Originally Posted by
N1120A
Costco's warranty is the best you will find for anything, anywhere. Additionally, they generally only market well made products under their own Kirkland Signature brand. There are, however, significant problems with KS luggage specifically. First, the 22" roll-aboard is known to actually measure 23.5 inches high. That will create major problems anywhere they ask to measure your bag. Second, KS luggage tends to be heavy for its size, which creates problems both in Europe, where there are limitations on the specific weight of carry-on luggage, and when people want to check bags and are limited to 50 pounds or 20 kilos. If the bag already weighs 20 pounds, you have significantly limited what you can carry without being extorted by the airline.
I mostly agree with you and just remeasured a 6+ year old Kirkland "22 inch" wheelie at 23 inch and a two month old Kirkland wheelie at 22 3/4 inch. Add 1/2 in for the top handle which doesnt show up in the airport sizers. Both have fit into every airport sizer tried in NA, SA and Europe. I agree they are 1-2 lb heavier than most cheap units but I attribute that to a sturdy design. Only twice was one rejected because it was over 20 kg (I thought the agent said a max of 18 kg was allowed in my B735 two weeks ago CPH-PRG) outta mucho hundreds of flights over the years. I fretted less about checking this $100 Kirkland than my now little-used $600 Tumi. The new unit fit into the CPH sizer last week allowing me to take it aboard and make a very close connection at ATL (my flight took-off 90 min late) and not be stuck at ATL overnight. I entered the plane at ATL exactly 12 min before they closed the doors and found an empty spot for the wheelie above my FC seat in 4C.
MisterNice