The Best Checked Luggage of 2021

The Travelpro Platinum Elite 29 Inch Expandable Spinner had a decidedly more premium feel than several of the more expensive options we tested for this guide. A top performer in our tests, this 143.5-liter suitcase boasts several well-thought-out features. It’s easily maneuverable, despite its size, and comes with desirable extras such as TSA-approved lock-compatible zippers and a garment bag.

One of the Platinum Elite’s best features is that access to its main compartment is gained by unzipping the front face of the suitcase rather than down the middle of the bag, which is more common. This means that the whole volume of the suitcase’s generous main storage space is available to use as one compartment, rather than being split down the middle into two. Most of the other suitcases in this guide split in half, once unzipped. This limits the number of large or bulky items that can fit into the main compartment, or lead to the suitcase’s contents spilling out, as you open it up. That said, the depth of Platinum Elite's cavernous main compartment could have you digging around to find items located at the bottom of the suitcase. However, by using packing cubes this becomes a non-issue.

The Platinum Elite’s main compartment comes packing multiple built-in organization aids, including a removable toiletry bag, to help you keep track of your belongings. At the end of your trip, should you find that you picked up more mementos of your journey than the suitcase can handle, Travelpro has your back: with the simple pull of a zipper, the Platinum Elite’s width can be expanded by two additional inches.

We were pleased with how maneuverable the Platinum Elite proved to be during testing. High-quality spinner wheels, paired with a sturdy handle, made navigating our obstacle course a breeze. Several of the other suitcases in this guide had poorly designed, wobbly handles that made navigation more difficult than necessary. With a wobbly handle, half of the energy used to push or pull a suitcase is spent shifting the handle into place before the luggage starts to move. Not so with the Platinum Elite, a sports car of a suitcase among lumbering station wagons. Ok, maybe not a sports car. How about a BMW station wagon in a parking lot full of Buicks?

If you need a big suitcase, start here.

If you’ve considered the pros and cons of soft versus hardshell luggage (which we talk about at length below) and prefer the latter, the Briggs & Riley Sympatico Large Expandable Spinner is the way to go. It doesn’t maneuver as well as our main pick but, overall, it’s a great piece of luggage.

The Sympatico Large’s hard plastic shell is resistant to scratches and seems strong enough to withstand a few hits from a blunt object like a hammer (I hit it with a hammer is what I’m saying, and it was fine). As with most of the luggage we tested, there’s a built-in zipper lock.

Inside of the Sympatico Large’s 147.5-liter main compartment, there are several zippered pouches and mesh compression panels to help you squeeze your belongings in with. Unfortunately, none of the Sympatico Large’s pouches are waterproof, so you’ll need a toiletry bag.

While its spinner wheels worked fine during testing, the Sympatico Large’s extendable handle was more wobbly than we would have liked. This made navigating our obstacle course harder than it needed to be. While the quality of its carry handles proved to be average in comparison to the other luggage we tested for this guide, the placement of the handles stood head and shoulders above the rest. By mounting the carry handles off-center, Briggs & Riley rewards users of the Sympatico Large with a far more natural carrying position, which allows your arm to hang closer to your body while carrying the bag. All luggage manufacturers should do this. It’s honestly a shock that they don’t.

Luxury brand Tumi’s Alpha 3 Extended Trip Expandable 4 Wheeled Packing Case is a beautifully made piece of luggage.

During testing, the 126-liter Alpha 3’s spinner wheels performed well. The suitcase boasts a decent retractable handle, a rugged exterior, and, subjectively, an attractive design.

Inside the Alpha 3’s main compartment, you’ll find a garment bag, mesh pockets, and compression flaps. There are two exterior pockets for quick access, one of which is lockable, just like the main compartment. The main compartment opens in a roughly 20/80 split between the lid with its mesh compartment and the suitcase’s main second, large compartment. It’s not as easy to pack large items or root through as the cavernous single compartment of our Best Overall pick is, but it’s better than the 50/50 compartment design of most of the competition.

Unfortunately, during testing, we discovered that while the Alpha 3 is well-made, it wasn’t able to match the ease with which our Best Overall pick can be packed or its maneuverability.

The 120L Briggs & Riley Large Rolling Upright Duffel Bag is a great choice for anyone that wants a high-quality piece of luggage that can be compressed and stored in a small space, when not in use. It easily accommodated the allotment of clothing we chose to use as part of the testing for this guide, with room to spare. With its bespoke build quality, this bag will support years of extensive travel or, a lifetime, for those who only pack their bags once or twice a year.

Unlike most duffles, which zip down the middle, access to the Upright Duffel’s main compartment is by working the bag’s U-shaped zipper. Once open, the Upright Duffle’s large main compartment can be packed from the top of the bag, on down. There’s a mesh compartment built into the main compartment’s lid. However, we would have liked to see at least a few additional mesh pockets inside of the bag.

While the Upright Duffel’s extendable handle was solid enough, we found that It didn’t navigate our obstacle course as well as our Best Overall or Best Hardshell luggage picks. This was due, in part, to the fact that this duffle rolls around on two wheels instead of four. Additionally, its exterior suffered more scratches from our fork test than some other checked bags in this guide.

Available in several colors, the Away Expandable Large suitcase is a polycarbonate hardshell checked bag, It features a built-in TSA-approved lock, leather luggage tag, and a leather luggage tag integrated into the suitcase’s exterior.

The Expandable Large’s 91-liter interior storage is split into two halves. The first half features a zippered mesh interior designed to keep its contents from spilling out when the suitcase is opened. The bottom half of the suitcase comes equipped with a pair of compression straps and a laundry bag to help keep your dirty clothes or a pair of shoes away from the garments you’ve yet to wear.

We found that the Expandable Large was easy to maneuver on its four spinner wheels when pulled or pushed along by its extendable handle during testing. That said, we were unimpressed with the middling quality and comfort offered by its carry handles.

You’d think the Travelpro Platinum Elite Large Check-In Expandable Hardside Spinner would just be a hardshell version of our Best Overall pick. This was not the case.

While its polycarbonate exterior held up well to both our hammer strike and scratch test,
we found that the Hardsided Spinner’s carry handles were far less comfortable to hold than the ones the Travelpro Platinum Elite 29 comes equipped with. Its extendable handle couldn’t match the one baked into our Best Overall pick, either: it was more wobbly, when extended, making it more difficult to maneuver.

Finally, with its 108-liter capacity, the Hardsided Spinner is one of the smaller suitcases we tested. While all our clothes and shoes fit, there wasn’t a lot of room for packing extras.

While available in subdued white and grey colorway options, you can also pick a Samsonite Voltage DLX Large Spinner up in teal and bright pink—hues that will stand out on a luggage carousel full of baggage. We liked its TSA-approved zipper-lock panel and appreciated the mesh panel and compression straps in the main compartment.

Unfortunately, this checked suitcase was something of a disappointment in the build quality department. Its carry handles were so uncomfortable to hold, I wouldn’t want to carry this suitcase farther than the trunk of a car to the curb outside of an airport or train terminal. I was also unimpressed with its poorly put-together extendable handle, which made wheeling the Voltage spinner around difficult. Finally, when scraped with a metal fork, the Voltage DLX scratched, with the barest of pressure.

The Away Large Aluminum is arguably the best-looking piece of checked luggage we’ve ever tested. Its shiny metal shell should make it very easy to spot on a luggage carousel. However, lay it down on any coarse surface and it won’t stay shiny for too long. We found the Large Aluminum Edition to be very easy to scratch. That said, it didn’t sustain any dents during our hammer tests. However, it did come away from the test with—you guessed it—more scratches.

We were also unimpressed with this suitcase’s 91-liter capacity. Instead, if you’re traveling with a companion, the two of you could each bring a 45-liter carry-on bag with them, carry pretty much the same amount of stuff, and avoid checked baggage fees.

When empty, the Eagle Creek Cargo Hauler 130L Rolling Duffle was able to compress down to the smallest of any suitcase in our test—great news for any travelers with a minimal amount of storage space in their home. This large capacity rolling duffle’s storability comes at a cost.

Navigation with our obstacle course with the Cargo Hauler 130L was a chore due to the fixed position of its two wheels. Steering the bag was a frustrating experience because, in order to move this duffel along on its wheels, I was forced to tug it along using a ballistic nylon strap instead of an extendable handle like the other checked luggage in this guide. When pulled, the Cargo Hauler 130L wobbled, rolled, and refused to stay upright. That said, the duffel can be converted into a backpack, which makes hauling it along, much easier.

When the American Tourister Sonic 28" Spinner was tested by Séamus for a previous version of this guide, he felt confident stating that this bag was capable of surviving a few round-trip flights—but that’s not saying much. The sample he tested was not well made, as the seams were finished with loose stitching. The sides of the suitcase could easily be moved around with minimal force, offering next to no protection for the items inside of it. Most frustrating of all, the zippers for the main compartment refused to zip or unzip smoothly.

If you can afford a better suitcase, we recommend giving the American Tourister Sonic 28" Spinner a pass.