Gear Review: Aer Travel Pack 3 Small X-Pac
Just over a year ago I bought the Aer Travel Pack 3 Small in the X-Pac fabric. Since then it’s come with me to 20 countries. It’s the bag I grab without thinking about it: every airport, every day out in a new city, every quick weekend trip. Here’s how it’s held up, and what I’d want to know before buying one.
The specs
The Small is the 28-liter version of the Travel Pack 3, sized so it actually fits under an airplane seat (the 35L doesn’t). I went with the X-Pac fabric over the standard Cordura, more on that below.
| Spec | Aer Travel Pack 3 Small X-Pac |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 28L |
| Weight | 3.62 lbs (1.64 kg) |
| Dimensions | 19” x 13” x 7.5” (48 x 33 x 19 cm) |
| Laptop | Up to 16”, suspended sleeve |
| Fabric | VX-42 X-Pac sailcloth (Dimension-Polyant) |
| Zippers / hardware | YKK / Duraflex |
| Warranty | Lifetime (manufacturing defects) |
| Price | $259 (X-Pac) |
One thing to know up front: Aer discontinued the X-Pac version, so you’ll be looking at sale stock or secondhand if you want this exact bag. The Small still exists in the standard Cordura fabric, and everything I say about the design and the carry applies to both.
Everything fits
For a 28-liter bag, the amount I can get into this thing still surprises me. On a normal day out it’s holding a change of clothes, my laptop, my Fujifilm, snacks for the day, chargers, my passport and papers, my Kindle, a couple pens, and mints, and it doesn’t feel stuffed.
The pockets are the reason. Every one of them is actually useful. The laptop sits in its own padded sleeve (up to 16”) that’s suspended off the bottom of the bag, so a drop on the curb doesn’t go straight into the screen. There’s a stretchy water bottle pocket on the side, which was actually a requirement for me: I always carry water for flights and long days out. And the side compression cinches pull the whole thing flat when it’s half empty, so on a light day it shrinks down instead of flopping around half-full.
Two pockets I love in particular.
The hidden tracker pocket. Aer built in a little internal pocket sized for an AirTag, and I keep one in there permanently. I always know where the bag is, and anyone going through it would have to know to look for it.
The quick-access pocket for my passport. At the airport it lives up top where I can grab it for every checkpoint without digging. Once I’m into a city and don’t need it constantly, I move it down into an internal zip pocket, a pocket inside a pocket, where it’s a lot harder to get to. This way I can always (safely!) have my passport on me, which can be a requirement for getting into some countries.
It doesn’t stand out
Not standing out was one of the main reasons I bought this bag in the first place. I got it right before a month in Guatemala studying Spanish, specifically because I wanted something I could wear every day without drawing attention. Guatemala is safe and a ton of fun, but it’s also a place where if you look like a target, you will get targeted. The pack just looks like a normal black backpack. No loud branding, nothing that says expensive camera bag, nothing that says tourist with a laptop and a mirrorless inside. A month of walking around with it and no one gave me a second look.
The layout helps with the grabbier kind of theft too. The two main compartments zip down to the lower right, tucked under the water bottle pocket, so they’re very hard to get into without me feeling it. The only easy-access pocket is the one flat against my back, and the only things I keep there are a few mints and a facemask, stuff I won’t miss if it’s gone. On a day where I’m really not sure about an area, I’ll put a mini lock on each of the main compartments. Some of the other bags I looked at had the main zippers sitting right out on top, open to anyone standing behind me.
Built tough
A year of near-constant use and it looks basically new. No tears, no fraying, and the X-Pac doesn’t show scratches or scuffs the way a softer nylon would. That’s the sailcloth doing its job: X-Pac is a laminate with a waterproof film layer built into it (it’s literally made by a company that builds racing yacht sails), so it’s structurally waterproof rather than just coated. I’ve been caught in real rain with it and everything inside, laptop and camera included, stayed dry.
The one thing that did break: two of the zipper pulls came off the main compartment. I was a little nervous emailing Aer about it. Good reviews or not, you never really know how a warranty will go until you have to use it. They mailed me replacements for free and never asked me to prove anything. The bag has a lifetime warranty on defects, and in practice they made it completely painless. That did as much for my opinion of Aer as the bag itself.
Carrying it loaded
A loaded travel pack can wreck your shoulders if the carry is bad. This one handles weight better than it has any right to for its size. The standout day was Tokyo: I walked 30,000 steps all over the city with it on, a medium load that day, and never thought about my back once. The load lifters up top pull the weight in close instead of letting it hang off you, and there’s enough structure in the back panel that the contents don’t collapse into a sack. Fully loaded it stays stable and comfortable.
How it travels
The Small size is the whole point for me, and even at a bit over six feet and 180 pounds it doesn’t wear too small on my back. 28 liters is right for a full day out, big enough to carry everything and small enough that it’s never in the way. It also pairs perfectly with a suitcase: there’s a pass-through sleeve on the back that slides over a roller handle, so for a quick weekend I’ll run the backpack on top of a carry-on roller, and for a longer trip it rides on a big checked suitcase as my personal item.
And it fit under every airplane seat I tried it under. That’s not a given for a bag this size, and it’s specifically the Small that makes it work; the full 35-liter Travel Pack 3 is too tall to reliably go under the seat in front of you. If you fly a lot of regional jets the under-seat space can get tight, but on everything I flew it slid right under.
The verdict
Rating: 5/5. A year and 20 countries in, the Aer Travel Pack 3 Small X-Pac is the most-used piece of gear I own, and the only thing that ever went wrong got fixed for free in a week. It does exactly what I want a travel daypack to do and then gets out of the way.
Get it if you want one bag that works as a city daypack and a suitcase companion, you carry a laptop and a camera and want them organized and protected, and you’d rather not advertise that you’re carrying them. The Small (28L) is the right call if you’re a lighter packer who values the under-seat fit. Size up to the 35L if you want to do longer one-bag trips out of it.
Worth knowing again: Aer discontinued the X-Pac version of the Travel Pack 3, so this exact bag is sale-stock or secondhand now. The two ways to get something close from Aer today:
| Bag | Capacity | Price | What’s different |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aer Travel Pack 3 Small (Cordura) | 28L | ~$229 | The same bag in standard ballistic nylon instead of X-Pac. Still sold. |
| Aer Travel Pack 4 X-Pac 28L | 28L | $269 | The successor. Same VX-42 fabric, a bit lighter (3.45 lbs), two water bottle pockets now, slightly deeper body. I haven’t carried one, so I can’t tell you how the changes feel. |
I cross-shopped two other bags hard before going with Aer. The Peak Design Travel Backpack is genuinely beautiful, but it’s very designer-y, and the more I looked the more it felt like they cared more about how it looks than how it works. I wanted pockets and a rugged, low-key bag, not something that looks like an expensive alien egg. The Tom Bihn Synik 30 was the opposite problem: so many external zippers that someone could get into it while it was on my back, exactly what I didn’t want. The Aer landed right in the middle of the two.
It’s the bag I’ll keep using until it actually falls apart, and a year in it shows no signs of getting there.
FAQ
Is the Aer Travel Pack 3 Small carry-on compliant?
Yes. At 19 by 13 by 7.5 inches it falls within carry-on limits for the large majority of airlines, and the Small specifically is sized so it also fits under the seat in front of you. The larger 35L Travel Pack 3 is taller and less reliably under-seat compatible.
Does the Aer Travel Pack 3 Small fit under an airplane seat?
In my experience it fit under every seat I tried it under. The 28L Small is short enough at 19 inches tall to manage it, where the 35L regular usually is not. Very small regional jets can have tight under-seat space, so it is not guaranteed everywhere, but on every flight I took it slid right under.
Aer X-Pac vs Cordura: which should I get?
The X-Pac (VX-42) is a laminated sailcloth with a waterproof film layer, so it is lighter, stiffer, holds its shape, and shrugs off rain better. The Cordura is a softer ballistic nylon with a more conventional matte look that is easier to patch if you ever damage it. I went X-Pac for the weather resistance and have been caught in real rain with my laptop and camera inside and stayed dry.
What is the difference between the Travel Pack 3 Small and the regular size?
The Small is 28 liters and 19 inches tall, built for lighter packers and shorter trips, and it fits under an airplane seat. The regular is 35 liters and 21.5 inches tall, with more room for one-bag trips of a week or two, but it is harder to fit under the seat. They share the same width and the same overall design.
What size laptop fits in the Aer Travel Pack 3 Small?
Up to a 16 inch laptop. It sits in a padded sleeve that is suspended off the bottom of the bag, so setting the pack down hard does not transfer straight into the screen.
Does the Aer Travel Pack 3 have an AirTag pocket?
Yes. There is a dedicated hidden pocket sized for a tracker. I keep an AirTag in mine permanently so I always know where the bag is, and it is not somewhere a stranger would think to look.
What is Aer's warranty like?
Lifetime coverage on manufacturing defects. Two zipper pulls came off the main compartment of mine, I emailed Aer, and they mailed replacements for free without making me prove anything. In practice the support was as good as the bag.
Is the Aer Travel Pack 3 Small X-Pac still available?
Aer discontinued the X-Pac version of the Travel Pack 3, so this exact bag is now sale stock or secondhand. The Travel Pack 3 Small is still sold in the standard Cordura fabric, and Aer has since released the Travel Pack 4 X-Pac 28L as the successor, which uses the same fabric with a few design changes.
Is 28 liters big enough for travel?
For me, yes. As a daypack and a suitcase companion it easily holds a change of clothes, a laptop, a camera, a Kindle, chargers, and a day of snacks. If you want to do longer one-bag trips with no suitcase, the 35L version gives you more room.