New from Tom Bihn bags – the Tri-Star

Darcy over at Tom Bihn bags has been teasing me for over 2 months about a new bag Tom has been working on.

The only speck of information they were willing to reveal about the Tri-Star was that it would be a three compartment bag, and that its size would fall between their Western Flyer and Aeronaut bags.

This afternoon, they finally revealed the product, and posted a bunch of photos (with Tom Bihn himself modeling his creation).

Thanks to its compartmental design, the Tri-Star can hold your laptop, and all the clothes and smaller items you’ll need for a short trip. Like the Aeronaut, the Tri-Star can be carried as a regular bag, as a shoulder bag, or as a backpack.

After reading the product description I’m convinced that this is a dream come true for the kind of traveler that carries too much stuff, and tries to avoid checking a bag. Pockets, some more pockets, and then even more pockets. In fact, the Tom Bihn blog needed 1390 words to describe all the various features found on this bag.

Also, as a first for Tom Bihn, this bag will be available in blue (they call it Indigo) ballistic nylon, which looks pretty damn cool if you ask me.

The new Tri-Star will start shipping in late June, but can be pre-ordered on their site right now. The basic bag costs just $240, but a fully tricked out Tri-Star with their amazing Absolute shoulder strap, internal laptop case, Freudian Slip organzier and waist strap will run you $370. Still, if it delivers the kind of convenience I think it will, that may be a small price to pay.

5 days 5 bags – day 2: Skooba Design Checkthrough Brief

Welcome to day 2 of “5 days 5 bags”. Today’s bag is the Skooba Design Checkthrough brief.

This TSA friendly laptop bag is designed to comply with the new TSA regulations that allow you to keep your laptop inside its bag at the checkpoint.


The Checkthrough features a “fold open” design with a clear window, and to prepare the bag for screening, you simply unzip it, fold it flat and place it on the X-Ray machine conveyor. To be sure their design worked as it should, Skooba submitted the bag for testing with Rapiscan, who make almost all the X-Ray machines at airports around the world.

The bag is very much a classic looking laptop bag. On the inside and out, you’ll find 20 different pockets and compartments, making it ideal for using as your office on the road.

The bag also features some very nice extra touches, like an elastic “pull out” ID pocket on the side, and an easy to read set of checkpoint instructions on the laptop portion, which make it perfect for when you run into a TSA agent who has not kept up to date with the newest regulations.

All in all a very nice and well designed laptop bag, especially if you prefer a classic look. The folding laptop portion is very easy to use, and should help keep your laptop nice and safe at the checkpoint. With its 20 pockets and pouches, you’ll have a hard time running out of space.

Dimensions (W*H*D): 17*13*7.5
Weight: 3lb
Colors available: Black
Warranty: Lifetime
Price: $139.95
Product page: Skooba Design

Daily deal – Solo Netbook instant messenger TSA friendly bag

My daily deal for today is for the Solo Netbook Instant Messenger. This pint sized laptop bag is designed for small laptop computers, with up 10″ screens.

The bag has enough space for your Netbook and some other items, but don’t expect to turn it into your next overnight bag.

Not only does the bag hold your Netbook, it is also designed to be checkpoint friendly – which means you can keep your computer inside the bag without the need to remove it at the TSA checkpoint.

The MSRP of the bag is $49.99, but Amazon.com currently has it on sale for $34.99. If you’d rather learn more about the bag before you purchase it, be sure to check out our recent review of the product.

Looking back at ’08 – 5 things we gained this year

Welcome to part 2 of my “looking back at ’08” segment. In part 1, I listed 5 things we lost in 2008, and in this article I will list 5 things we gained. While you reminisce about 2008, why not check out my list of 10 New Years resolutions that could help make 2009 a much better travel year!

There is no denying that 2008 will take up a pretty decent chunk of history books in years to come. Between the Chinese Olympics and the total destruction of our economic civilization, I’d say it’s been a pretty interesting year. Oh, and we also elected our first African American president. Awesome stuff. Of course, not much of this means much to us travelers, so here are 5 things we gained in ’08:

Internet in the air

I’m a geek, so I have listed this one first. Needless to say this is also the one that excited me the most in 2008.

Internet in the skies has long been a something airline passengers have wished for. The first glimpse of its potential came from Boeing back in 2004, but like many new technologies, this one failed pretty quickly.

In 2006, United Airlines tried to breathe new life into the seatback Verizon Airfone handsets, by offering some very basic online access. Needless to say, that one did not last long either. For some reason, people were not willing to pay $10 for instant messaging and 5 pages of news clippings.

Then, out of the ashes of the Verizon Airfone infrastructure came Aircell. This company purchased the rights to some of the airwaves used by the old Verizon system, and began offering high speed Internet access on American Airlines.

The first flight to take to the skies with the Aircell Gogo inflight Internet service was an American Airlines plane on August 20th 2008. But before passengers were able to download their emails in the air, a lot of other milestones had to be reached. I’ll take a closer look at what went on behind the scenes in a separate article.

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Relaxed TSA rules for laptop computers at the checkpoint

Things just kept getting better for us in 2008 at the security checkpoint. After years of harassing us, removing our bottles of water, and treating us like terrorists for carrying a nail clipper, the TSA decided it could put a smile on our faces by allowing certain kinds of laptop bags to pass through the security checkpoint without having to remove our laptops from the bag.

In all, it probably saves no more than 20 seconds, but every second counts at the airport, especially when it involves doing what you can to get as far away from the checkpoint as possible.

We entered 2008 with zero TSA friendly laptop bags, and we’ll be bidding it farewell with over 30 different designs, many of which are listed here.

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More fees and surcharges

Honestly, I wish this list could contain only happy things. Sadly the year has been pretty rough on the airlines, and when things get rough, they take it out on us.

Fees are what the airlines use to make money, because ticket sales alone apparently don’t work. Clearly someone took a close look at the movie theater business and decided that the expensive popcorn trick would work just fine in the aviation industry.

The worst offender this year was US Airways, but almost every major airline introduced at least one or two new ways to make some money.

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New runways

While some airports are still stuck with just a single runway, others can’t get enough of them to keep things flowing.

New tarmac was opened this year at Dulles, Seattle and Chicago. The Dulles runway was their first new one since 1946, and is expected to handle over 100,000 flights a year.

Of course, Chicago’s O’Hare airport was probably the one most in need of a new runway, as they had been operating under special flow control restrictions for several years due to congestion.

The new runway in Chicago is part of a much larger “masterplan” to expand the airport, which includes a new ATC tower and terminal renovations.

In other good news, those awful people movers at Dulles are scheduled to be scrapped later next year!

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New airlines, new routes and new mergers

It sucks to be a legacy carrier. You are doing everything you can to keep your fleet in the sky, and newcomers like Virgin America and OpenSkies pop up, acting like they own the place.

The thing is, many people are so fed up with the state of air travel, that these new carriers are a very welcome addition. Why fly the “friendly skies”, when you can fly an airline that actually is friendly?

In 2008, JetBlue started flying Chicago to Boston, Virgin America added 6 new routes, including New York to Vegas and OpenSkies (a British Airways subsidiary) started flights from New York to Paris and Amsterdam.

And finally, in the “if you can’t beat em, buy em” department; Delta airlines purchased Northwest airlines bringing 2 of the more decent airlines in the skies together as one. One thing is for sure; 2009 is going to be a bumpy ride for many airlines.

Daily deal – Kensington Contour Traveler rolling laptop bag for $29.99

My daily deal for today is for the Kensington Contour rolling laptop bag. This laptop bag has a single extending handle and a contoured back pad for carrying the bag using the shoulder strap.

The bag is large enough for most 15.4″ laptop computers, is water resistant and has pockets for your mobile phone, mp3 player and most other loose items. The bag itself is fairly lightweight at just 6.4lbs.

The Contour Traveler bag usually retails for about $100, but J&R currently has it on sale for just $29.99 (plus an additional $10 for shipping).

I’ve had one of these Contour bags before, and it was quite impressive. I was especially happy with the design that moves the wheels to the outermost corner, increasing the space inside the bag.