How to choose your suitcase for a plane trip?

Before organizing a trip abroad, and arriving at the airport to take the plane to the destination in question, it’s essential to have a suitcase, or even several. One thing’s for sure: choosing the right suitcase can be a real headache if you don’t know where to start looking, or how to find your way around so many different suitcases.

Choosing the right suitcase: different sizes

In your search for the ideal suitcase for air travel, you’ll come across a range of suitcases referred to as rigid cabin suitcase, flexible weekend suitcase or rigid large-format suitcase. Some people may already be familiar with these terms, but for others they may represent a question to be answered. Rigid and ‘supple’ describe the finish of the material: we’ll explain everything in detail below.

This video can explain it more:

Choosing a soft-sided suitcase

Lighter, easier to carry and also more compact, these are all the benefits of soft suitcases. Although they are versatile and can be used for train or car travel, they are often not recommended for air travel. The problem lies in the great flexibility of these cases, which results in limited protection for your belongings, since they lack the rigidity to better cope with impacts, scratches and other potential rough handling.

Suitcase sizes, ideal for air travel

Cabin suitcase, weekend suitcase, large suitcase. Before you take your suitcase on the plane, there’s one thing you need to know: there are different sizes of suitcase, a necessary detail since it determines whether your luggage will follow you into the plane’s cabin or end up in the hold.

Weekend suitcase: More commonly known as the medium suitcase, the weekend suitcase is slightly larger than the cabin suitcase: a good thing, then, if you want to store more belongings. What’s more, this is the suitcase to choose if you’re going away for a short period of time, such as a weekend: this type of medium suitcase exists in both soft and hard formats.

The type of destination

Here’s the question: how does my chosen destination affect my choice of suitcase? The answer is simple: not all suitcases are suitable for all destinations in terms of temperature.

If you’re heading for tropical or colder climates, you’ll need a rigid suitcase, especially one made of polycarbonate or Curv, which can withstand extreme temperatures. If you choose to go against this recommendation, there’s a good chance that your suitcase will suffer, as it will be neither suitable nor sufficiently waterproof. So if you choose a soft suitcase for a very hot or very cold country, you can be sure that it won’t come out unscathed, and that it will be difficult and time-consuming to maintain.