Our Travel Experts Weigh in on the Best Underseat Luggage of 2023 (2024)

Great for family and business travel, this underseater from Samsonite has helpful features such as a laptop sleeve, mesh zipper pockets for toiletries and a USB port to charge your phone (power bank not included). The bag has two wheels to make rolling it through the airport a breeze. If you choose to bring a checked suitcase or carry-on too, it has a luggage sleeve, so you can slide it over the handle of your larger bag.

When we tested suitcases from this collection in the Textiles Lab, Samsonite's abrasion-resistant polyester showed no signs of wear. The telescopic handle on this suitcase easily adjusts to your height, and our testers have repeatedly given the brand's handles high ratings for feeling sturdy and comfortable to grip. Some users did note that the bag looks a bit dated if you prefer a more modern style.

For under $60, this two-wheeler underseat carry-on has all the same clever features as much pricier models. With a USB charging port, plenty of organizational pockets for toiletries and smaller items and an extending telescopic handle, it's an incredible value.

We love that this affordable pick is made with a high-denier-count polyester and that it has accessible front pockets for airport essentials like your phone, boarding pass and ID. Thousands of online reviewers say the bag is perfect for shorter trips, and users appreciate that the softside material is flexible, so you can really stuff it with everything you need. It's too small to fit a laptop over 12.5 inches, but some reviewers say it's a great size for their iPads and tablets.

Travelpro was founded by a pilot who wanted to design luggage for airline personnel who are constantly on the go. Super lightweight and designed with tons of easy-access outer compartments, the Maxlite 5 underseat bag is a great pick for a jet setter. When you unzip the main compartment, you'll find a removable toiletries organizer that can be hung on a closet rod or in the bathroom, and there's a padded sleeve for a small laptop or tablet.

In our evaluations, luggage from this line proved to be super durable and aced our abrasion and drop tests. We also appreciated the ergonomic handles and smooth zippers. This bag comes in nine neutral and bold colors including basic black, trendy pink and the featured sage green, and you can even buy the entire collection for your own complete set. A few online reviewers noted that the luggage sleeve on the back of the bag doesn't work with larger checked suitcases that have shorter telescopic handles but shared that it fits nicely on carry-on-sized bags.

Cute and compact, this pick from Calpak's Ambeur collection is a great option for someone who doesn't want to sacrifice fashion for function. The hardside bag is made with a durable blend of polycarbonate and ABS that comes in trendy metallic shades like rose gold and silver. It performed well in our drop tests, experiencing no major dents or damages, but it did show some scuffing.

Bags from the Ambeur collection were dubbed the "tester favorite" in our Textiles Lab evaluations. Testers highlighted the comfortable grip on the telescopic handle and smooth rolling spinner wheels. The bag opens into two packing compartments: one open space for bulkier items and a zippered compartment for secure storage. There are also plenty of additional pockets to organize your smaller accessories and toiletries.

If you love to shop on vacation or load up on gifts to bring home to friends and family, you know the struggle of trying to cram everything into your carry-on bag on the way home. With this compressible duffel bag, you won't have to worry about where to put all of your new things. It zips completely into itself, morphing into a small square that takes up barely any space in your suitcase. You can easily pack it on the way, unzip the bag to fill it up and slide it under your airport seat for the trip home.

More than 4,800 Amazon reviewers have given this bag five-star ratings, highlighting how surprisingly spacious it is and sharing that they can't travel without it. Because the bag is so lightweight, it isn't as sturdy as some of our other picks and some online reviewers wish it had more structure. We still think that at just $17, the bag is a great value and a must-have for over-packers.

Convenient to carry around and small enough to stow away under your airplane seat, a travel backpack makes for a great personal item. This particular backpack has a whopping 89,000 reviews on Amazon with an average 4.7-star rating. We appreciate that it's equipped with a padded laptop compartment, tons of smaller zippered pockets, a built-in USB port (battery not included), mesh water bottle holders and a luggage strap to keep it secured to the telescopic handle of a carry-on bag.

Online reviewers have taken this sleek bag everywhere from an international adventure to a work conference, and many say they wish they would have bought it sooner. One caveat: Some reviewers note that the zippers can be a bit difficult to use, especially when the bag is packed full.

This chic mini weekender from Beis has gone viral and for good reason. The compact bag is full of features to keep your things organized like a padded laptop sleeve, a key-ring strap, a luggage sleeve and a separate shoe compartment. There are metal feet on the bottom to protect the base and keep the bag upright, and the bag is structured, which gives it a nice shape. According to our testers, the sturdy design "makes it easier to rifle around in."

During our packing tests, we were able to fit an impressive amount of clothing, accessories and toiletries inside — enough for a weekend trip. However, when the bag was completely full, we did find the zippers to be difficult to open and close. When our testers tried the full-size version of the bag, they felt as though it was too bulky and preferred this mini style, which is super lightweight, the perfect size to fit under your seat on a plane.

The Patagonia Black Hole is our pick for the best overall duffel bag and has been acing Textiles Lab tests for years. This 40-liter version is large enough to pack your essential items but small enough to use as an underseat bag, as long as you don't stuff it to the brim. (It's a little wider than some airline personal item requirements.) Unlike most duffels that come with a shoulder strap, this one features carrying handles that can be converted to backpack straps, making it easy to tote around. We love that it compresses into its own pocket so you can easily store it away when you're not using it, but we found it a little difficult to compress.

The bag is made with recycled polyester ripstop material and is coated in a TPU-film laminate, so it's water-resistant and super durable. Plus, the outside of the bag is covered in daisy chains to attach extra gear, making it a great option for someone who is adventuring to a national park or hiking trail.

At the Good Housekeeping Institute Textiles Lab, we test luggage of all kinds, including underseat suitcases. We test the luggage in the Textiles Lab using our standardized equipment and share the bags with consumer testers who are able to try them out on their own travels. Although we haven't tested all of our best underseat luggage picks, we were able to use our former testing data and relative expertise when making our selections. When we do test luggage in the Textiles Lab, here's what we consider:

✔️ Size and weight: This is especially important for an underseat bag, so we check the size and weight of each piece of luggage to ensure that the dimensions listed online are accurate.

✔️ Abrasion and water resistance: For softside luggage, we measure abrasion resistance by cutting a swatch of material from the bag and then placing it in our abrasion machine (pictured here), which rubs the material back and forth 15,000 times to simulate long-term use.

To evaluate water resistance, we place blotting paper sheets beneath a suitcase's zippers and pour water on top of the zippers. We weigh the blotting paper to determine how much water has seeped inside. The more the paper weighs, the less water-resistant the suitcase is.

When you're shopping for a new personal item to fit under an airplane seat, here are a few things to consider:

✔️ Type: The type of underseat luggage you choose comes down to personal preference. These are some of the common styles:

• Duffel: A compact duffel typically has one open compartment for packing and carrying handles for easy toting and is great for a more adventurous trip. However, they usually don't have wheels, and you'll need to make sure you don't overstuff your duffel to ensure it fits under your seat.
• Rolling bag: This style is ideal for someone who doesn't want to carry around a bag and prefers the ease of using a suitcase with a telescopic handle and wheels. Essentially a miniature version of a larger carry-on suitcase, a rolling underseat bag typically opens into one or two small compartments with lots of organizational mesh pouches and zipper pockets. Plus, they tend to feature easy-access outer pockets for essential items.
• Backpack: Backpacks are a great option to throw over your shoulder and go. They often have separate compartments for a laptop and other electronics and are full of pockets to organize all of your things. And they're versatile, so you can bring it to work, carry it to class and tote it around your vacation destination.

✔️ Material: Most underseat bags are made of a softer material that's easy to squish and shove into a small space, but there are some styles made with hard materials.

• Softside: Soft suitcases, backpacks and duffels are typically made with synthetic materials like polyester and nylon. Nylon is super durable and water-resistant, so it can withstand regular wear and tear. Polyester isn't as strong as nylon, but it tends to be lighter weight, and bags made with polyester are often more affordable than those made with nylon.
• Hardside: If you opt for a rolling bag, you'll find that some of them are made with hard materials like ABS or polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is the most popular material for hard luggage and is lightweight and durable. ABS is even more lightweight than polycarbonate and tends to cost less, but it is less durable. Some bags use a blend of ABS and polycarbonate, which combines aspects of each for a bag that's more durable than ABS on its own but not quite as durable as solid polycarbonate.

✔️ Zippers: If you have the opportunity to try your bag out in person, we recommend opening and closing the zippers to see if they run smoothly along the track or if they're difficult to use.

✔️ Charging capabilities: Some underseat luggage styles come with built-in USB ports and the option to add a battery to charge your phone and other electronics while you're on the go. You'll need to make sure your battery meets the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulations.

The size restrictions for a personal item or underseat bag vary from airline to airline, so what works for you on one trip may not work on another. Here are the personal item guidelines from popular domestic airlines in 2023:

• American Airlines: 18 x 14 x 8 inches
• JetBlue: 17 x 13 x 8 inches
• Southwest: 18.5 x 13.5 x 8.5 inches
• Spirit: 18 x 14 x 8 inches
• United Airlines: 17 x 10 x 9 inches
• Virgin America: 17 x 10 x 9 inches

Amanda Constantine joined the Good Housekeeping Institute in 2022 as a home and apparel reviews analyst. She has covered all kinds of luggage, including the best hardside bags, softside suitcases, duffels, checked luggage, carry-ons and backpacks. Amanda tests the bags in the Textiles Lab and works with consumer testers for real-world feedback and uses her relative expertise when making picks for the best underseat suitcases.

Emma Seymour is a senior textiles product analyst in the Good Housekeeping Institute Textiles Lab. She’s been at Good Housekeeping for over four years, testing travel products including suitcases, packing cubes and backpacks. She has a degree in Fiber Science and Apparel Design from Cornell University.