Originally Posted by RoyMan

Had a really positive customer service experience with Away recently. One of the buckles on my Aluminum bag was being a bit finicky - it would sometimes take a couple presses or jiggles to open. Not a big deal but it started to annoy me since I travel all the time and use this bag a ton. I emailed their customer support about it to see if I could get a new latch mailed to me so I could fix it myself. They didnt allow that but they agreed to expedite the fixing due to my frequent travel. They sent me an expedited shipping label, prioritized the fixing, and expedited the shipping back so that the total time was something like 4 days. Perfectly timed in-between two work trips. The normal repair estimate isnt much slower either at 6ish days. They were very responsive via email as well with every response being less than one day.




I really dont think its worth going small unless you fly a really strict airline! I fly united (and partner airlines in canada/EU) and havent had issues. Only time I have to gate check is when its a plane where ALL roller bags need to be checked or when I board late and the small amount of bin space is taken. I was worried about the front pocket as well since my old soft sided bag had that. But then I realized I didnt use it much (past putting my phone/wallet in it when going through security). So now I just use my laptop bag for that quick access stuff instead. Np problems there. Away (and a few others like Rimowa) does have a bag with the front pocket now too if you really still want it.



They are a little bit different..based on the reviews I read and playing with it a bit in a store I felt that it couldnt compress stuff down quite as well as the away. Though you get them on each side...away just has the compression on one side and a divider on the other.

Rimowa:


Away:






Here is a $20 off link - http://fbuy.me/kO5R0 if you are going to take advantage of the 100 day demo and arent sure what type you want I recommend getting a couple at once. Thats what I did and it really helped make the decision.