It was only $40 anyway

After nearly 8 years of dedicated service, my Samsonite carryon finally gave up the ghost this weekend. Historically, I’ve been a big Samsonite brand whore when it comes to luggage. It’s a little odd really, in almost everything I buy, I know that brand doesn’t really matter, and that usually the off-brand/generic stuff is just as good as the brand name equivalent*. But when it comes to luggage, there is something about the thought of a ripped zipper causing the whole thing to pop open, exposing my Jetsons boxer shorts to the general populace. Thus my desire for something a little tougher than average and my extreme brand loyalty.

But in this case because I flew back into town Sunday night and am flying back out tonight on another business trip I didn’t have time for my usual trip out to the outlet mall to visit the Samsonite store. So I stopped by Marshall’s after work hoping that they’d have a Samsonite carryon, which they usually do. But of the three they did have, one was missing it’s inner lining and the other didn’t have shoe pockets. Shoe pockets are important for guys because unlike women’s shoes (which are typically small and pack easily) men’s shoes take up a lot of space and shoe pockets help keep them in place.

So given that none of the Samsonite stuff was looking good and I had a flight the next day, I looked over the other bags, trying my best to find something that would at least work for this trip. And what to my wondering eye did appear? But a bright red carryon that was the right size, with shoe pockets and ball-bearing wheels, plus a little pocket on the side that zipped open to hold water bottles while walking through the airport! The only unusual thing was that it was an American Airlines brand. Now, I’d never heard of or seen AA luggage before, but apparently it does exist. Who knows why, maybe this is luggage that is only issued to pilots and top American executives!

If so, I wonder if I show my carry-on to the pilot when I board he’ll let me drive the plane. Not in the air of course, but it’d be fun to taxi it around on the tarmac while we’re waiting due to a ground stop. After all, I fly through O’Hare – there’s always a delay in one direction, at least.

* e.g. breakfast cereal, prescription drugs, OTC drugs,