in mein Handgepäck

In the Lesson 9.4 sentence "Ich packe deshalb immer ein paar wichtige Dinge in mein Handgepäck," why is it "in MEIN Handgepäck" instead of "in MEINEM Handgepäck"?  It looks like to me that would be dative, not accusative.  Is the act of packing considered "movement toward"?  Or is there some other rule we haven't come to yet, or that I've overlooked?  Thanks.

You are right, the act of packing is considered movement towards, the important things are not already in the suitcase.

I think if you changed packe to habe then it would be dative.

It's like the difference to “I put the plate on the table” and "the plate is on the table"

Hallo RobertD50 und sfpugh!

The preposition in can either indicate the accusative or dative case depending on if there is movement involved or a fixed location. 

You are quite right, sfpugh, the important things are ‘moving’ into the hand luggage, there is a direction from A to B, which is why we have to use the accusative case here. If they were already packed you could say:

“Ich habe deshalb immer ein paar wichtige Dinge in meinem Handgepäck (dative).” - “I therefore always have a few important things in my hand luggage."

Grüße,

Julia