Come now the original thread is talking about crew bags. I think it is a legitmate business expense. A black Jepps bag would be even more of legitimate business expense. The backpack I use as a flight bag is a legitimate business expense. I know the IRS would be hard pressed to find me carrying my back pack accept on a trip. The way I read the FOM you need to have a bag that you dont check dont you? You made a blanket statement that a flight bag was not a legitimate expense. We are all free to be conservative or liberal (no I dont mean Rangel or Geitner tax cheating liberal) when we file our taxes but you have to agree the preponderance of evidence says a flight bag is a legitimate business expense (subject to the IRS tests) for an airline pilot.

As an aside, unless you are really good at figuring what your are allowed to claim for personal expenses I highly recommend EZperdiem or the Prodiem people, well worth the money and it is a tax deductible expense (unless you think you are cheating the IRS).