I know airplanes makes one check their cues now as they could be weapons. I'm thinking my golf club travel bag with my clothes wrapped around the cue case. Any ideas to keep the cues safe?
This is a topic that has been covered a ton over the years. The two options that by far make the most sense in my opinion and are the most cost effective are to get a rolling duffel bag that will fit your cue case as well as all the rest of your clothes and everything else you need, or get a suitcase that is large enough to put your cue case in it diagonally and there will almost certainly be plenty of room left over for your clothes and whatever else you need unless you are going somewhere for a month and like to take everything but the kitchen sink lol. That also saves you from getting a separate checked baggage fee for the second bag (which just about everybody but Southwest charges) which you will end up getting charged for with some of the other options like tripod bags and such where they would be a second checked bag.
The rolling duffel bags that will work are easy to find because they are available in lots of lengths even way longer than your case. Suitcases on the other hand are slightly trickier to purchase because even for the largest airline approved size that won't incur an over-sized baggage fee, most of the largest "legal" sized suitcases out there still won't fit a cue case even diagonally, only a smaller portion of them will.
Here is the trick to finding one of the suitcases that will fit your case. First be aware that the largest approved bag size without incurring an over-sized baggage fee for almost every airline (especially domestic airlines) is a total of 62 inches when you add up the L+W+H. As a result that has become a very standard large/biggest suitcase size offered by every manufacturer. Here is the trick though. Even though you can find a billion of the large 62" suitcases out there, their exact dimensions differ a bit with some being longer than others. For example one might be 28"L x 22"W x12"H (62" total), and the next might be 34"L x 18"W x 10"H (also 62"). You want one of those longest ones you can find.
How long of a suitcase you need to fit your case diagonally obviously depends on the length of your cue case, but it also depends on the thickness and construction of the suitcase, whether it is soft or hard sided, whether it is real boxy in shape or kind of curved, etc, but you do get a little more room than the length would suggest when you put the case in diagonally. Because of the aforementioned things there isn't an exact formula that can tell you what length suitcase will fit what size cue case, but for say a 33" long cue case it will probably fit diagonally in most 32" long suitcases, possibly even a tiny bit shorter in some cases, but if you are buying online I would try to err on the side of picking one of the longest ones to be on the safe side even if you think you might be able to get away with an inch or two shorter because it sure would suck for it to arrive and find out you need another 1/2" to get your case in.
I currently have a 33" long suitcase that fits a 33" long cue case diagonally where it has a little room to spare and isn't pressed in, and I don't have it in front of me to measure but I also have a shorter suitcase, guessing around 31", that will fit the same 33"cue case but you have to cram it in there and it presses tight against the corners pretty good. tighter than some people might be comfortable with. Maybe others can chime in and say what length suitcase fits what size cue case diagonally in their experience to help give you a better feel for what will be long enough for what.
