Luggage has changed a lot since this happened. I can still remember when the now-ubiquitous overhead bin–sized luggage with retractable handles and wheels came out and that was a couple decades after this event. I don't think that would have necessarily been an option. My recollection of my family's luggage when I was a kid was that there were pretty much full-sized suitcases and toiletry cases and nothing really in-between, plus everything was a rigid hards shell.
