The Best Carry-On Luggage of 2023

Dimensions: 22 x 14 x 9
Our bag sizer says: It fits!

The Briggs and Riley Domestic Carry-On offers plenty of packing space (35.4 liters and up to 46.4 when expanded). This, along with its durable construction featuring a hybrid fiberglass frame, reinforced corners, and a 1680D ballistic nylon fabric exterior, make it a great choice for frequent travelers.

Of all the bags we tested for this guide, the Domestic Carry-On performed best on our obstacle course and quarter-mile walking tests. Whether pushing the bag on its four double swivel wheels or dragging it on two, it rolled extremely smoothly — even on carpet, the most challenging of our test surfaces. Unlike other bags, the Domestic Carry On’s three-height retractable handle’s hardware is placed almost entirely on the outside of the bag, which ensures that it doesn’t take up valuable packing space. When the time comes that the bag must be carried, the Domestic Carry-On’s comfortable handles, located on the top and side of the bag, make it easy to do so.

The bulk of the Domestic Carry-On’s storage capacity is found in its cavernous main compartment, which is accessed by unzipping the bag’s lid. The inside of the main compartment’s lid is equipped with two nearly full-length zippered pockets, stacked on top of one another. The main compartment boasts compression straps to help you fit more into the suitcase. For those who need to travel with clothes that look fresh out of the closet even after they’ve been pulled out of a suitcase, the Domestic Carry-On boasts a ‘suiter’ bar, designed to help keep garments wrinkle-free. Finally, if you packed too much to allow you to bring home any mementos from your travels with you, this carry-on has an internal mechanism that makes it possible to expand the thickness of the bag from nine inches to 11.5 inches. Should you take advantage of this expandability, don’t be surprised if the suitcase no longer fits into an airport sizer.

To help you whisk through airport security, the Domestic Carry-On’s exterior pocket is large enough to fit a laptop and your quart-sized bag of liquids. There’s an additional (unlockable) pocket for smaller items too. At the back of the bag, beneath the discrete luggage tag receptacle, there’s another pocket between the ribs of the retractable handle which would fit a water bottle or perhaps a collapsible umbrella. The main compartment and laptop pocket can be secured with lockable zippers.

While the high-quality materials that the Domestic Carry-On is made out of ensure that it provides most people with a lifetime of use (absolutely no damage was left by our fork or hammer tests), this suitcase’s excellent build quality comes at a cost: out of all of the carry-on bags we’ve tested over the years, the Briggs and Riley Domestic Carry-On is the heaviest, at 9.3 pounds.

Dimensions: 21.7 x 13.7 x 9 Our bag sizer says: It fits!

The Away Carry On is a hard-sided 39.8-liter suitcase with a clamshell design. Once unzipped, you’ll have access to two large compartments: one in each half of the suitcase. Zippered meshed covers ensure that the contents of each side of the bag stay put while the carry-on is being opened or closed. Amesh pocket, located on the flap that divides the bag — is large enough to accommodate a laptop. One side of the Away Carry-On’s interior features compression straps to help you to fit more clothing and sundries into the suitcase. As a bonus, this suitcase comes with a water-resistant laundry bag. It’s also worth noting that the Away Carry On comes with international plug adapters as well as a removable 10,000 mAh rechargeable battery.

The Away Carry-On’s built-in combination lock secures its zippers in place. The zippers themselves are designed so that you can add your own TSA lock too. It’s worth noting that, because of the size of the zipper pulls, you’ll need to make sure that when the bag is zipped up they aren’t located at the bottom of your bag or they’ll drag on the ground.

The Away Carry-On’s exterior shell is made using Makrolon polycarbonate. Away markets this material as unbreakable — a claim we’re unable to verify as it falls outside of the scope of our tests — but bendable under pressure. Unfortunately, as with all hard-shell suitcases that we’ve tested in the past, it was susceptible to scratches and scuffs. After running a fork over the shell, I was able to see faint scratches on the exterior of the bag, though they were only visible under some light conditions. An eraser is included with the Away Carry-On to help mitigate scuffs, plus it comes with a branded cloth storage bag to keep the dust off when not in use or — if the thought of scuffing up your bag gives you nightmares — to protect it while it’s in transit.

The bag has both a side and a top carry handle, comfortable though not padded. Note that the handles aren’t in the exact center of the bag (since that’s where the zipper is) so, depending on how you pack, that might make your bag feel a little off-balance when carrying it.

The retractable handle was similar to most other bags we tested, sturdy and smooth. During our mobility tests, the Away Carry-On excelled on sloped terrain. However, like most four-wheeled spinners, it had difficulties rolling along over carpeting when it would sometimes stop or prove a little difficult to turn — likely a problem with wheel alignment. Additionally, as is typical with a hardsided suitcase, the Away Carry-On has no external pockets.

Our bag sizer says: It fits! Dimensions: 22 x 14 x 9

The Tumi International Front Lid 4 Wheeled Carry-On is a well-built, high-end spinner bag with a structured frame covered in fabric made from post-consumer recycled bottles and post-industrial ballistic nylon. It’s aimed at the eco-conscious luxury traveler.

The majority of the International Front Lid’s 32-liter storage space is found in its deep main compartment, which takes up almost the entire depth of the bag. If this isn’t enough space for you, the suitcase can be expanded by three inches to make room for extra cargo. Expanding the bag, however, will mean it won’t fit in the sizer — in fact, empty and at its unexpanded size, it’s a tight fit. The underside of the suitcase’s lid has a large interior pocket made from a lightweight material, ideal for flatter items like a jewelry case or chargers. A second, large interior pocket attached to the bag’s side runs almost the entire height and width of the whole bag.

There are two pockets on the lid’s exterior that are large enough to hold an ultrabook or small laptop, along with any liquids that the TSA might be interested in having a look at. Given their inability to be locked, these exterior pockets are best used for temporary storage, such as while you’re going through airport security.

The International Front Lid’s retractable handle proved very sturdy during testing. We liked that it provides three different height options. During our maneuverability tests, the suitcase’s spinner wheels rolled extremely smoothly but did need occasional minor course corrections to keep it on track. In addition to its retractable handle, Tumi also equipped the bag with two leather grab handles plus a fabric flap sewn into the bottom of the suitcase’s exterior. The flap can be used to assist in pulling the suitcase out of the trunk of a car or an airplane’s overhead compartment.

Dimensions: 21.5 x 14 x 9 Our bag sizer says: It fits!

The Travelpro Crew VersaPack Global Carry-On Expandable Rollaboard is a four-wheeled spinner that features a sturdy internal frame wrapped in a tough fabric shell. The Versapack Global Carry-On’s slightly padded lid offers three pockets, accessible from the outside of the bag. These are great for keeping items that you might need to show airport security, including a laptop, and for other items you want close at hand. However, putting too much into these compartments could prevent this carry-on from fitting into an airport sizing device.

TravelPro has equipped this bag with an external luggage tag compartment and an external side pocket designed to hold a portable power pack. We were disappointed, given the cost of some USB power packs, that this pocket cannot be locked. In fact, only the bag’s main compartment and the lid’s largest exterior pocket boast zippers designed to be locked together.

The VersaPack Global Carry-On’s 39-liter main compartment is divided into two sections by a removable zip-in “garment organizer” — a flat section of the bag that has room to expand a few inches. The bag also has compression flaps to help you fit in more clothes.

In addition to the garment organizer, this spinner carry-on comes packing a water-resistant, plastic toiletry bag marked as TSA compliant. For a deeper level of internal organization, the VersaPack Global Carry-on can be paired with a number of TravelPro accessories, including a laundry organizer, a fold-out suiter organizer, a packing cube organizer, and an all-in-one organizer. Of course, any packing cubes you may already own will work too.

The VersaPack Global Carry-On’s four-position retractable handle is sturdy and features a contoured plastic grip. The bag has both a top and a side carry handle, both nicely padded though not super wide. It also has a handle grip on the bottom to make grabbing the bag with two hands easier.

During mobility testing, the carry-on’s four sets of spinner wheels worked well enough. They rolled well over tiled and smooth surfaces. But, as with most of the spinner bags in this guide, it was easier to drag the carry-on along on two wheels, rather than push it on four wheels by its retractable handle over carpet. On pavement, I noticed that the wheels sometimes felt a little sticky rather than perfectly smooth in how they moved.

The retractable handles of most of the bags in this guide take up some space in the interior of the bag. The VersaPack Global Carry-On is no exception. The bars inside the bag make it impossible to pack anything flat in the main compartment.