How To Fly With A Suit Like A Pro

Are you wondering how to fly with a suit? You can choose to wear one if you are taking a short flight. Longer flights can be uncomfortable in a suit, and it will end up looking all creased up and unattractive.

Ways Of Carrying Your Suit

When traveling for a business meeting or even a job interview, all you want is to look sharp and presentable. And there's no better way to achieve that than being smart. Arriving in a wrinkled and creased suit could taint your whole image. So, how should you carry your nice suit?

1. You can pack it

If you go for this option, ensure that you loosely and carefully fold it. For the pants, hold them upside down and place them down along their natural creases and fold them into half. For the jacket, tuck it out and fold it in quarters and pack it neatly in your suitcase.

2. You can wear it

If you are taking a shorter trip, wearing a suit is the best option. You can lay the jacket on your lap carefully or ask the flight attendant to hang it for you. Being in a suit for long flights can cause wrinkling, especially at the back of the suit, which would look lousy and leave you feeling horrible.

3. Carry in a garment bag

A garment bag can easily fit in a plane's overhead locker, but you will need to consult with the airline management on the allowed dimensions of a garment bag. For example, the American airline policy on garments size should not exceed 22x14x9 inches.

Although there is no total guarantee that suits in a garment bag will be wrinkle-free, comparing to other carriage methods, it is by so far the best. Depending on the ticket class, there are carry-on allowances for the business class passengers where two pieces of the garment bag are allowed with dimensions not exceeding 22x18x10 inches. For the other passengers, only one garment bag not exceeding 16x12x6 inches is permitted.

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Other Methods Of Carrying A Suit

Rolling

To roll your jacket correctly, you will:

• Turn it inside-out and place it on a hard surface.
• Fold it from shoulders to shoulder and smoothen it as you fold and then roll it.

For the pants:

• Lay down the pants and hold them upside down.
• Fold them into half along the seams and roll carefully to prevent wrinkling and place them neatly in your suitcase.

Do not stuff the suitcase with too much luggage to prevent the un-zipping of the bag.

Folding

Folding is another method to pack your suit correctly. To fold the jacket,

• Place the suit-jacket with the lining outside on a surface.
• Hold it shoulder to shoulder and fold into squares and pack them.

The pants will just be folded in halves and placed in a suitcase.

Again, folding your suit in a dry-cleaning bag is also much easier, once it is fitted correctly in the bag, fold it into half and lay it in your briefcase. Packing light is essential to prevent creasing.

Hanging bag

Designed for suits, hanging bags makes them the best travel accessory. However, airlines have luggage restrictions, and you will need to find out whether the plane you are catching allows these bags. Some hanging bags fold and getting such could be useful because you can place them on the plane's compartment.

How To Pack A Suit

Packing items for travel can be quite a task, especially if you have little knowledge of how to do it properly. Let's look at how different things are packed:

Shoes

Shoes can be a mess, and most often, they are left out. To save on money that would otherwise have bought new shoes on your travel, you can check out methods you can pack your shoes quite quickly and in an organized manner.

If planning on carrying several pairs, pack them at the very bottom part of your suitcase and:

• Ensure your shoes are clean and don't have funny odors.
• Place them in a paper and store a pair in opposite directions with soles touching each other.
• Place the suitcase on the floor, and then place your shoes at the bottom of the bag. Do this in the same manner you put in the papers until all the shoes are in the suitcase.

Depending on the number of pairs to pack, there could be some left in between pairs, fill with other light garments.

Socks

To fold socks for travel, follow these steps to help you in neatly organizing your bag:

• Place each sock neatly on top of the other. Fold big socks into half.
• Insert your fingers into the top part of one sock. preferably, the upper one.
• Turn the sock inside out, the results will be two neatly folded socks inside each other.

Having folded them in that manner, several pairs can be placed on top of each other in a suitcase easily.

Dresses

• Each dress should be in its dry-cleaning bag.
• Place your dress on a surface and fold neatly starting from the hem. Dress materials that do not easily wrinkle like linen can be rolled instead.
• Fold the dresses in the cleaning bags into half and place them at the top of your suitcase.
• At the final touches, when you have packed all your items, you can wrap an extra cleaning bag on top of the clothes and tuck neatly on the sides.

Shirt

• Firstly, ensure that the shirt is buttoned up and place it on a flat surface, the front side being at the bottom.
• Fold both the right and left sleeves towards the collar, one on top of the other.
• Fold the left side of the shirt in a straight fold on the sleeves.
• Fold the right side over the right side.
• Fold the bottom side of the shirt just at the mid of the shirt.
• Fold for another time, ensuring that the folds lie near the collar and flip the shirt over.

Place the shirt carefully in your suitcase and avoid wrinkles, unpack the suitcase immediately when you get to your destination, and hang on hangers.

Tie

Need a tie in your travel? You can pack your neckwear quite easily if you have a tie case with you. If it's not handy, you can roll the tie over, starting from the narrow end and insert it somewhere in your bag.

Removing Wrinkles In A Suit

You probably missed something when packing, and your suit got all wrinkled during the travel and with little idea on how to get rid of the wrinkles? Well, we got you!

1. Use a steamer

To steam, your suit, pour cold water in your steamer, and then plug it in until it is heated up, and steam begins to form. Hang your suit with a hanger and go ahead to pass the steamer over it going downwards. You can press the steam button often to apply steam on the extreme wrinkles. Using a padded surface could make steaming hard creases easier.

2. Use a hanger

After unpacking, you can hang your creased garment on a hanger for a few hours, and the creases will be gone.

3. Ironing

Some hotels have ironing services for their customers, and it saves the day.

How to carry a suit more efficiently on a flight?

If you opt to carry on your suit rather than wear it, you should know a few if not all of these tips that can make the process much more convenient for you.

To begin with, you never want the embarrassment that comes with unpacking in front of people in a queue. Be sure to check whether the airline accepts garment bags as personal items or just as carry-ons.

As soon as you're off the flight, take the suit out of the bag as quickly as possible. To help the suit drape naturally, just hang it with a rounded and broad-shouldered hanger.

A suit brush is a simple yet beneficial tool. You can comfortably miss a washing session with the right one since it can reach between the fabrics to remove dirt and any spilled food. It also gives your suit a lovely smell.

In case you do not have a steamer with you, you can improvise by hanging the suit in the bathroom to give the fabric a little refresh. Be careful not to wet your suit and remember to hang it in a dry place.

Are you carrying shoes or toiletries along? Just remember to wrap them in waterproof bags to protect from accidentals spillages.

And finally, after the suit is ready for the next business meeting, you can toss it back into the garment bag to keep dirt and moths out.

Conclusion

Flying along with your suit may come with some unique challenges. As you take more trips, things will ease, and you might discover some clever hacks by yourself. Just keep the main points in mind, and your trip might be one of the smoothest ever.