Away Suitcases: The Ones Worth Buying and the One to Skip

Away suitcases earned their reputation on one thing done well: a light polycarbonate hardshell on genuinely excellent wheels, sold direct at a price that undercuts the old luggage names. If you only remember one line from this review, remember this: buy The Bigger Carry-On, currently $295 at Away. For twenty dollars more than the standard Carry-On you get a 49-liter shell that still clears most overhead bins, the same premium 360-degree wheels, an integrated TSA lock, and Away’s lifetime warranty plus a 100-day trial. It is the Away suitcase I point most people toward. But Away sells a whole family of bags that look nearly identical on the site and are not the same buy, so the rest of this review is about which Away suitcase fits how you actually travel, and where even my top pick falls short.

I spent a decade buying travel accessories for airport shops, which means I read the returns reports as well as the marketing. For this review I pulled every price and spec live from Away’s own product pages, then cross-checked them against long-term owner tests, so the durability notes come from bags that have been through real baggage handlers.

Some links here are affiliate links, which means Intastravel may earn a commission if you buy through them. It does not change which bags we pick or what we say about them.

How I judge an Away suitcase

Away is a good brand, but it is a lineup, and the gap between the right Away bag for you and the wrong one is mostly about size and shell type. I weigh four things.

The wheels come first, because on most luggage the wheels are the first thing to fail and the part you cannot fix at a gate. This is where Away is genuinely strong. Its bags roll on premium 360-degree spinner wheels with ball bearings that reviewers consistently call among the best in the industry, smooth on tile, carpet, gravel, and cobblestone with no pull to one side. That is the opposite of the pattern you see on budget hardside sets, where the wheels wear out first.

The shell comes second. Away’s hardside bags are 100 percent polycarbonate, which is light and flexes under impact rather than shattering like cheap ABS. The honest caveat is scuffing: the shell picks up cosmetic marks with normal use, and Away even includes a small buff sponge in the box. Structural durability is real, scratch resistance is not the point.

The warranty comes third. The limited lifetime warranty covers the shell, wheels, handles, and zippers against defects, and the 100-day trial lets you return an unused bag for any reason. Owners report the coverage is honored quickly, which matters more than the fine print.

Weight comes last but it breaks ties. Away’s checked bags run 10 pounds or more empty, and every pound of empty bag is a pound you cannot pack before you hit an airline’s 50-pound limit.

The Away suitcases worth buying

Best overall: The Bigger Carry-On

Photo: Away

This is the Away suitcase I recommend to most people, and it is the brand’s best-seller for a reason. The shell is 100 percent polycarbonate measuring 22.7 by 15.4 by 9.6 inches including the wheels, it holds 49 liters, and it weighs 7.9 pounds empty. You get the premium 360-degree spinner wheels, an interior compression system, and a built-in TSA-approved combination lock, all backed by the lifetime warranty and the 100-day trial. Compared with the standard Carry-On it costs twenty dollars more and gives you roughly a fifth more packing room, which for most travelers is the difference between squeezing and fitting.

Here are the honest trade-offs. The extra height that makes it so packable is also what can push it over a stricter airline’s carry-on sizer, so this is the Away bag most likely to get flagged on a budget carrier. The shell scuffs with use like every Away bag, worse on gloss and white finishes than on matte. And at 7.9 pounds it is not the lightest carry-on you can buy.

Buy this if you want one do-everything carry-on for four-to-seven-day trips and you fly mainstream airlines. If you fly tight budget carriers, size down to the standard Carry-On.

Check price at Away

Best for strict airlines: The Carry-On

Photo: Away

If you fly airlines with smaller sizers, the standard Carry-On is the safer Away buy. It is the brand’s cheapest hardside, currently $275, with a 100 percent polycarbonate shell measuring 21.7 by 14.4 by 9 inches including wheels, a 41-liter capacity, and a weight of 7.5 pounds. You still get the same premium 360-degree wheels, the same interior compression system, the same TSA lock, and the same lifetime warranty and 100-day trial as the pricier bags. The only thing you give up versus the Bigger Carry-On is packing volume.

The honest trade-off is exactly that room. Forty-one liters covers a long weekend comfortably, but if you routinely pack for a week you will wish you had the Bigger Carry-On’s extra eight liters. And the shell scuffs like any Away bag.

Buy this if you fly carriers with strict carry-on rules, or you pack light and want the lowest-priced way into the Away lineup.

Check price at Away

Best for overpackers: The Carry-On Flex

Photo: Away

The Carry-On Flex is the answer to the one thing hardside carry-ons usually cannot do: expand. For $325 you get the same polycarbonate hardshell and premium wheels, but a wraparound zipper lets it grow 2.25 inches, taking capacity from 41 liters up to 47 when you unzip it on the way home. It weighs 7.9 pounds, carries the TSA lock, and Away rates it for five to seven outfits when expanded. It is the Away carry-on for people who always come home with more than they left with.

Here are the honest trade-offs. Expanded, it is taller than a standard carry-on, so like the Bigger Carry-On it can fall foul of a strict sizer if you fly it fully open, and you may need to zip it back down before boarding. It costs fifty dollars more than the standard Carry-On for a feature you only use on some trips. And the zipper is the long-term weak point on Away bags generally, so an expandable model puts more wear on the part most likely to fail.

Buy this if you consistently overpack on the return leg and want the flexibility. Skip it if you pack the same in both directions, in which case a fixed shell is one fewer thing to break.

Check price at Away

Best checked bag: The Medium

Photo: Unsplash

For a one-to-two-week trip, The Medium is Away’s sweet-spot checked bag, currently $345 in the standard colors. It is a 100 percent polycarbonate shell measuring 26 by 18.5 by 11 inches including wheels, holds a generous 72 liters, and rides on the same premium 360-degree wheels as the carry-ons. It carries the lifetime warranty and the 100-day trial. If you need more, The Large is $375 and The Trunk is $435; if you fly light, you may not need a checked Away bag at all.

Here are the honest trade-offs, and they are real. It weighs 10.4 pounds empty, so more than a fifth of a typical 50-pound airline allowance is gone before you pack a sock. The hardshell, while tough against impacts, has a known weakness: owners have cracked Away checked shells when heavy luggage was stacked on top of them, so it is not the bag to bury at the bottom of a loaded car. And the shell scuffs like the rest of the line.

Buy this if you check a bag for longer trips and want it to match your Away carry-on on those same excellent wheels. Skip it if you are a committed carry-on-only traveler.

Check price at Away

Quick guide: which Away suitcase is for you

Model	Price	Best for	The honest catch
The Carry-On	$275	Strict airlines, light packers	Smallest volume at 41 L
The Bigger Carry-On	$295	Most people	Extra height risks strict sizers
The Carry-On Flex	$325	Overpackers	Costs more, zipper is the wear point
The Medium	$345	One-to-two-week checked trips	10.4 lb empty, shell can crack if stacked
The Large / The Trunk	$375 / $435	Long or family trips	Heavy, big to store

Who should skip my top pick

The Bigger Carry-On is the Away suitcase most people should buy, but it is not right for everyone.

Skip it if you fly strict budget carriers. Its extra height is exactly what a small sizer catches, so the standard Carry-On is the safer buy for basic economy.

Skip it if you always overpack on the way home. The Carry-On Flex expands 2.25 inches when you need it, which a fixed shell cannot do.

Skip it if you need to check a bag for longer trips anyway. In that case pair a standard Carry-On with The Medium and get your volume from the checked bag.

That is curation, not hedging. The point of a pick is knowing when it is wrong for you.

Are Away suitcases worth it?

For someone who flies five or more times a year, yes. You are paying a mid-premium price, above Samsonite and well below Rimowa, and you get a light polycarbonate shell on some of the best wheels in the business, backed by a lifetime warranty owners report is honored quickly. The most common long-term complaint is zipper failure after a year or two of heavy use, and the shell scuffs and can crack under stacking, so it is not indestructible. But the wheels, the warranty service, and the 100-day trial are the real value here. If you fly rarely or you are price-first, a brand like Travelpro gets you similar performance for less.

Before you buy, check it fits your airline

Here is the part I will not fake for you. Whether a specific Away bag clears your airline’s sizer is a precise question, the answer changes by airline and sometimes by fare, and the Bigger Carry-On and an expanded Carry-On Flex both run tall enough to be worth checking. I am not going to quote you a pass or fail I have not measured myself, because a wrong number here costs you a gate-check fee.

A site called NewCarryOn does exactly this. It holds verified dimensions for hundreds of bags, cross-referenced against airline policies, and it will tell you pass or fail for the airline you are flying. Pick the Away suitcase you like here, then confirm it fits your airline there before you buy. That two-minute check has saved me a fee more than once.

If you are still weighing Away against other brands, our general luggage guide compares the carry-ons and sets we recommend across the whole market.

FAQ

What is the best Away suitcase?

For most people, The Bigger Carry-On at $295 is the one I recommend. It gives you 49 liters of packing room in a polycarbonate shell on Away’s premium 360-degree wheels, with a built-in TSA lock, a lifetime warranty, and a 100-day trial, for twenty dollars more than the standard Carry-On. If you fly strict budget carriers, the standard Carry-On at $275 is the safer size.

Are Away suitcases worth the money?

For frequent travelers, yes. The wheels are among the best in the industry, the lifetime warranty covers the shell, wheels, handles, and zippers, and the 100-day trial lets you test the bag risk-free. Just know the shell scuffs with use, the zipper is the most common long-term failure point, and checked bags weigh over 10 pounds empty. If you fly rarely, a cheaper brand may serve you better.

Do Away suitcases scratch easily?

The polycarbonate shell picks up cosmetic scuffs with normal use, more visibly on gloss and white finishes than on matte. Away includes a buff sponge to clean light marks, and owners report a Magic Eraser handles most of them. The scuffing is cosmetic and does not affect how the bag performs.

Will an Away carry-on fit my airline’s size limit?

That depends on your airline, and I will not guess at it, especially since the Bigger Carry-On and an expanded Carry-On Flex run tall. Choose an Away suitcase here for how it is built, then check the exact dimensions and airline fit on NewCarryOn before you order. They verify the numbers so you do not get surprised at the gate.