Attaching personal items to carry-on bags

[kennyj]

New guy here. I'm seriously considering getting my first TB bag - an A45. I'm not feeling the Hero's Journey, but I really dig the concept with the smaller bag attached on one end, at least for air travel. So, I've been brainstorming possible ways to attach a personal item bag to the Aeronaut, at least in backpack mode (think Co-Pilot or MB - something with relatively similar proportions to the A45 - or maybe even a packing cube.)

The first idea I had was to use PALS/MOLLE with the loops perpendicular to the grab handle, looping some MOLLE Sticks through the webbing and catching the carry handle along the way. But I couldn't find a bag that came with PALS webbing, in an appropriate size, that didn't look sloppy or tacticool. It's always possible to add PALS webbing, but it's definitely not easy for most of us.

My next idea is one that I'm still flirting with - magnets. Cut two pieces of cardboard to fit the document sleeve on the end of the A45 (or inside of the end pocket, either way) and between them, sandwich at least a nickel-sized rare earth magnet at each corner and glue together. Make another, identical piece and place it inside of the personal item bag. Use strong enough magnets, aligned properly, and the bags should stick to each other for transit (might be a good idea to tether the personal item bag to the shoulder strap lug, just in case.) When you get on the plane, a good yank should separate the two for the flight.

Has anyone else contemplated this before, or tried anything else for the same effect?

[terayon]

I haven't tried anything like what you're describing, but could you simply use a Packing Cube Shoulder Bag inside one of the end pockets?

[maverick]

Hi @kennyj! Welcome to the forum!

I understand that you're not pulled by the Hero's Journey, but I will tell you that I traveled for the first time with the Hero's Journey, and absolutely loved the detachable Top Pack. I used the Top Pack at my destination as an accessory to carry my water bottle, wallet, keys, lip balm, jacket when I wasn't wearing it, and whatever else, and it worked out wonderfully.

I had explored the idea of attaching two bags in an EDC scenario, where I want to step out at lunch with a smaller bag. And seeing how well the Hero's Journey was executed, I am hoping that we see just that from TOM BIHN in the future.

The magnet idea is very clever. My concern is that if you knock into something, or someone knocks into you, the attached bag may end up no longer attached. I have run through airports enough times where I would be nervous with that arrangement.

[kennyj]

I haven't tried anything like what you're describing, but could you simply use a Packing Cube Shoulder Bag inside one of the end pockets?

That's definitely an option, but I'm thinking of this for scenarios where that would either be too little storage, or where the end pockets might already be occupied.

[kennyj]

Hi @kennyj! Welcome to the forum!

Thank you!

My concern is that if you knock into something, or someone knocks into you, the attached bag may end up no longer attached. I have run through airports enough times where I would be nervous with that arrangement.

I'm thinking it would still need to be tethered as a backup plan. Bags or briefcases that have shoulder strap attachment points can be tethered by those points to the nearest attachment point on the A45. A short cord with gate clips going between a shoulder strap lug on each bag, or through the handles, etc. If the magnets fail, the bag will fall and just bounce around on the tether. But the idea is to use powerful enough magnets that this should be a rare occurrence.

[mcumeda]

The Hero's Journey looks awesome. I am not sure I am ready to drop the cash for one though. Your idea is great. I am sure you can use some sort of straps that you can lash together to make it work. How polished do you want it to look? You could just use a carabiner to attach the grab handles to each other.

Will you be carrying any electronics? If so, the magnetics might fry them. I think it can also strip your credit cards so you would have to be careful.

The Osprey Fairpoint 55 has an attachable day bag if you want something outside of TB.

[kennyj]

The Hero's Journey looks awesome. I am not sure I am ready to drop the cash for one though. Your idea is great. I am sure you can use some sort of straps that you can lash together to make it work. How polished do you want it to look? You could just use a carabiner to attach the grab handles to each other.

Thanks! I thought about this, but one of the issues is that the relative lack of good attachment points on the A45 - as well as most other TB bags - means that if I want the personal item to sit on top, it's either going to require a lot of straps or it's not going to stay up well. It's also going to be a real pain to set up and remove, which is my larger concern.

Will you be carrying any electronics? If so, the magnetics might fry them. I think it can also strip your credit cards so you would have to be careful.

For the most part, magnets are only a concern with hard drives. They've long ago vanished from handheld devices and an increasing number of modern laptops use SSDs instead. And for a while now, mechanical hard drives have been pretty well shielded - though I'd say it's worth switching to an SSD if you're considering doing this (it's generally worth an upgrade anyway.) Credit cards are a bigger problem. Personally I wouldn't keep any in a bag under any circumstances, but I can see this being a problem for some (ladies in particular) that don't do pocket carry.

The Osprey Fairpoint 55 has an attachable day bag if you want something outside of TB.

Cool bag, but I'm just not feeling it. Thanks for the tip though!

[AVService]

I think you could just let the 2nd bag piggyback on the A45 hanging from the strap rings with 2 straps.
The 2nd bag would hang down a side and you could easily have 2 of them like Panniers for the A45 or you couls also just strap another bg to the hand straps on the ends of the Aero.

No big deal at all me thinks?
I will have to experiment with this later.......if I remember?

[AVService]

OK Now I actually believe that the Pilot was designed just to do this in the first place!
The spacing of the A45 and Pilot strap attachments is almost identical and I can not think it a coincidence?

Sorry but both of mine are black.







For some reason the pics show up in Tapatalk where I loaded them but not on my computer?
New phone too of course,anyone have a clue?

[Mbladen]

What's it like to carry on your back?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AlaskaGirl]

I can see this being a problem for some (ladies in particular) that don't do pocket carry.

Greetings,
I'm sure it wasn't your intention to imply that ladies are at fault here. May I most respectfully point out that it's not that ladies "don't do pocket carry". Clothing manufacturers discriminate by either making ladies clothing without pockets or with miniature useless pockets. My sincere apologies for any misunderstanding.

My concern with the magnet idea is that any bag next to yours will be at risk. If I put my credit cards, thumb drives, tablet devices, electronic lock credit card style key, etc. in my bag under the seat and you put your bag under your seat, is your magnet going to wipe my data? Assuming you put the larger bag in the overhead bin, will it wipe any equipment, devices, cards, etc. in the bags next to yours? Can you guarantee this will not happen?

I ask because lots of bag makers are adding magnetic clasp closures. Even though they say it's safe for all contents placed in the bag, I've had my credit cards, credit card style room keys, and even my phone wiped. These were small magnets that were advertised as being safe.

I applaud your effort to find a solution and I hope you will share photos when you find it. Good luck! elisa

[backpack]

Maverick, your pictures show up just fine in the forum.

[AVService]

Maverick, your pictures show up just fine in the forum.

Those are my pics but somehow Maverick fixed them?
Mav,please let me know what the issue was.

[AVService]

What's it like to carry on your back?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No idea at all.

I have never carried the A45 as a backpack and much less the piggyback bag that I spent less than 5 minutes putting together for the pics.

I imagine the piggyback would need to rotate 90 degrees to carry that way but again this is about a 5 minute mod I bet.

[kennyj]

Greetings,
I'm sure it wasn't your intention to imply that ladies are at fault here. May I most respectfully point out that it's not that ladies "don't do pocket carry". Clothing manufacturers discriminate by either making ladies clothing without pockets or with miniature useless pockets. My sincere apologies for any misunderstanding.

What I was trying to get at - poorly - was that some people, whether or not by choice, don't necessarily have their wallet in their pocket when they travel. Men do it too, sometimes (particularly those with smaller frames.) As a husband, I frequently have to share my pocket space... which directly conflicts with my habits as an EDC junkie! Even when my wife has pockets, they tend to be inadequate for her needs - we both carry phablet-size phones, and even some of my pockets aren't big enough to carry one comfortably.

It would be nice if we could get past this idea that women can't be trusted with pockets.

My concern with the magnet idea is that any bag next to yours will be at risk. If I put my credit cards, thumb drives, tablet devices, electronic lock credit card style key, etc. in my bag under the seat and you put your bag under your seat, is your magnet going to wipe my data? Assuming you put the larger bag in the overhead bin, will it wipe any equipment, devices, cards, etc. in the bags next to yours? Can you guarantee this will not happen?

I used to work for one of the largest flash memory manufacturers in the world. I can promise you with complete certainty that flash memory - the type that's in your tablet, phone, thumb drive, etc. - is unaffected by mundane forms of radiation, including magnetic fields and X-rays. In fact, a lot of cases for tablets and phones have magnets now, and there are even some fancy flash drives that magnetically retract themselves back into their case.

For credit cards and key cards, unless the magnet finds itself directly up against the card and stays there, it's probably not going to be a problem. In this vein, it's probably worth mentioning that there are several metallic wallets out there that use magnetic closures safely - but the magnets are strategically placed so that their fields don't overlap the cards.

With any luck, we'll see the card companies start actually phasing out the stripes in favor of chips before too much longer, which are unaffected by magnetic fields.

Because the main bag will have magnets at the end, the field shouldn't contact any other bags. I couldn't possibly guarantee that it wouldn't happen - but it's unlikely. As long as the bag is pointed so the magnetic end is against the outside of the bin, it should be fine (adjacent bins should protect their bags, but if in doubt, try to point the bag so that the magnets face the outside of the plane.)

I ask because lots of bag makers are adding magnetic clasp closures. Even though they say it's safe for all contents placed in the bag, I've had my credit cards, credit card style room keys, and even my phone wiped. These were small magnets that were advertised as being safe.

Now THIS is an interesting point.

My wife has used several such bags without an issue. The only thing I can think of is that her bags that have magnetic closure are all of the larger variety and her wallet tends to sit towards the bottom. If your wallet ended up stuck close to the magnet, that might explain how this happened.

Another possibility is that something else that rode near or in that bag generated a magnetic field. For example, my phone case (Mophie Juice Pack Air) has several fairly strong magnets embedded in it, which don't bother the phone - even the compass works fine, which goes to show how limited the range of even strong rare-earth magnets can be. But I'd be willing to bet that if I tossed that phone into my wife's purse and it ended up laying exactly alongside her wallet, she might have a problem.

I applaud your effort to find a solution and I hope you will share photos when you find it. Good luck! elisa

Thanks!