Best Underseat Luggage to Avoid Carry-on Fees

Best For: Organized packing

Best Value

If you’re part of the crew (or aspire to be), you’ll appreciate the thoughtful features in the TravelPro Crew VersaPack. We can tell it was designed with airline staff members in mind because there’s a ton of useful organization to help you make the most of a small space. The front pocket has a spot for your phone and a leash for your keys, and the main compartment includes a quilted laptop sleeve. There’s also a removable hanging toiletry bag with several compartments to better organize your gear and plenty of space for everything we packed, with an additional 12 inches of width and 4 inches of height remaining to fill with souvenirs or a hoodie.

It’s easy to make your way through the airport, as the super beefy telescoping handle has a nice grip and moves easily up and down as long as you’re holding the button. There are plenty of places to stop along the way, but it clicked consistently into two height settings, which should work for most users. It’s easy to maneuver and rolls smoothly over every surface we tested, including thick carpeting. And if you need to pick it up, there are thickly padded carry handles wrapped in a leather-like grip that’s comfortable to carry for some time.

Top Compatible Airlines: Delta Airlines

• The included water-resistant toiletry bag is removable to hang at your destination
• You can slide a water bottle in one side pocket

• It’s designed as an underseat bag for major U.S. airlines, yet it’s still a quarter inch too deep for budget brands
• The toiletry bag is near your laptop yet doesn’t include waterproof zippers

Best For: Business Travelers

Best Splurge

If you’re an organized traveler looking for the best underseat luggage, this may be the bag for you. The Rhapsody Widemouth Cabin Spinner includes a padded pocket for your laptop and a front pocket that acts as an admin panel, with slots for your phone, cards, a pen, and an RFID-protected one for your passport or wallet. There’s an open side pocket for slim gear or a small water bottle, though the gusseted opening is not that wide. We also used two internal side pockets for shoes, but they lay flat if you don’t have gear that fits well inside. We had no issue fitting all of our gear inside, including the laptop and tech pouch, though not much space remains for anything extra, so you’ll have to pack lightly in this personal item bag. However, it has a unique system that allows another Briggs & Riley handle to interlock with the bag instead of a simple luggage pass-through, so you can pair it with a larger piece of checked luggage if you want since that's often cheaper than carrying on if you need to pack more.

This isn’t a budget buy, but you get what you pay for. The four wheels spin like a dream and are super quiet, too. It rolls easily over thick carpeting and cords, or you can drag it behind you for a smoother experience on rough surfaces. There’s absolutely no wiggle in the handle and no shimmy in the bag, though the handle sometimes sticks when you push it back down.

Top Compatible Airlines: Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines

• Briggs & Riley stands behind its lifetime warranty, so this is an investment piece that should last
• The nylon exterior and leather accents look premium

• Monogramming is free, though there’s a restocking fee if you return a personalized item
• There’s a lot of Briggs & Riley branding on the bag

Best For: Budget travelers

Best Budget

Rolling underseat luggage is a niche product, so you may not want to spend much on gear you rarely use. If you’re just shopping for one or two trips, you may want to check out the Amazon Basics Underseat Carry-On. It includes two side pockets and a small front pocket with spots for your phone, wallet, and small accessories. There’s a nice amount of padding on the wrap holding the carry handles together if you have to pick it up, which you may do to avoid using the wiggly telescoping handle. It’s easy to pull out and retracts quite easily, though it’s hard to get the handle to lock into the lower adjustment point.

There’s no laptop sleeve, but we had no issue fitting all the rest of our gear inside, with 12 inches of width and 4.5 inches of height remaining to fill. It’s pretty easy to pull the two rollerblade-style wheels behind you, even over thick carpeting and rough surfaces. However, it’s not as maneuverable as some rolling underseater bags; the wiggly handle makes it harder to push for quicker turnarounds.

Top Compatible Airlines: Delta Airlines

• It costs less than $50 at the time of writing
• The wheels remind us of roller blades and roll just as smoothly

• If you don’t fill the available space, the top can cave in
• It’s too deep for budget airlines

Best For: Fitting footwear

If you’re flying on a more permissible airline, like Delta Airlines in the U.S., you can squeeze a bigger bag under the seat in front of you. The dimensions we list for Delta are only a guide based on the underseat dimensions of 20 in X 15 in X 11 in (55 cm X 38 cm X 28 cm) on most Delta aircraft. The airline doesn’t publish its allowable dimensions but says that personal items can include briefcases and laptop bags. The Samsonite Spinner Underseater is about the size of a large rolling case, but you can fit so much more than just your laptop and tech pouch inside. We had no issue fitting our packing cube full of clothing inside, and we really like having internal side pockets because they are a perfect fit for our shoes (with the soles facing the bag, not your clothing, of course). Even after putting our weekend’s worth of gear inside, we had an extra 5 inches of height and 12 inches of width left at the top of the bag, which is enough space to add another outfit or two or a hoodie and pants if you’re traveling from a warm place to a colder destination.

The telescopic handle is pretty wiggly, yet we think where it stops at two height adjustments should work for most travelers. The spinner has four wheels that roll sideways down the aisle and excels over concrete, though we find it best to drag it behind you on two wheels when walking on thick carpeting or bumpy surfaces. If you want to pick it up, the extendable handle tucks away in a zippered pocket so you can use the carry handles instead.

Top Compatible Airlines: Delta Airlines

• It has so much space to fill
• There’s a side pocket to hold a battery bank and a built-in cord that runs to an outlet for your device

• It bounces when hitting rougher surfaces due to the wiggly handle
• The padded laptop sleeve isn’t removable for use elsewhere

Best For: Adaptability

Handles and wheels are often the parts of a personal item bag that don’t fit in the sizer, so you may sometimes wish you could take them off your favorite bag to stash it under the seat in front of you. With the Personal Item Suitcase 2.0 from Take OFF Luggage, you can! Simply press a yellow tab to pop the wheels off when you arrive at the gate, and you’ll have no issue fitting in the sizers of major budget airlines. They come off easily, although they pick up a lot of dirt, so you’ll want to pack wet wipes to clean them first or remove them with enough time left to dash to the restroom to wash your hands before boarding. Then, you’ll also have to open the bag to stash them inside. We’d recommend carrying a sling to hold them instead, but if you’re using this as a personal item, you won’t be able to bring another bag. Once you arrive, popping them back on is even faster than taking them off.

This hard-sided personal item bag had plenty of space for all the gear we wanted to bring on a trip, though it lacks a laptop sleeve, so we left tech behind. Still, there’s enough remaining space for a laptop in a protective case and a tech pouch, or another packing cube if you want to bring more clothing. We had no issue pulling out the handle, which lays flush with the top of the bag when retracted. It’s slightly flexible as we walked over different surfaces, but not too wiggly, and has two height adjustments. We liked to pull it behind us over thick carpet and other rough surfaces, though the wheels roll sideways easily and work well on smooth surfaces.

Top Compatible Airlines: Allegiant Air, easyJet, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines

• You can leave the wheels on to use it as a carry on or take them off to fit the personal item dimensions of U.S. budget airlines
• Take OFF sells accessories like vacuum compression bags and a travel vacuum if you need to bring more gear

• The lower height adjustment is really short
• You must unzip the entire bag to get inside, whether you need to pull out toiletries or stash away the wheels

Best For: External pockets

A lot of luggage lacks the sheer number of pockets we find on travel backpacks, but if they make you happy, the KROSER Carry On is for you. There are six exterior pockets, including two side pockets with gussets to hold a water bottle or umbrella, a front pocket with RFID protection for your passport or wallet, and different size pockets for quick access to other gear. There’s a separate laptop compartment that includes a sleeve for a tablet and a pocket for your tech pouch, and there’s plenty of room for the rest of our gear in the main compartment, though it fills up quickly.

When you unzip the cover to the handle, you can see the foam padding on the backside of the bag but not your gear. The handle itself is a little shaky, but it is super easy to extend, though it sometimes sticks at a potential third height adjustment on the way down. The two wheels roll easily over various surfaces, and the bag lacks the bounce we see in some other rolling personal item bags, even as it travels over cords. It’s super easy to maneuver and turn when walking quickly and easy to push out of tight spaces, though you’ll have to carry it sideways down the aisle of the plane.

Top Compatible Airlines: Allegiant Air, Delta Airlines, easyJet, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines

• There’s a well-organized admin panel in the laptop compartment, which you can secure with an included combination lock
• The carry handle wrap snaps together magnetically

• The tapered shape isn’t as easy to pack, especially toward the top
• It’s easy to overpack, so measure the depth after you fill it to ensure you don’t exceed the restrictions

Best For: Colorful choices

You don’t have to blend in with the crowd or risk losing your luggage when choosing one of the fun colorways from Hanke. We don’t judge this book by its bright cover; there is plenty more to recommend this underseat bag. To begin with, its squat, square shape fits the personal-item dimensions of many budget airlines, yet it still has a nice capacity for gear. There’s no laptop sleeve, so it’s best for travelers who will be leaving a device behind, but when you open it like the book in our analogy (sideways instead of from the top), you’ll find that there’s a zipper panel against the front side to hold your gear in place. It had no issue fitting our shoes, and we slot the toiletry bag in the zipper pocket on that panel, as it has a water-resistant lining. That leaves only our packing cube for the back half, where compression straps hold it in place. Truthfully, we can fit everything on one side or the other, so there's plenty of space to pack for a longer trip.

The plastic exterior is cute, but static builds up along the bottom as you roll through the airport, attracting dirt and lint to the wheels and the bottom of the bag. However, the YKK zippers and silent wheels seem like they belong on a much more expensive bag, so we’ll forgive the build-up or use a protective cover. The handle retracts so easily that it almost falls in after slipping from your fingers, and there are three height adjustment points. The wheels work well on multiple surfaces, though we prefer to drag it along rougher floors and thick carpeting, rolling it beside us when things smooth out.

Top Compatible Airlines: Allegiant Air, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines

• It includes a built-in TSA combination lock for security
• A PVC cover is included if you’re concerned about scratches and dirt, and you can still roll the bag and extend the handle with it on

• Compressing your gear inside leaves a loop of extra strap
• The handle channels eat up a lot of space along the back

For those who really prefer hardside luggage, fear not, as there are ones small enough to count as a personal item bag. Sporting a telescoping handle, four independent wheels, a polycarbonate body, and locking zippers, the Calpak Hue Mini Carry-On Luggage has all the hallmarks of a full-sized hardside luggage. Bonus points: it's available in a lot of colorways, so you can most likely find one suitable for your taste.

That said, the usual caveats of hardside luggage also apply here. Firstly, the polycarbonate body, while resilient to bumps and shocks, is susceptible to scratches over time. Plus, like a lot of hardside luggage, this one lacks secondary pockets on the outside. There's also no laptop sleeve, so you'll have to carry a laptop bag as well. Still, the suitcase-style clamshell design makes packing a breeze even if you're stowing a lot of clothing. There are also smaller pockets on the inside for accessories, and hold-down straps to keep gear from sloshing around. In other words, it really is like your typical hardside luggage, but in a fee-avoiding personal item-sized package.

• Hardside design offers better protection from shocks and bumps than softside designs
• Wide array of colorway options available at the time of writing

• No secondary pockets, as is mostly the case with hardside luggage
• Hardside luggage bare scratches rather noticeably

BAGSMART has a real penchant for the fluffy material they put on the exterior of their bags. We don't necessarily object to this from an aesthetic or practical standpoint; it's durable enough if you're not too rough with it. The baffles do hint of a rather roomy interior, including a front pocket for everyday carry items, and a front compartment where a laptop and its accompanying tech accessories can reside. However, while the specs say that a 15.6-inch laptop can fit in the sleeve, we were only able to fit a 14-inch MacBook.

Inside the main compartment, we're a bit taken aback by the loose liner material, though it's not baggy enough to impact the way we pack too much. The layout is pretty standard, with a large pocket on the lid side, and a main bucket space on the other side. The lid-side pocket has a waterproof PVC material, which is handy if, for whatever reason, you really need to store leaky or damp gear on the trip home. Meanwhile, the main bucket space is roomy enough for two packing cubes, and the compression panel also doubles as a pocket in case you need to store more accessories.

• Roomy front pocket and compartment
• PVC waterproof pocket is handy if you really need to stow leaky or damp gear

• Though the brand claims a 15.6-inch laptop fits, we were only able to accommodate 14-inch laptops
• Liner material is rather loose for our liking

A premium price tag is almost always a given with TUMI. Whether their gear is worth the price is up to you. Among their lineups is the stylish Voyageur line, which takes the edge off the steep price with premium details and appropriate aesthetics. The Voyageur Leger Compact Carry-On is no exception, with its slick exterior fabric, leather handle, and very smooth rolling wheels. The handle even fully retracts into its own zippered compartment, so that it doesn't stick out distractingly.

But what about practicality? There's a roomy front pocket for your everyday carry items, and the main compartment opens fully clamshell-style. While you can pack the main compartment like a regular suitcase since it can spread open, you can also engage the gussets at the sides so that it's limited to a V-shape. This is particularly handy for when you need to take items out in a hurry while preventing the entire compartment from fully opening. Trust us, it's a really useful feature while you're on the move, such as when you're at the airport.

• V-shaped gusseted opening is very handy when you just need to take something out while you're at the airport
• Details and build quality feel appropriately premium

• Pricey, as per the usual with TUMI gear
• Re-attaching the gussets after packing takes time and effort