I've always used soft-sided luggage whenever I needed to check them. I have a couple of good quality wheeled suitcases that have lasted me well over 10 years. However, for an upcoming trip, I'm worried that the suitcases might be a bit too large for the 62" requirement. After scrambling a bit, a friend gave me a set of her hardsided luggage. Quite frankly, it's the first time I "got in touch" with a hardside luggage so I didn't know what to expect, but I was somewhat surprised that the material is not really "rigid" hard like a shell, but somewhat "flappy" ABS material. It's one of those that splits open in the middle. My main concern is the placement of the side handle right next to the zipper. It looks like if you pick up the case (or pull from it like the airline gorillas do) from the side handle, tremendous stress is placed on the zipper adjacent to it, and with a little weight or force added, the zipper could very well rip in that area.
I got curious and went into my local Marshalls and looked at some hardsided cases, and was surprised to find that they're all like that - two "flexible" pieces of ABS meeting with a zipper and a handle right next to it not secured on frame.
I've only purchased my luggage overseas. Is this a general design of these hardsided cases, or perhaps I just haven't seen the real top quality ones? Is it a good idea to use a hard case for checked baggage? It seems that if it's too hard, it might crack, but if not hard enough, there's no "frame" to support where the zipper is. I'm worried that I'll have a ripped case waiting for me at the carousel....