday season, they might be a little surprised when they do go to check out and see the bag fees. that I was really excited to see is some airlines are now considering sporting equipment like bikes as just a regular bag, whereas previously they were not. So that's something that I encountered recently this summer when I was traveling with a bike. I had traveled with a bike previously on United Airlines and they were charging me $200 each way to fly with this bike. And I was like, that is ridiculous. Yeah, I mean, that could be more than the ticket in some cases, I would imagine. For domestic at least, I switched to Alaska Airlines when I was traveling with a bike because they always treated bike as regular luggage so long as it stayed under 50 pounds. But recently, United changed their rules as well. So they too are now qualifying a bike as regular luggage. That's probably the one change I've been paying attention to the most because that's pretty much

the only time I ever check a bag is with a bike. One story I've been following this year was bag fees not only went up across several airlines, and it's a pretty nominal amount like Delta, United, American, Alaska. All of those airlines raise their bag fees by like $5, in some cases $10. There's a difference between if you check your bag before you get to the airport when you're booking your ticket or if you wait until you're literally at that kiosk checking in and you add a bag there. But the one that interested me the most was that JetBlue even added peak and off-peak pricing to their bags. So get this. They basically published a set of dates for peak pricing for your bags where your bags will cost $5 to $10 more than their normal pricing. Of course, the peak pricing is during the holidays.

Yep. If there is a way to, like you said, visit your family and borrow some toothpaste, I would say if you're flying JetBlue, this might be a good time to try it out. What are some other ways to save on bag prices? You brought up one good point, which is that some airlines will charge you more if you're paying at the airport versus paying for your checked bag in advance. Again, like not a ton of money. No one's going to hate on saving $5 or $10.

Credit cards are another good way to save on checked baggage fees. If you have airline branded credit cards, you can check that bag for free. And that's a good option if you travel often. If you're only traveling once or twice a year, I don't know if airline branded credit card is really the best option. But if you are traveling frequently and you have that, that's something to look into. Or if you're traveling with other people, try to consolidate. So you're only checking one bag between the two of you or something. There's a bunch of ways to get creative and just minimize how much you're

bringing or checking with the airlines. And it has so many benefits beyond just saving money, right? If you have just one bag to worry about, it brings you so much peace of mind in other ways of traveling as well. Tell us a little bit about your travel history and when this idea of being team carry-on only really started to resonate with you. It's been a process. I started by reducing from that 65 liter to buying a 45 liter backpack. And I traveled with that for quite a while, including when I was in the Peace Corps. That's the main luggage that I brought with me, along with a day bag. And then in my two years in the Peace Corps, I actually tried to minimize even further, mostly because in the country where I was at, Madagascar, you're mostly traveling by

bus. And if your luggage cannot fit in your lap or under the seat in front of you on those buses, it goes above the bus, which normally wouldn't sound like such a bad idea, except it's not covered. And if it rains, your luggage gets wet. I ended up with a soggy bag full of clothes and was like I'm never doing this again I'm just going to bring two outfits next time I travel because they're going to stay dry and we're never doing anything on the roof. Yeah oh what a bummer to have soggy luggage. I know. What is your packing strategy then to be able to fit everything in such a small

bag? It can be intimidating to try and go from a lot of luggage to a very small amount. So just start small. Try to reduce what you're carrying by maybe 10 liters, 5 liters. And some of the strategies that I found really effective, the first one is get a smaller bag we all have this case where if our bag is bigger and we have extra space we're gonna fill it I was traveling with a friend to Portland over the weekend and she had exactly that scenario she packed everything she needed for the weekend and then she said she had half of her bag empty so she decided to start throwing in some extra sneakers and some extra towels and all these things that she didn't really need just because she had the space. I think that's a really good forcing function is get a smaller bag. Don't give yourself the opportunity to pack those things you don't really need in the

first place. And that can be a really helpful place to start. It's like when you have a smaller dinner plate and you don't fill your plate as much because there's just less space for it. Yes, so true. I think there's probably some psychological reasoning for all of this. But yeah, definitely noticed it works. What else are you doing? And what is a must pack for you in terms of your carry on? So the other two things I do, one, I miniaturize or bring a travel sized version of everything. I've even taken my giant wallet and gotten a super small travel

friendly wallet. It seems like a small thing to just go to a smaller wallet. But when you do that across a bunch of different items, you can get from a medium sized bag to a small bag worth of things. The other thing I do is I do a travel capsule wardrobe. So this is taking that capsule wardrobe approach, but travelizing it instead of 30 items of clothing for your full season, which is what a lot of capsule wardrobe enthusiasts will recommend. I'm focusing more on 10 to 12 items of clothing, plus your PJs, underwear, and no more than two pairs of shoes. I think that's a big one too. Oh, the shoes take up so much space. And it's so hard to choose just two shoes. I know. It really is. Let's get to what happens if your bag does get gate checked, you get separated from your bag somehow. Are there any things you do to give yourself some peace of mind so you know you'll get your bag back or be

able to locate it? Number one thing, always download the airline app. Even if it's an airline that you don't fly very frequently, always, always, always download that app before you go. They can provide a lot of information and services just through that app on your phone. A lot of airlines will allow you to track the status of your bag through their app. Just, you know, whenever the barcode on that tag is being scanned on your luggage, it's going to update in the app. It's going to tell you where it is. If you have a connection, it'll tell you if your bag made the flight with you. Another thing that other people like to do is putting an air tag or something similar in their luggage just to be able to see that location. I do that with my bikes just because those are really expensive and I want

to make sure that they're not getting lost somewhere. And that's definitely a nice way to keep peace of mind with your luggage. What are some airline policies around compensation for delayed or checked bags, just in case something does happen to it? What should customers know about getting some sort of reimbursement for that? I know there's more than one, but definitely Alaska Airlines. And then I think it's Delta. Both of them will compensate you if your bag is late. I think a lot of people don't know this, which is a super nice tip to keep in mind. If it takes more than 20 minutes to get to the carousel, you can write in and get some miles as compensation for that bag being late. And I forget what Delta's policy is. I think it's 2,500 miles if your bag doesn't show up in 20 minutes. So yeah, very

similar. Exactly. And that's a decent amount of miles just for being like, oh, my bag was 10 minutes late. And it takes you a couple of minutes to write in and say, hey, my bag. Exactly. And that's a decent amount of miles just for being like, oh, my bag was 10 minutes late. And it takes you a couple of minutes to write in and say, hey, my bag was late. Can you compensate me? I think a lot of people don't take advantage of that. I agree. It just takes that one extra step of looking up the online form, but then it's an easy way to get miles. At least you got a little something for waiting at baggage claim for so long. One other tip I always like to remind people is that your travel credit card might also have some lost luggage or delayed luggage reimbursement. This doesn't

really help in the moment when it's happening and you're like, where's my bag? But it could help you get reimbursement for anything new you had to buy. If they actually did lose your luggage, you might be able to get reimbursed for any valuables in your bag. Something to keep in mind that you should try to book your travel with a travel credit card that has those kinds of protections if you have one. Yeah, that's a really good one to keep in mind. Jessie Beck, thank you so much for helping us out today. Yeah, of course. Thank you for having me. It was great speaking with you. Jessie's experience of downsizing her packing is something that I can really relate to. I will admit that I'm a recovering overpacker, and historically, I tried to cram as much as possible into my suitcase. But over the past year or two, I've gotten much better at selecting just

a couple staples that I can mix and match. I may have fewer options on the whole, but it kind of helps me get creative. I'm basically doing a less intentional version of that whole capsule wardrobe thing that you and Jesse talked about. And I found that my suitcase is lighter, which makes traveling easier. And I also just have more room for souvenirs from my travels. I think the real lesson here is that you do have options and you can take little baby steps to become someone who travels light. And sometimes you just have to make those decisions based on who you are. Some people are fine wearing the same clothes day in and day out for a week-long holiday stay. Others want a new outfit every day plus room for shopping. We say

you do you, but definitely look into some of the ways to cut down on those baggage fees through credit card benefits or other means. Agreed. As long as you're prepared for the possibility that your luggage could end up hanging out somewhere in an airport or even in another country without you, well, then it's up to you to take that risk. Me? No giant suitcases, no problems. And then I have more money to spend on margaritas. Luggage fees versus margaritas. Is that what this has come to? I'll join you. Megan, tell us what's coming up in episode four of the series. Next time, we're going to focus on people traveling internationally, either for holidays or any upcoming trip abroad, and what you should know about traveling with your debit and credit cards. Plus, how to save on getting local currency.

As long as there's a mobile signal, you can now use a card in a lot of situations where you previously couldn't. That means you don't have to carry as much cash, which is obviously safer. And credit card purchase protections cover you from fraud in case you swipe the card in the wrong place. For now, that's all we have for this episode. Do you have a money question of your own? Turn to the nerds and call or text us at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730-NERD. You can also email us at podcast at nerdwallet.com. And remember, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeart Radio to automatically download new episodes.

This episode was produced by Tess Vigeland. I helped with editing. Claire Soose helped with fact checking. And a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help. And here's our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances. And with that said, until next time, turn to the nerds.