Away Carry-On Review

There’s a lot of hype surrounding the Away Carry-On. Influencers, celebrities (and seemingly everyone else on the internet) shower love upon this rolling carry on luggage designed to fit perfectly inside the overhead bin on planes.

As gear testers, we’ve been excited to get our hands on this suitcase and determine if this hype is justified or … not. To find out, we bought the Away Carry-On and have been testing it for two weeks.
So, what have we concluded? Read on.

External Components

The Away Carry-On hasn’t dominated your social media feed because it’s ugly. No, this suitcase is sleek and modern. And the leather detailing adds just the right amount of old-fashioned elegance.

At the time of this review, it’s available in ten colorways, plus a limited edition one called Wave Blue Gloss. While the lighter colors available look really nice and classy, remember that they will show scratches/blemishes better than their counterparts. We’ve been testing the Navy Blue variant, which seems to be a popular choice (based on how many we saw during our travels, we don’t actually have stats on this).

The Away Carry-On is made from polycarbonate. Interestingly, there’s an included scuff eraser that you, theoretically, can use to remove minor scuffs, though it didn’t really work when we tried it. The hard sides are structured and sturdy, but the zipper down the middle adds a lot of movement and flexibility—and not in a good way. The zipper feels floppy in the middle—almost like the two rigid panels are floating on the zipper. It’s hard to explain, but it’s not the best feeling.

It’s worth noting that this amount of flex seems specific to the the Carry-On. Other hard-side luggage we’ve tested just don’t exhibit this much floatiness between their respective halves. On a more positive note, the zipper itself and all of the zippers in this suitcase are from a brand we trust, YKK. We’ve mostly had good experiences with YKK in all of our testing, so we don’t foresee any problems popping up with these.

We also want to note that this suitcase has leather accents, which may be a deal-breaker for you. It’d be nice for Away to offer a vegan version of the Carry-On, especially because the leather accents are purely for aesthetic purposes.

The suitcase also features two grab handles—one on the side and one on the top, which are pretty standard for rolling luggage. Both handles are slim and tight to the suitcase, so getting your hands under them can be tough. However, when you do, they expand some and are pretty comfortable to hold over short distances (like on and off the plane or up a flight of stairs). They are also quite handy for tugging the suitcase in and out of the overhead bin or trunk of a car.

The zippers are lockable with TSA-friendly locks, a nice inclusion for peace of mind. They’re also easy to use—slide both of the zippers to the top and pop them in the lock. To unlock them, enter your 3-digit code, slide the mechanism, and boom—the zippers will pop right out. Easy, peasy.

The Away Carry-On also comes with a leather luggage tag, so you are more likely to get your luggage returned to you if things go awry. It feels premium and fits in with Away’s aesthetic, which we like because that means we don’t need to go out of our way to buy our own.

Fit Notes

You probably don’t spend too much time thinking about it, but the telescopic handle on hard-sided luggage is likely the thing you’ll interact with the most while traveling. And the handle on the Away Carry-On is—in a word—luxurious. It’s sort of soft, which makes it comfortable to hold as you roll along through the airport or from your taxi to your hotel. It’s way nicer to use than traditional slick, hard plastic handles, even though it lacks any additional padding or grip.

You can also lock it into two different positions—fully extended and approximately two-thirds of the way up. (And all the way down, of course.) We like having options because the suitcase will work for several body types and situations.

The wheels spin 360 degrees, meaning you don’t have to roll the suitcase behind you. You can roll it next to you, swing it between your legs, spin it around your body, or do a bunch of other fun tricks. They also roll pretty easily, whether we were pulling the Carry-On across carpeted floors or relatively rough sidewalks.

Inside The Carry On Luggage

The main compartment’s zipper track is noticeably indented into the body, creating a gap that can stretch or compress. While this seems trivial, it makes the structure feel more flexible than it should be, with the zipper track acting like a soft buffer between two otherwise solid halves.

Alright, let’s open this sucker up. It opens like a traditional suitcase—clamshell-style. This is super convenient as it allows you to pack and access your stuff from various angles, which means you can see all of your gear and organize it. That said, you have to open it completely to get to your stuff, which takes up a lot of space. There are no quick-grab pockets on this suitcase, though, to be fair, many pieces of hard-side carry on luggage also lack this feature.

On the right side, you’ll see two compression straps. These straps are excellent—they’re smooth to adjust and keep everything tidy and compressed. There’s also a zippered compression pad. Because the pad is a little stiff (it has a frame), it helps compress your clothing even more. The two zippered mesh pockets on it work well for flatter items—socks, undergarments, notebooks, paperback books, etc.—although the straps block the zipper of the top mesh pocket. If you’re not a fan of this compression pad, you can also remove it altogether, but since the straps are secured in place, you must either use them or tuck them beneath all your clothing.

The rest of the right side is an open bucket. We tested this suitcase with the Away The Insider Packing Cubes, which—no surprise—fit perfectly. But any brand of packing cubes will help you to maximize the available space (and keep your clothing from descending into a chaotic jumble). We used the Medium Wide for shirts and the Large Slim size for bottoms and pants.

You’ll also find a zippered pocket at the top of this side, with a shoe-laundry-whatever-you-want-to-use-it-for bag. It holds quite a bit of stuff—you’ll likely be able to fit multiple pairs of shoes (depending on the size of your feet) and a lot of dirty laundry. It’s connected to the zippered pocket via a snap button, so it’s easy to remove.

The left side of the suitcase is also a big bucket of space secured with a zippered mesh divider, which essentially creates a giant pseudo-packing cube. The divider keeps your stuff from falling out. This is where we’ve kept our smaller items—a Gravel Explorer Toiletry Bag, a packable rain jacket (cause you never know), a Merino Wool Kerchief, a small Away Packing Cube with miscellaneous bits, etc.

Overall, there is plenty of space for a short trip or for long-term travel if you’re packing minimally (we fit everything needed for a week-long vacation to Mexico and had plenty of room to spare). But if you want a little bit more room, Away does offer The Bigger Carry-On, which, as the name suggests, is larger. The Bigger Carry-On will fit in the overhead bins on most U.S. airlines but likely have to be gate-checked on smaller planes.

Durability & Testing

As we mentioned at the beginning of this review, we’ve been testing the Away Carry-On for two weeks, putting it through its paces by taking it on a few trips (domestic flights and by car).

Overall, it’s a solid piece of spinner luggage. It’s well-constructed and has plenty of features that are nice to have while traveling, which brings us to the question that kicked off the review. Is the Away Carry-On worth all the praise? Maybe. We know that’s not the most satisfying answer, but it’s the truth. If you’re looking for stylish rolling luggage that you plan to use for short excursions and you don’t plan to walk with it much, then you’ll probably love this thing. If you have a more adventurous travel style that involves navigating uneven terrain, then this suitcase is likely not for you.

As far as durability is concerned, everything is holding up pretty well. We have noticed a few scratches, but nothing that’s disappointing or, to be frank, unexpected for hard-sided luggage (which tends to scuff up faster than soft-sided luggage). However, while we wish that the scuff eraser worked as well as its name suggests, it just doesn’t.