The subject comes up again and again, so I figured we could compile a list of brands and/or series with unconditional, life-time warranty. By that I mean a warranty that covers any damage (not cosmetic) for as long as you own the bag. Doesn't matter if an elephant stepped on it or the airline broke the wheels off.
Here are those I know of:
- Briggs and Riley: afaik on all pieces but double check
- Eagle Creek: On the ES and the HC2 series.
- Boyt: On the Mach5 series.
- Travelpro: On the Platinum series. Warranty is not as concretely worded as BR but it comes down to the same. I've used their service once and they were very good.
- Redoxx
- Costco basically has a waterproof warranty with return/replacement policy.
Tom Bihn is supposed to have very good service but explicitly excludes airline damage.
Note that for luggage that is always with you, the warranty is less important as you will take good care of it, presumably. Though,
I have seen people totally overload their wheeled carry-ons and then drag them up and down stairs by the telescoping handles and wonder why they break. Duh!
If it has wheels and/or is checked regularly, the warranty is VERY important.
Final tip: Buy the luggage with a credit card that has a warranty extension if it doesn't have a waterproof warranty.
And a nice link for laughs:
http://www.saddlebackleather.com/17-warranty
Please add other bags to the list or correct mine if you find it faulty.
Till