Should I put books in carry-on or checked luggage?

score:22

Accepted answer

Books are heavier, period.

Your typical cheap-ass perfect-bound B&W 300-page airport paperback detective/romance novel weighs around 441 grams. A nice hardback or a big chunky guidebook will be more: Lonely Planet India is over 1 kg, and a 500-page ream of A4 printing paper is well over 2 kg!

A T-shirt occupies roughly the same volume as that paperback, but even a nice heavy cotton American Apparel T-shirt will only top the scales around 250 grams. (Note that T-shirt weights are per square meter, and you need >1.5m2 for a short-sleeved shirt.)

Now I'm sure you can construct a pathological case where a suitcase stuffed full of steel-toed Doc Martens and studded denim weighs more than a suitcase filled with the airiest pulp novels known to man, but in general, if you're looking to lose weight, chuck the books first — and get e-books instead. International M-Bags are also a surprisingly cheap way of shipping printed material around the planet.

Upvote:1

Clothes are far lighter (and no-one weighs your take on even if there is a limit). Put your books in your take-on.

A Kindle at 180g (6 oz) is far lighter than 15 books though and perhaps more convenient.

Upvote:2

If you plan on reading on the flight then keeping them with you is probably ideal.

I guess it also might depend on which is more replaceable - the clothes or the books. Checked luggage sometimes gets mis-routed between flights and can be stolen while at the luggage carousel.

Upvote:6

I often buy multiple books on trips and carry them home. For the outward bound trip, the suitcase is 10-15 lbs (4.5–7 kg) or more below the maximum weight limit. That way I know I have some room for souvenirs and books. I've also taken older clothes that I'm willing to toss out at the end of a trip.

If I think there's a chance that a bag is overweight, I may put one or two of the heaviest books in my backpack.

I usually carry on a backpack, not a suitcase, so I have space constraints. I'd much rather make it as light as possible, so I pack the suitcase to be checked as heavy as I can.

If you're taking a suitcase on board that won't fit under the seat, remember that you're going to have to lift it up in the overhead bin.

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