Backpack options: fitting under airline seat

[FowlersFreeTime]

Here is the situation:

My usual travel backpack is a 30L Peak Design Everyday Backpack. Typically I carry the A6700, Tamron 17-70, Sony 30mm Macro or Sony 10-18mm, and a Manfrotto pixi tripod. sometimes I carry a laptop. The bag can hold more camera gear, but I always need to leave space for other odds & ends I need to carry as a father of a 2yr old princess

The reason for the thread: it annoys me greatly that the bag does not fit well under a standard airline seat. I fly fairly often, sometimes as many as 8-10 flights per year, and it gets old fighting for overhead bin space for my backpack.

Wife has a Nomatic 20L Travel Backpack (not the camera specific kind) that she doesn't use. It fits well under an airline seat and the straps are more comfortable than the PD bag. It does not have camera shelves/dividers so maybe I need to get a small camera cube like the PD Camera Cube V2 in extra small.

What do you think? stick with the 20L option at my disposal? I'm open to other backpack suggestions in the 20-25L range.

 

[Unframed Dave]

Is very simple.

I always travel with my wife, I pop my biggest lens in my bag, along with my sweets, headphones, tough phone with good battery life, tunes, podcasts etc, a book and a magazine if we're changing continent. The rest, I slip into my wife's case the morning we fly.

She never notices. She's too busy worrying about her fluids bag (which has all my essentials in it).

 

[Richard A]

A 30L backpack is pretty big. I wouldn’t expect it to fit under a plane seat. My “big” bag is a Lowepro Flipside 400 backpack & I wouldn’t expect that to fit under a plane seat either. It is 20L. In the past I have used ordinary backpacks with the inserts from a camera bag. It might be worthwhile giving that a go.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Given our recent flying experience, most airlines don't check at all! We saw some serious piss taking going to and from Spain. My Manfrotto, which is literally on the borderline of size for carry on, was never checked and was way smaller than most other bags. They tagged it as under seat luggage.

 

[iamdlewis]

My 30L bag fits under the seats fine. You can generally find the measurements of the bags so as long as they are not wider or deeper than what the carryon size is you will be fine.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

My 30L bag fits under the seats fine. You can generally find the measurements of the bags so as long as they are not wider or deeper than what the carryon size is you will be fine.

If I don't pack it to capacity, I can squish it a bit and make it fit somewhat. I guess I just need to downsize so I don't have to kick/force the pack under the seat. I always worry about the camera, lenses and filters when I do that. So when I fly for Thanksgiving I'm going to use the 20L backpack with a cube. I told wifey not to give me as many useless things for the kid, and in turn I will limit myself to only one lens (well, we'll see about that hehe).

I guess everyone here carries more gear than me (bigger camera bodies, more/larger lenses) and we all have different experiences traveling with gear.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Given our recent flying experience, most airlines don't check at all! We saw some serious piss taking going to and from Spain. My Manfrotto, which is literally on the borderline of size for carry on, was never checked and was way smaller than most other bags. They tagged it as under seat luggage.

Part of me wishes the airlines were more stringent with carry-ons. It would make boarding sooo much easier. Then again, those restrictions are fluid and I can't be buying new carry-on suitcases every other year. I can't wait to get back to the point of checking all luggage except for a backpack. And so the game continues: we pay higher prices for airline travel, to get on board quicker to get first dibbs on overhead bin space and less amenities in-flight.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Part of me wishes the airlines were more stringent with carry-ons. It would make boarding sooo much easier. Then again, those restrictions are fluid and I can't be buying new carry-on suitcases every other year. I can't wait to get back to the point of checking all luggage except for a backpack. And so the game continues: we pay higher prices for airline travel, to get on board quicker to get first dibbs on overhead bin space and less amenities in-flight.

See I hate that people are allowed to put their bags on in any bin other than the one above where they sit. It causes utter chaos when you get off. I paid for guaranteed cabin luggage, but it ended up nowhere near me. That annoyed me a lot. Were it above the seat you are on, disembarking would be smoother and quicker. People are too eager to get off

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

See I hate that people are allowed to put their bags on in any bin other than the one above where they sit. It causes utter chaos when you get off. I paid for guaranteed cabin luggage, but it ended up nowhere near me. That annoyed me a lot. Were it above the seat you are on, disembarking would be smoother and quicker. People are too eager to get off

hahaha If you hate people too eager to get off plane, never fly to/from Jamaica; my people will trample you in an effort to get off first. I'm not even exaggerating either! I get out first to block the aisle so I can assist my wife and child and shield them.

As for guaranteed cabin baggage, I use American Airlines "Main Cabin Extra" which guarantees you overhead bin space, seats behind business class, and a free alcoholic beverage. If other airlines have a similar tier of service, I'd continue to pay for it.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

hahaha If you hate people too eager to get off plane, never fly to/from Jamaica; my people will trample you in an effort to get off first. I'm not even exaggerating either! I get out first to block the aisle so I can assist my wife and child and shield them.

As for guaranteed cabin baggage, I use American Airlines "Main Cabin Extra" which guarantees you overhead bin space, seats behind business class, and a free alcoholic beverage. If other airlines have a similar tier of service, I'd continue to pay for it.

British people do the same. The airlines could so easily solve this.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

so I don't have to kick/force the pack under the seat. I always worry about the camera, lenses and filters when I do that.

I'll never recover from my mental picture of this. Application of hefty boot to bag. Breakage noises. "Damn I hope that wasn't a GM"

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

To update this thread, here was my solution. As you can see in the first picture, the 20l Nomatic backpack has a slightly lower profile than the Peak Design 30l behind it.

• Galaxy S23+
• 5.4 mm
• ƒ/1.8
• 1/120 sec
• ISO 500

Then I put in a small Mckinnon camera cube:

• Galaxy S23+
• 5.4 mm
• ƒ/1.8
• 1/24 sec
• ISO 1000

• Galaxy S23+
• 7.0 mm
• ƒ/2.4
• 1/30 sec
• ISO 1600

Managed to fit two lenses and the A6700.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

But how did it work in real-world application? Well... mixed results. The backpack now fits under the seat better, but depending on where the assigned seat is, there can be a chair support in the way, limiting the width of available space.

• Galaxy S23+
• 2.2 mm
• ƒ/2.2
• 1/15 sec
• ISO 3200

THIS bugger (on the left) really eats into underseat-storage:

• Galaxy S23+
• 5.4 mm
• ƒ/1.8
• 83337/1250000 sec
• ISO 2000

Overall, I think this is the backpack for me for now. Bonus: more comfortable on my back than the Peak Design backpack.

 

[iamdlewis]

Yeah the airlines tell you that X size bag will fit under seats except that they are putting more stuff under the seats. My new bag MindShift Gear BackLight 36L is the same size as my carryon suitcase, which I have fit under a seat, but gives me pause as I wonder if it will all the time. I guess the worst that happens is that I will be on the plane and discover that one of my bags will need to be moved the hull.

 

[Unframed Dave]

We are being conned by the airlines once again chaps. The area under the seat is for your lower appendages. In all seriousness, my wife has always shoved stuff under their because her pins only just reach the floor, the rest of us are making an uncomfortable experience worse by allowing them to do this to us.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

We are being conned by the airlines once again chaps. The area under the seat is for your lower appendages. In all seriousness, my wife has always shoved stuff under their because her pins only just reach the floor, the rest of us are making an uncomfortable experience worse by allowing them to do this to us.

I get what you're saying. Thankfully I was able to use the space under the seat in front of my kid (her feet only dangle over the edge of the seat), leaving the little space in front of me free for my legs.

 

[kepano808]

FWIW... Generally, most 30L are too big for under seat usage while a 25L should fit. That said, you need to look at actual measurements because some companies say "30L" and really it packs like a 25L. Throwing it out there, a reg backpack & insert might be a better way to go. Carry camera gear and kiddie items. Recently, I took a trip to Asia and this is exactly what I did. I used a reg 23L backpack (although it packs more like a 25-26L). For "insert" I use a 5 liter camera shoulder bag (held A7Cii 28-60 attached and 2 small primes, filters, cards, etc. + Osmo Pocket 3. I stuffed this into the backpack and had lots of room for clothes, headphones, etc. I wanted the flexibility to just carry a camera somedays.

 

[iamdlewis]

Really it depends on what is going on under the seat in front of you (and how long the flight is). Usually I board with one of the earlier groups (CC status) so there is generally overhead space available for my carryon suitcase but there have been times when things go less well and I have found that the max size carryon will fit under the seats as long as it isn't being taken up by one of the randomly placed entertainment system controller units.

Those bag inserts don't really work for the telephoto lens. The 200-600 only fits in the large size ones and in the 'small' size you can fit the 100-400 but not with the body attached (you can the 70-200 but that 1/5" or 5mm is the difference between very tight fit and can't fit). Once you get into those medium sized inserts they really get awkward with backpacks

My bag selection will be in the future my Mindshift 36L for the big photo centric trips as with this bag I can get all the gear I'll need for the trip into just it (exact dimensions of largest carryon allowed). I have a small 15L day bag that I can pack with essentials and plane stuff with of course the big suitcase being checked. My 30L Manfrotto will be used on trips in which I also take the carryon suitcase as these are most likely not really photo trips and this bag fits under the seats but still offers some foot room.

• Galaxy S23 Ultra
• 6.3 mm
• ƒ/1.7
• 416/10000 sec
• ISO 800