[Mels]

Has anyone used those plastic bags that you suck all the air out of for reducing size of stuff in their checked in baggage?
thought we could get a couple of duvets in a suitcase this way.

Mels

[neilw71]

What happens if you have to break the seal at Security during the trip? Where can you find a vac in an airport check in area?

Not a good idea IMHO - duvets are dirt cheap over here - just buy a couple when you get here :)

Neil

[YouMeAndThree]

What happens if you have to break the seal at Security during the trip? Where can you find a vac in an airport check in area?

Not a good idea IMHO - duvets are dirt cheap over here - just buy a couple when you get here :)

Neil

Haven't used them myself, but I do know that you can roll them to expell the air. Not as good as a vaccuum cleaner though.

I've also heard, from this website, that quality of cheap duvets is very poor. Again, I don't know how true this is having never been to NZ.

Lx

[Hejwitch_uk]

My Mum and Dad recently moved to France and bought a couple of the good quality vaccuum bags. They were brilliant - until they were lifted, then the seal went and everything fluffed up again. Needless to say, the hoover had been one of the first things to go into the moving van. Great in theory, perhaps not so good in practice.

[BkyMonster]

I have some of the roll-to-express-air type. I'll be using those for some clothes. The ones I have are actually camping supplies so seem fairly sturdy. I thought about the vacuum ones but I'm pretty good at squishing things ;) and they don't cut down on weight of course, just size.
Another thing to think of is finding some kind of stuff sack, like for sleeping bags, to stuff your duvets in.

[mgbridges]

I've used the vacuum bags for storing bedding and although they do reduce the size of the duvets they end up really rather heavy. As others have said you also run the risk that if the seal breaks they could fluff up again at the most in-opportune moment.

I sent a couple of duvets via Fedex (1 x kings size, 1 x single) plus a ton of other useful household stuff to my OH as he was out here ahead of me and DS. It was well worth the £160 (ish) I spent on the two massive boxes and saved us a lot of NZ$ which we would have had to spend on basics until the container arrived.

HTH
Anneliese

[peebles16]

We basically had four enormous bags and hand luggage on the flight. With two 'boisterous' boys in tow one child and one luggage trolley each was enough for us to manage :laugh One of our suitcase just had bedding and towels in it including duvets (that *cough* still managed to fit in their original packaging :o) I have to say I agree that the quality and especially the tog ratings on duvets here in NZ are not up to much compared to those you can buy relatively cheaply in the UK - but will happily be proven wrong :)

Karenx

[Brian]

I bought a few of the squeeze-type bags to test out. Most of my clothes are very dense - cotton, denim, fleece, etc. Using the bags did not save me any space at all in my luggage. I have a heavy plastic trunk with a locking lid so I can already squeeze things in a bit. In a way they actually made it more difficult because it limited how I could position things.

It seems like they would be useful in two cases - if you have duffle bags or other difficult to compress luggage, and if you have fluffy items like down blankets.

They're cheap enough to be worth a try - just don't count on them doubling the amount of clothes you can take!

[marcia]

i used them in our suitcases, but for T-shirts, shorts etc for Kev and myself, it did save quite a bit of space, meaning we could bring extra clothing, but not sure I'd risk a duvet!

[JasonS]

i used one to put my sweaters in (we came down here in january, summer, but we also needed winter clothes to visit family in the northwestern states during the christmas holidays before arriving to NZ). it worked good to get them all mushed down. i did not have any issues with security needing to get into the bag for a "look-see".

laurel

[dilanium]

We used them in our luggage, and some of it was inspected by the TSA. They didn't open the bags at all. They worked really well for us. We managed to fit much more into our bags than we would have otherwise (though just watch the weight when using them, it adds up faster because there's no air between your items).

[Familyofmonkeys]

We used suction bags in one of our suitcases as had to bring bedding for all 5 of us on the plane. Caused no problem as suitcases can be x-rayed if the really need to inspect them. Also airports do have hoovers available...you'd be surprised. On my mum's visit last year, she had a tub of vegan parmesan cheese relacers stuff explode in her suitcase as she han't packed it well. The guy at the counter just whipped out a vacume from under the desk and kindy cleaned her suitcase for her :)

[Pollyanna]

I've brought a kingsize throw, one of those quilted ones in a vacuum bag in my hand luggage before and it was ok. When we came over here permanantly we posted a big box of bedding over, it cost about £250, which was less than what we would have paid to replace it. Cheap quilts here are nowhere near as good as what you get for a similar price in the UK. You can post up to 30kg for around £250. We posted our stuff the day before we left and it arrived the morning after we did so it might even have come out on the same flight as us :-)

[kanatakiwi]

we vacuum packed all our bedding and clothes when we shipped them, they arrrived fine, with the seal intact after 2months. (we saved space, which is important as the shippers charge by volume not weight, but also kept our things from absorbing moisture). I have also used them in my checked luggage without any problems. ON my last trip home I returned with a lovely quilt which I stuffed into a small but strong plastic bag, so that it was well compressed and didnt take up much room in the suitcase. and yes it was worth it. I got it on sale for $30 and people here who have seen it have commented a similar quality and style of quilt here would have cost at least 3 or 4 times that much.

[M&J]

We used vacum bags for all our bedding in our suitcases. Worked a treat, more room and we save loads of money on not having to buy new when we already had them.

No problems on the plane or through customs.

[YouMeAndThree]

Asda are selling 2 'roll-to-express-air' travel bags for £4. They worked quite well for OH's case yesterday. It compressed his down filled bodywarmer and fleece tops really well.

Lx

[Grey Granite]

Hiya

Mr Granite and I regularly use these 'squeeze to expel air' bags when we go touring/camping with the motorbikes. Not only do they keep things 'shrunk' but as we dont have hard luggage, they keep things dry too!

I bought some huge ones for the move (for bedding) and I dont think they are as good quality or heavy duty. The smaller 'bespoke' ones we use for the camping seem to have woven stuff thru them.

We will just be travelling with camping gear, thermarests and sleeping bags, which squish down to the size of a bag of sugar each (and they use compressor bags) plus our usual motorbike setup for clothing. I can see our entire collection of hillwalking rucksacks being used for the outbound. I absolutely REFUSE to buy any suitcases as we'll never use them again!

I always have a wry smile when I see folk with those wheeled suitcases - much as I think they are a brilliant invention, are you aware that those wheel and extending handle mechanisms add a huge amount of weight before you even start to pack them!

Mrs Granite

[JandL]

When we went travelling we bought a couple of them's backpacks with compression straps. They add a bit of extra weight as they have straps you can use to shove them on your back, but they are folded and zipped away when not in use. We use them to travel with now on holidays, they hold enough stuff for 2 adults and 2 kids (babies have to add) including with nappies, spare pair of shoes, toys, beach towels etc etc. Smaller than the huge cases and when on rough ground stick em on your back and you have 2 hands free to hold the kids! Doubt they could hold a duvet however :).