The Best Underseat Luggage of 2026

Measuring 11.4 x 16 x 7.1-9.4 inches, the Tom Bihn Techonaut 30 is an adaptable bag designed, primarily, to be worn as a backpack. However, its backpack straps can be tucked away when not in use, allowing you to carry it in hand by its padded handle as a briefcase-shaped duffel or with an optional shoulder strap. That the backpack straps can be stowed away makes it a cinch to slide it under an airplane seat. The bag’s sternum and waist straps can be removed completely.

The Techonaut 30’s large main compartment opens wide with a double-zippered front flap. It can unzip partially for you to access items in the confined space of an airplane. There are no organizational aids inside the main compartment, save a pair of compression straps and a large zippered mesh pocket on the inside of the compartment’s flap. A zippered laptop pocket sized to hold portable computers up to 16 inches in size is accessible from the top of the bag. Other exterior pockets include a lockable compartment at the bottom of the bag that is well sized to fit a pair of shoes or a jacket. The inside panel separating this pocket from the main compartment can also be unzipped to make the main compartment even more spacious. The small pocket on the top of the bag is ideal for keeping your liquids bag handy for the TSA and includes a key leash. There’s a pocket for a water bottle plus a small pocket for providing quick access to your phone and passport.

My only concern about the Technonaut 30 is that if you try to access its contents at your feet while on the plane, you’d need to prevent the front flap from opening too wide so nothing spills out.

The Cotopaxi Allpa 28L’s interior design will suit hikers well. However, if you prefer more flexibility in how you pack, this isn’t your best choice. The 19 x 11 x 9-inch backpack fit in our sizer when packed, but filling the interior pockets made it lumpy.

Cotopaxi is a certified B Corporation that prioritizes sustainably. Using fabric remnants from other manufacturers that would otherwise be wasted, each sewer chooses their own combination when making these colorful bags. You can select a specific color combo when you order or be surprised.

When sitting on the plane, top-loading backpacks are usually the easiest for accessing your belongings. Instead, this pack opens like a book with wrap-around lockable YKK double zippers (the main zippers also have a band of fabric across them to thwart pickpockets). Inside, mesh dividers and pockets keep your belongings organized but they’re better suited for soft items like clothes rather than bulky cameras and toiletry bags. There was little room to spare when packed up with our test items. Your laptop is easy to pull out at security from the bag’s side, but the two-sectioned laptop compartment isn’t lockable. Your quart-bag of liquids would be most accessible if you stored it in the top-most interior mesh pocket. This backpack is very weather resistant plus comes with a rain cover, but there are only two external pockets and no exterior spot for a water bottle. If the bag’s design suits your needs, you’ll feel good buying from this carbon-neutral company that has fair employment practices and allocates revenue to poverty alleviation and community development.

The spacious Away Everywhere Bag (16.3 x 10.2 x 7.3-inches, which fit in our luggage sizer) is made with water-resistant nylon and can be carried either by its comfortable (and detachable) shoulder strap or with its leather handles in hand. Some people may find the leather handles are large enough to use on their shoulders.

The Everywhere Bag’s main compartment is roomy and closes with lockable double zippers (though some luggage locks might not fit very easily). Inside the main compartment, you’ll find a large zippable pocket and a few open-topped sections for flatter items like a slim wallet and business cards. There’s also an interior sleeve sized to hold a small umbrella or a slim water bottle, plus a key leash. The bag’s two-sectioned laptop sleeve will hold a 15-inch device plus an iPad-sized tablet.

One side of the exterior of the bag has a non-lockable pocket ideal for quick access to your passport and phone; the other side has a panel that slides onto the handle of a spinner suitcase.

My one complaint about this bag is that its laptop compartment is billed as having a magnetic locking zipper but I couldn’t find an explanation of how it worked.

The Solo Westside Overnighter, measuring 15 x 16.25 x 8.5 inches, looks like a briefcase on two wheels. Its design is better suited as a portable office for files and a laptop than for use as an all-purpose carry-on. The structured, polyester-covered bag weighs 8.1 pounds and feels heavy even when empty. That it’s designed to be pulled and pushed around an airport by its collapsible handle helps to offset the weight of the bag and its contents. While the wheels rolled smoothly during testing, the Westside Overnighter’s collapsible handle was a little stiff and sometimes needed extra effort to deploy properly.

This Westside Overnighter opens like a book and features two restraining straps to prevent it from falling completely open. This could make it relatively easy—for a structured suitcase—to get at items near the top of the bag’s interior or from its “quick access” exterior pocket during your flight. This bag has an unusual configuration not well suited to bulky items. You do have options to fit a laptop though. The first comes with an admin panel sewn into it for storing business cards, pens, and papers. The second laptop area is divided into two sections. Here, you’ll find a removable padded sleeve that fits laptops up to 16 inches in size as well as a flat area that could be used to store a tablet or documents. We were pleased to find that the double zippers for the bag’s three largest compartments have space to add locks. The only space for a water bottle is inside the bag, which could lead to your belongings getting wet if the bottle leaks.

If you fill the Westside Overnighter’s exterior pockets, you risk making the bag too thick to fit under the seat. Even while empty, it was a struggle to get this structured bag into our luggage sizer.

The 16.5 x 13.75 x 9-inch Samsonite Small Rolling Underseater is a cloth-covered, four-wheeled spinner suitcase with structured sides. Unfortunately, the placement of the bag’s wheels made it impossible to fit into our luggage sizer during testing. So, you’ll likely need to put it in an overhead bin on your flight. If you also have a full-sized carry-on with you, some airlines might ask you to check one of them.

About two-thirds of the Small Rolling Underseater’s interior is taken up by its main compartment, which is divided by a hanging panel with a zippered pocket. Unless the main compartment is packed full, items inside of it will likely get tossed about when the bag is tipped on its side. The pockets built into the bag’s interior, as well as its single exterior pocket, are well sized to fit an iPad-sized tablet. An exterior pocket has a USB port if you want to add a battery pack to charge your phone or tablet. A passthrough panel allows you to stack the Small Rolling Underseater on top of another bag.

Samsonite states that the Small Rolling Underseater can hold devices up to 13.3 inches in size, but most laptops are larger than that--my 12¾-inch laptop was too large to fit into this bag.

The Wandf Foldable Travel Duffel is an inexpensive briefcase-shaped bag measuring 16 x 12 x 6 inches. It has a single, large interior compartment plus a small exterior pocket. The bag’s main compartment does not contain any organizational aids. So, unless you pack it full or use packing cubes, its contents will get jumbled around as you carry it or push it under the seat.

The Wandf Foldable Travel Duffel’s single exterior pocket is sewn onto a band of fabric so that you can slide the bag over the handle of a spinner-style suitcase. We liked that this bag’s double zippers are compatible with luggage locks. But this bag doesn’t come with a shoulder strap and its handles don’t have a grip guard. This means that fully loaded, the bag could be uncomfortable to carry for long periods of time.

While the Wandf Foldable Travel Duffel’s lightweight build may make it easy to fold up and store when not in use, it also suggests that it might have a shorter lifespan than the other under-seat carry-on luggage in this guide.