Question Help me get over my fear of soft sided luggage for air travel

[gmerick]

Using softside, -- had a BCD inflator port cracked in the threaded ring; -- had a harness triglide rub through wetsuit neoprene.

 

[rx7diver]

I see others traveling with a soft sided duffel for their dive gear and I wonder if people have had gear damage over the years from using them vs a hard sided suitcase. ...

I still use the U.S. Army heavy canvas duffel bag my dad gave me when I left home (in TX) for college (in OH) in 1973, for scuba travel. Not really Army surplus, since he used it when he was in the Army. (Thirty years Regular Army, retired.) It has flown to GCI and Seattle and BVI, with no issues.

I used to be concerned because it is OD green (olive green, Army green). However, it is so faded and beat up, that I long ago concluded that there is very little chance someone will think it is something currently being used for military purposes.

Like others above, I carry on my mask, regulators (including AIR 2 if I take it), and gauges.

rx7diver

 

[Scubagolf]

I’d second this, with the addition that our regs are also inside the soft sides, inside padded regulator bags that are then inside our BCDs.

Doing this for 20 years with zero damage. Reg sets and computers in reg bags, rolled up in a wetsuit, and zipped inside the BC. Fins are packed one on each of the long, narrow sides which “stiffens” the soft sided luggage.