8 Flight Attendant-approved Travel Hacks From $14

At Travel + Leisure, it’s our job to find the best of the best, from must-visit destinations to genius travel hacks for your next trip. And while we pull from our own wealth of experience as travel writers, we also value insight and recommendations from the most frequent of fliers: flight attendants. With how often flight attendants travel, I know I always personally look to them for advice on ways to travel smarter — especially how to make the most of your carry-on — and you should, too.

To help you do just that, I’ve picked the brain of Shanese Stuckey, a Miami-based flight attendant who has worked for United Airlines for the past eight years, to find out her carry-on must-haves from her rock-solid packing routine. Here’s a curated list of her top nine tips and products that will help you pack more efficiently for your next trip. 

Apple iPad 10th Generation 

Stuckey packs her iPad for a genius reason: they’re “able to connect to a keyboard so it’s all much lighter than packing a heavy laptop.” Attachable keyboards are incredibly sleek these days, and like she mentioned, really do save some space in your carry-on. Oh, and not to mention that especially with an iPad case, you don’t have to worry about safeguarding your precious laptop.

Hicober 3-in-1 Charging Station

Between your phone, headphones, and smartwatch, all those charging cords can certainly add up in your suitcase. Looking for a solution to streamline your charging needs altogether? Stuckey says, “Because you can’t always charge everything at once, or if you’re somewhere for a short period of time and need to get a charge fast on your devices, this 3-in-1 charging station is incredibly helpful.” It’s a fast-charging, compact, and all-purpose charging pad for just $27.

Bagail 8-piece Packing Cubes Set

We’ve sung the praises of packing cubes time and time again, and Stuckey also considers them a traveling must-have because they “keep your things organized, but condensed too.” Some can help you fit up to two weeks’ worth of clothes in a single suitcase. But they also keep your clothes separated, too. As she explained, “Flight attendants wear tights and you don’t want them to get snagged, so I have a designated cube pack just for my tights.” So if you’re working with a set amount of space in your bag, you really need to grab a set of packing cubes.

Kuogo Portable Door Lock 2-pack

According to Stuckey, “traveling alone creates a whole different set of safety concerns,” and as a result, she recommends keeping one of these portable door locks in your bag for an extra line of defense in your rental or hotel room. It’s incredibly compact, so it’ll hardly take up any space in your carry-on. It comes in a set of two, so you can stay extra alert if your rental has multiple doors, or if you want to keep one at home. 

Traveler’s Club Chicago Hardside Expandable Carry-on

Stuckey stressed that the key to packing the perfect carry-on all goes back to a great bag itself, and while her personal go-to is the $750 Tumi 19 Degree International Carry-on Suitcase, we found a more affordable yet equally spacious model for just $51. It’s just under 9 pounds and features smart packing compartments and compression straps to keep your belongings secure and condensed. 

Morfane Travel Toiletries Set 

A common mistake Stuckey thinks travelers make is that they overpack. As a flight attendant, she expressed that they can’t “have the suitcases be too heavy because they are constantly lifting it up and down,” so she encourages travelers “to pack your essentials and nothing you don’t necessarily need.” You don’t need to bring full-size, or even travel-size versions of all your skincare and haircare products for trips that are just a few days long; instead, condense it all down into a convenient travel toiletries set for easy breezy traveling. 

Lura Mini Portable Travel Hair Dryer

Speaking of compact essentials, this hair dryer is almost half the weight and size of a regular one, which makes it the perfect size for your carry-on. Complete with a diffuser and additional blow dryer head for smoothing curly hair and blowouts, it’s the foldable hair accessory you didn’t know you needed. Oh, and as if it couldn’t get any better, it also comes with interchangeable plug-ins (U.S. and E.U.) so there’s no need to worry about buying an additional conversion plug. 

Outdoor Ventures Packable Puffer Jacket

“I always roll my clothes into my suitcase instead of folding them to save space,” says Stuckey. And while this tip works exceptionally well for shirts and pants, it can be much harder to find a winter coat with the same foldable nature. That’s why she says a puffer coat that’s designed to be packable and rollable, “would be great to travel with and throw into your luggage.” We recommend this one that comes with a convenient bag to save even more space.

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