Luggage recs

I too am in the market. My current spinner carry on was less than 100 dollars and is almost 13 years old now and is completely falling apart, and we travel internationally once or twice a year.

I am looking closely at the Travelpro Platinum Elite Softside. That is in the 210-230 range which is more than I want to spend but they are considered to be really nice luggage for the price.

Travelpro also makes the Maxlite 5 Softside which is a much more approachable price at 110 ish.

I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

TravelPRO

I don't buy expensive designer brands because the airlines just beat them up. Samsonite goes on sale all the time. I have a bunch of that. The last set I got was LSU purple. Easy to spot as soon as it comes out of the baggage claim chute.

Add another $50 and you can easily buy two pieces of Travelpro from the Maxlite line. I’ve got various sizes of the Maxlite 4 (I think 5 is the current series), and they’re well designed, durable, and a great value at the price. The 19” spinner plus a backpack gets me through 10 days of international travel without having to check a bag.

We only buy Travelpro. Macy's always has Travelpro on sale.

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I lived abroad for 3 years and traveled back and forth to the US and all over Europe with cheap Samsonite hard case luggage. We initially bought them from Amazon thinking we would use them once and replace them with nicer stuff. Never did. They’ve been perfectly fine with no issues really. I’d never pay for anything remotely expensive again.

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Same experience here. OP wants softsided, but in case anyone is looking for something fitting this description, we've had great luck with this hardsided Samsonite set from Sam's. Bought a set for $130 during a $30 off promotion and liked it so much bought a second set for the $160 regular price.

Did you make a damage claim against delta?

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She had bought some other cheap brand off Amazon that was I think a 21" and it had less space than the Travelpro 19" due to inefficiency.

I may talk myself out of my Osprey backpack system with how well the Travelpro worked for her.

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I usually pack the Maxlite 19" spinner and my spouse uses the 22" rollaboard; both hold a surprising amount of stuff for compact cases. Just enough organization inside without having so many pockets that you lose things. The softsided Maxlite duffel is often on sale for $40 or so, and it fits easily beneath an airline seat. So if you hate to check bags, they're a good combo set.

RE: backpacks, after many years of being backpack resistant, I bought a Tom Bihn Synik. It is a great underseat companion, with LOTS of pockets to keep all of your small stuff organized. I'll be dead and buried before that thing wears out.

I like samsonite and Swiss gear. My carry on and big check bag are Samsonite Winfield I think. Road trip bag is a tweener size and it’s Swiss Gear.

I've taken the EBag Mother Lode on 2 European Trips Plus a backpack ( Osprey DayLight).

Packing Cubes can make things go a long way!

Best Packing Cubes!

Travel Pro makes some good stuff and it's often on sale (saw some at Macy's the other day).

Good article.

Good article 2.