Best Personal Item for United? (Other than a TB bag)

[capncat]

osprey’s trillium 30 duffle fits these dims aaaaaalmost exactly. it’s durable but very squishable, and can be had fairly reasonably (under $50 if you hunt even the tiniest bit). it has a zippered mesh pocket in the flap and one external zip pocket on an end, plus lockable zippers on the main compartment. if you didn’t jam it completely and utterly rock-solid full, you’d be golden. I use one of these for similar trips (and day-to-day as my gym bag). the strap is a little different, made to be shoulder-carried or crossbody across the back like a bandolier, but I really love and use the snot out of it.

as an update to this, i flew economy on united yesterday (getting ready to do it again in a few hours!) with my trillium 30 and S25.

it was full flight on an ERJ-170, so a smaller plane with only two seats per row in economy. overhead bins were already full before i even got off the jetbridge, but i was able to slide my relatively full trillium 30 under the seat with loads of room to spare. it fit lengthwise, parallel to my legs, AND sideways! fortunately, the FA set me up with a tiny open overhead spot between two rollers in an already-closed bin for my S25 (carrying work computer and steel toe boots, so....not the least bulky load; everything else was in the trillium) but i successfully tetrised both bags underseat just before that.