Osprey  Airporter LZ Pack Duffel

I got this bag about a year ago for the occasional backpacking trips out west. My job puts me on the road a fare amount and sometimes I am out over a weekend, so I bring my pack with me for some weekend fun. If weight is not a issue, I would skip this bag. It was one of the lightest bags I came across (REI makes there own version which is much heavier duty) but shreds pretty easy. BUT if you are flying to a location and you need to pack this sack with you for the week, YES this is the bag for you. Yes is may not be super durable for the airline industry, but duct tape has fixed all the tears I have in mine, and its pretty compact so you can stuff it in your pack without taking a ton of room up. I have used this for 6 or 7 flights now, and you can see tiny holes all over the bag (small tears, they look like a mouse chewed holes in it). But some Gorilla tape seems to work pretty well for patching these.

This bag has protected my backpack for numerous international flights across several years and it has only a few scuffs and scrapes to speak of. It's held up well. But the bag is so enormous it's absolutely unmanageable. It's literally impossible for me to carry this bag when my 50L backpack is inside it, so I have to block traffic at baggage claim while I free my backpack from this bag so I can carry everything out of the airport. Not convenient. The carry strap needs improvement and the bag size needs to be reduced. But I'd gladly purchase another one if sized properly for today's backpacks.

We send between 36 and 48 Scouts to Philmont Scout ranch each year. These overbags are great for getting your backpack from home though the airport and to your destination in one piece. I purchased 36 of these bags last year and they all came back looking great. There were a few wear marks and one slight tear but I figure that is normal wear and tear for bags of this type. They are very large to fit even the largest over stuffeb backpack out there. When it does come time to purchase more, I will definately purchase these again for our Scouts to use.

This pack cover works well for its intended purpose. If you need to check your pack on a flight, this cover will keep it from being damaged. My wife and I have checked our bags for about 15 flights and their still in perfect condition (okay... maybe their a little dirty, but that's it). It's lightweight and folds into itself for storage when you're actually using/wearing your pack. If you have the ability to store a pack cover once you reach your destination (i.e. rental car, hotel, etc.) and want a heavy duty cover, this isn't the product for you (get a canvas duffel bag instead). The only thing I'd change would be to move the strap a little lower (rather than attaching it to the end). Overall, though, it suits its purpose well.

my biggest complaint with this cover is that the strap felt like it was going to cut my arm and shoulders off when carrying the thing. i had taken a 6 day hike so with camping gear, fresh clothes home, etc., the total weight was about 45 pounds. the cover did serve to protect my pack, so kudos there. although, the cover didn't make it through the airport without first getting 3 holes. my friends all traveled with random duffel bags with wheels and they faired much better than i. i'll be returning the cover and getting something better.

We bought these bags to protect our backpacks on the airplanes. As weight and space were critical issues for us, the product provided additional protection without much additional weight. I agree with the other reviews in that the product does not seem like the most durable equipment, but certainly met our needs for our journey. I also agree that the strap is uncomfortable but we did not attempt to use the Airporter to try to carry our back packs. We loaded the packs into the Airporter right before sending it through baggage and removed the packs from the Airporter at the baggage claim. Either way, we had a 40lb limit so we could have carried them in the Airporters but it was awkward to juggle the weight with the strap. I would recommend the product.

You get what you pay for: this product provides a reasonably good means of containing and protecting a fully loaded 7,500 + cubic inch back pack from the routine hazards of airport baggage handling. It is lightweight and compacts nicely but those same attributes make it flimsy and unlikely to survive multiple trips. I consider this product disposable - it's really a modest form of travel insurance. One more thing: the carrying strap is extremely uncomfortable and ill-suited for shouldering a 60 + lb. pack.

overall the sirporter is great if you want to pack ad carry a small village with you, other than that it needs alot of work to be made truly useful. the carying strap is WAY to long even when shortened, and the capacity of the bag itself is larger than any backpack i have used. this makes walking with it harder than it needs to be and can cause a lower back pain. I would recomend getting this bag if you are flying, but REI needs to improve its design to make it truly helppful.

OK, OK. This is pretty light weight but I thought it would rip through the first trip and all over the puna de atacama on a mule and buses, airports...for 5 weeks only produced a few small wear holes which in my book gets this product a solid B+ rating. It is what it is, light and easy to pack, but offers adequate protection. If you want a big heavy canvas bag, that would be more durable but is hard to deal with when backpacking. I love this bag.

I bought this bag for the specific purpose already mentioned above - to put my backpack into when checking luggage on flights, thereby turning my pack into "contents" rather than "baggage" and so getting it covered by insurance. Two important points - first, I am not convinced airlines will actually cover the pack - though I have not tried yet, I have heard the claims forms want details about the TYPE of suitcase with damaged contents, and a simple bag cover will not count (just as if you had put your pack in a plastic garbage bag). Second, this bag is too flimsy to be useful - mine tore on the second flight. Bottom line - call your airline, if they indeed will cover the contents of this bag, it's a cheap insurance policy, but consider it disposable after a single use. On the bright side, I really like its size - I could fit a mammoth sized pack in there. But then couldn't carry it.