Is this Made-On-Demand Weekender Your Next Flight Bag?

Most commercial airline pilots rely on two bags: a roller luggage and a flight bag. While it’s easy to go cheap on your bags, especially if you’re just starting your career, a good bag can last you for 10 years or more.

Your flight bag will see constant use. You’ll open it frequently as it holds all the items you need immediate access to: documents, EFB, flashlight, sunglasses, logbook, everything. You’ll be shoving it next to your seat and bringing it around every terminal.

And if you have enough space, you can even store more personal belongings that you’ll use when you stay a night or more away from your domicile.

That’s why Airline Pilot Central wanted to take a look at Beckett Simonon’s Davis weekender to find out if this bag belongs in the cockpit.

This article isn’t a paid advertisement or sponsored content, but Beckett Simonon did send along the bag for us to give you a hands-on impression.

What Is Beckett Simonon?

Beckett Simonon is a direct-to-consumer company for leather goods. Their products are made to order in small quantities, and they only sell online.

The company advertises that these savings are passed onto the consumer because there’s no need for inventory storage or distribution or any of that. Of course, that does mean that you have to wait longer to get your order, although Beckett Simonon promises to send you updates throughout the process.

So that’s the sales pitch, but how does the quality of the bag itself hold up? After all, pilots know that they need a durable and reliable bag.

The Davis Weekender Bag – Initial Impression

We’ll cut to the chase. The quality of this bag feels great.

You never know what you’re going to get with online-only companies, but Beckett Simonon’s hand-crafted bag feels like it will be able to handle the wear ‘n’ tear of travel for airline pilots.

The full-grain pebbled leather seems high-quality and soft to the touch, and it should hold up as it’s squeezed next to your seat and tossed around in your hotel room. The leather is also reinforced at the bottom.

Although Airline Pilot Central can’t tell for certain about the long-term durability, a few light stress tests didn’t reveal any issues with typical areas of vulnerability (such as where the handles connect to the bag).

Size and Storage

Pilots know that storage size matters. A giant over-sized flight bag won’t fit in the cabin, and a tiny bag won’t give you the space you want.

Sometimes, pilots stay away from your domicile for just one night, but other pilots may be away for a week. The ability to store personal belongings in your weekender, along with your immediate-access flight necessities is a selling point for this particular bag.

The following are the measurements for the Davis Weekender from Beckett Simonon:

Length: 20”

Height: 10.5”

Width: 10.2”

This seems to be about the sweetspot for a larger flight bag for commercial airline pilots. It’ll fit snug into the cockpit of a Boeing and easily into an Airbus.

For organization, the Davis Weekender features a few internal pockets as well as a zipper on the outside for the most immediate needs like a sunglasses case. It’s minimal, but it should be enough for a flight bag.

Other Material Details

The stitching seems thick and substantial. This is a good omen for future durability, which is the focus of our review.

The worst possible outcome for a pilot is for a bag to fall apart when you have no easy access to another. Inside the bag is a heavy-duty fabric lining.

One reliable tip for checking the overall quality of any bag or accessory is to look at the small details. Any buttons or zippers or buckles are always the giveaway to see where a company cut costs.

In the case of the Davis Weekender bag, it doesn’t look like Beckett Simonon went cheap. The YKK zippers are a custom-made brass that they advertise will not break or rust.

From our own testing, the zipping motion (which we did over and over again) is smooth. It didn’t catch or snag.

And although most of the time, your bag will be resting atop your roller luggage as you move through the airport, there’s also a detachable shoulder strap for your convenience.

Style

Okay, we know that for airline pilots, functionality is most important. But it doesn’t hurt to look good either.

The Davis Weekender from Beckett Simonon has a mature sensibility. Nothing is gaudy. There aren’t 800 pockets. The contrast stitching adds a bit of uniqueness, but this is a distinctly modern and minimalist look.

The weekender that APC received from Beckett Simonon has an appealing tan color for the pebbled leather, but the bag is also available in black and burgundy (or oxblood).

Price and Other Details

The price for the Davis Weekender is $359. As discussed before, this requires you to pre-order on their website, and then you will received updates as the bag is manufactured and shipped to you.

Beckett Simonon does offer free shipping, free returns, free exchanges, and a 60-day money back guarantee. This is a nice offer because the brand only sells online. There are no retail stores you can go hands-on with the bag yourself, so the company has made it essentially risk-free to order from them.

The bags also have a 1-year warranty.

And in an era of Amazon factory exploitation, Beckett Simonon promises that their craftspeople are paid a fair wage with health and pension and other benefits.

Summary

The Davis Weekender from Beckett Simonon leaves a great first impression.

Online-only brands often offer direct-to-consumer marketing, but that doesn’t mean the quality is there. For Beckett Simonon, everything from the leather to the zippers to the stitching indicates a durable and high-quality bag.

If you’re looking for a flight bag that has a bit of extra storage capacity, especially if you’re often staying overnight at hotels, APC recommends trying out the Davis Weekender. You can check it out here.