Bellroy Transit Carry-On Plus Review

Sure, one bag travel is the goal, and if you like to carry everything in a large travel backpack, we’re here for you. But that doesn’t work for all travelers, and some really prefer packing into rolling carry on luggage or a suitcase and carrying a smaller bag as their personal item. There are a plethora of suitcase options out there, many with the same style of compression straps or panel, minimal internal organization, and wheels and handles that function on a sliding scale of awesome to aww shucks.

But now, Bellroy has entered the rolling luggage game, with the Transit Carry-On, the Lite Carry-On, and the subject of this review, the Bellroy Transit Carry-On Plus. Will the brand’s take on suitcases be as unique and useful as we’ve come to expect from the brand, or will it fall short? We were excited to pack up the largest of the new offerings to find out. And just to keep you reading, we’ll give you a little spoiler: these carry-ons are definitely different in a good way.

External Components

Let’s start on the outside, where you’ll find a combination of familiar features with some unique touches.

This hardside luggage has a polycarbonate shell, which isn’t surprising, but it’s 80% recycled, which is different. It looks and feels just like the polycarbonate we’ve handled on tons of other bags, so you’re not losing anything with this nod to sustainability, and we’re here for it. On the other hand, it also suffers from the same problem as other polycarbonate bags, namely the fact that it has acquired a bunch of smudges and fingerprints during our testing period, some of which we can’t account for. Short of taking a beauty shot of your suitcase, though, we don’t think this should bother you.

The lowercase Bellroy logo is printed in small letters on the front of the carry on, giving it the same style as most other Bellroy bags, which is nice, especially if you’re rocking your favorite Bellroy Venture Ready Sling 2.5L to carry your small travel essentials as you make your way through the airport. You’ll want to pair it with something like that because the Transit Carry-On Plus doesn’t have any exterior pockets or compartments; everything is in the main space. No problem—that’s why we have slings and travel daypacks with luggage pass-throughs.

On the top and the right side (as you look at the front of the bag) are carry handles to help you heave the bag into the overhead bin or pull it out of the trunk of your vehicle. They’re woven fabric instead of plastic, and they have some nice cushion and flexibility to extend and retract as you grab them.

Here’s where Bellroy veers off from the rest of the pack: whether you store your suitcase in the steaming hot attic space above your garage (where we can tell you from experience that foam cushion begins to deteriorate) or a handle gets snagged on the conveyor belt because you were last to board and had to gate check your bag, you don’t have to worry that your bag is broken. And you don’t have to live without it for weeks or months as you file a claim, send it back to the company, and wait for them to fix it. You can fix it yourself.

That’s right! Bellroy says that the woven grab handles, along with the telescopic handle, wheels, TSA lock, and removable packing cells (more on those when we get inside) can all be removed and refitted by you, dear reader. You simply call Bellroy and tell them what’s happened, and they will send you a DIY repair kit, for which you do not need special tools, just a hex key that they will provide. They’ve also extended their 3-year warranty to 6 years on all bags and warranty these carry-ons for a decade. Now that’s innovation, if you ask us.

While we’re on the subject of parts, let’s chat about the rest of the pieces to this fun travel puzzle.

It opens with a YKK zipper that has two pulls that click into a TSA-approved built-in lock on the right side. Then, you don’t have to worry about it becoming unzipped in transit or anyone rifling through your gear.

The telescopic handle features Bellroy’s bird logo on top and fits your hand nicely as the bag faces away from you, whether you’re rolling or dragging it. It has a button on the bottom that you press to extend or retract the handle, which stops at three points. It clicks easily into place at each of its stopping points along the way and then falls like the Tower of Terror if you let go, so you don’t need to use any effort to push it back in. You can see the channels where the handle travels on the outside of the bag, which is fine or meh, depending on your aesthetic preference, but Bellroy says it did that to shave off precious space and weight. We’re getting used to it.

Now we come to arguably the essential component to rolling luggage—the wheels. There are four sets of two Hinomoto Lisof Silent Run Wheels. We have no complaints, as they roll quietly, turn smoothly, and generally perform well. They are attached to reinforcement points on the carry on and don’t indent too much into the bag, which you’ll appreciate when it comes time to pack things up and when rolling over rough terrain.

And now the sticking part of a bag with the moniker, Plus. It’s over the carry on size limits of nearly all airlines we compare measurements against. In the U.S., Delta Airlines is one of the most permissible, so you may still be able to roll it on board and put it into the overhead compartment. We have no doubt that it will fit fine, as it’s the same size as many other carry on suitcases, but it is technically 0.8 in (2 cm) too tall, 1 in ( 2.54 cm) too wide, and 0.6 in (1.5 cm) too deep. Take that how you will, but be sure to be prepared for a gate check request by keeping your most essential (medication) and expensive (tech and jewelry) items in a personal bag that will fit under your seat.

Fit Notes

Whether you’re tall or small, you should be able to find a handle height that works for you on the Bellroy Transit Carry-On Plus. The first stopping point is perfect for our primary tester on this bag, but she’s a just-at-or-below-average user at 5-foot 5-inches. That means that taller users will be happy with the next two adjustment points if they want to roll the bag on four wheels next to them, and any user should be able to use any of the points to drag the bag behind them on two wheels.

It rolls well over smooth wood or cement floors, tile, and low-profile carpet and transitions easily to being pulled when you hit high-pile carpet or cobblestones. Since the handle drops so quickly, you can switch back and forth between the telescopic handle and the carry handles when you encounter stairs or an escalator without holding up the people behind you.

Since it has four wheels, it stands upright on its own when packed. It is rectangular with no protruding parts, so it’s well-balanced. You can use it as a footrest as you wait at the gate if you want. Or use the super flat top to hold your cup of Starbucks; it’s wide enough to do so, and that zipper is water-resistant in case of mishaps.

Inside The Carry On Luggage, etc.

As we mentioned, the Transit Carry-On Plus doesn’t have exterior compartments, so it’s time to head inside the suitcase.

It opens fully clamshell to lay flat, with each side exactly half of the carry on. However, it looks a little different than similar carry-ons, mostly because it includes packing cubes, which connect to the bag. That’s right. Bellroy has included what they call “packing cells” on the back half of the roller bag, with a small and a large cube that perfectly encompasses the space. They take the place of a compression panel or straps that we’ve seen on other bags, but you can use them to keep gear in place if you don’t want to use them as actual cubes.

However, when given free (or included) cubes, why wouldn’t you use them? These packing cells are made with recycled polyester and have mesh on three-quarters of the front so that you can see what’s inside and the clothing can air out.

There are two toggles on the top and bottom of the large cube and at the top of the small cube, with matching loops to insert the toggles against the top and bottom of the carry-on and on the bottom of the small cube. That lets you create a panel of cubes and ensures that nothing slips around in transit. Each cube has a dual-headed zipper with orange cords woven through the metal pulls for easy location and grabbing.

The cubes are quite spacious, and we used the Transit Carry-On Plus to pack for a 10-day land and sea trip with no issue. Your mileage will vary, as our tester is a woman traveling in the summertime, but hopefully, what we fit inside will give you a good idea of how the bag will work for you.

We put four T-shirts and two tank tops in the smaller cube, although we could have squeezed in more. However, it worked better to stick our remaining tank top and two T-shirts in the larger cube, where we also packed four dresses and a cover-up.

Underneath the cubes, however, is a bunch of wasted space. This is where the telescoping handle comes up into the suitcase. Savvy travelers who know how to pack a suitcase know what to do here, though, and we do, too. We used the channels to hold socks, underwear, and swimsuits, bringing everything up to meet the bottom of the packing cube.

On the front half of the suitcase is a panel that zips fully shut so that you can open and close the bag without anything falling out. It has a mesh pocket on its front that runs the entirety of the panel and is good for holding slimmer gear. In our tester’s case, that was a slim pair of flat travel shoes. We had no issue putting them here because there was the mesh from this pocket and the mesh from the packing cubes in between any remaining dirt and our clothing, although we did brush them off before stashing them inside.

When you unzip the panel, you reveal the remaining half of the bag, unencumbered by any protruding handles. That provides a great space for any remaining clothing—in our tester’s case, five pairs of shorts—a toiletry bag, and another pair of shoes. If your toiletry bag is smaller than our tester’s admittedly massive one, you could use the space for a travel hat, a tech pouch, or whatever else you want to bring along.

We were pleasantly surprised by the space and organization in the Bellroy Transit Carry-On Plus. Many companies purport to innovate on the carry-on theme, but Bellroy has actually done something different. And if you prefer to use your own packing cubes, nothing is stopping you. But we think you may want to take advantage of Bellroy’s custom cubes for no other reason than the fact that they perfectly fit the space. They’re not any better or worse than other packing cubes we’ve tried. While they lack compression, there’s a great chance you’ll be able to pack anywhere from 5-10 days in here without the benefit of compression, depending on your needs, so we definitely think it’s worth checking out.