Luggage reviews, packing tips and travel bag guides
I'm Robert Lora, based in Spain. I compare luggage specifications and owner reviews to help you choose a bag. Here's how I work.
Carry-ons, suitcases, and the brands we keep coming back to.
Travel packs, work bags, and the daypacks we would take up a mountain.
The smaller bags, and the things that live inside them.
Cubes, compression, and the folding methods that hold up.
Airline limits measured properly, and what makes a long flight easier.
The LEVEL8 Hard Shell 20-inch is the closest Away luggage dupe on Amazon: polycarbonate, 40 liters and a TSA lock. Here are six lookalikes compared on the specs Away publishes, and what each one gives up.
Six Amazon weekenders that copy the Béis Weekender's shoe compartment and trolley sleeve, compared spec by spec with the original and the Mini, and what you give up.
Five aluminum and aluminum-framed suitcases sold on Amazon under their own brands, compared with the Rimowa Original Cabin on listed specs. The LEVEL8 Aluminum Zipperless carry-on is the closest overall match.
You can check a backpack under the same size, weight and contents rules as other luggage. Stow or cover the harness, and keep power banks and spare lithium in the cabin.
An expansion zip counts when the packed exterior breaches the airline's limit. Measure the bag closed and open, then compare both totals with the cabin box and the checked limit.
Pack the backpack as you'll fly it, stow the harness, then measure height, width and depth at the widest exterior points and compare them with the airline's box.
Power banks belong in carry-on, not checked luggage. Use the printed Wh rating or calculate it from mAh and cell voltage, then check your airline's count and onboard rules.
Frontier and Allegiant both publish an 18 x 14 x 8 inch personal item, written in different orders and checked in different ways. Spirit used the same box before it stopped flying.
Green claims mean little without a number. We ranked six backpacks on the recycled figure each maker publishes and on how long the build should last.
Briggs and Riley repairs airline damage for life; Tumi covers it for one year but builds the better daily bag. Seven carry-ons, compared clause by clause.
