My Away Suitcase Broke, But Away (and Their Lifetime Warranty) Had the Situation Handled in Under 30 Minutes
In 2018 I bought an Away suitcase, specifically the Bigger Carry-On. It was a splurge at $245 (after a discount code and tax, the final total was $258.74), but I had bought so many cheap suitcases that fell apart, I was ready to buy ONE suitcase and have it last. Away has a lifetime warranty, and I liked the idea that this could be the last time I buy a suitcase. This bag is great. My Bigger Carry-On is the only suitcase I use (because it’s the only one I own) and she’s been a superstar since 2018. I recently got back from a weekend trip, and I forgot something in my suitcase after unpacking. I dragged my suitcase out of the closet, opened it to get my forgotten dry shampoo, and the zipper fell off. Not the zipper pull, but the entire zipper unit. Just… fell off.
I was relieved this didn’t happen on or right before a trip, and I was even more relieved that Away has a lifetime warranty. I could just send them a message and they’d fix it! I already evangelized about my Away suitcase, but now that I’ve used the lifetime warranty and gotten my suitcase replaced, I’m going to be singing the praises of Away forever.
It was SO easy to get my new suitcase. Even easier than getting my Yeti tumbler replaced earlier this year. Here’s the timeline:
Tuesday Morning: Do a workout, can’t find my post-workout dry shampoo, realize I probably never unpacked it, open suitcase, suitcase breaks.
Tuesday Afternoon: Contact Away via chat and explain the situation. Send them my order number and a photo (seen above) and they verify my info and tell me I will get a new suitcase shipped to me ASAP. I kept track of the time, and it was 27 minutes from me requesting a chat to having my problem solved and closing said chat.
Saturday: New suitcase is here, and I can do whatever I want with my old broken suitcase.
Now there are some caveats to this warranty, which I find completely manageable and to be expected, but I’ll mention them now. When I bought my Away suitcase in 2018 things were a little different. Away suitcases came with an ejectable battery that could charge your phone or other devices. It also came with a little bag of every plug adapter you could need. (Sidenote: I don’t see the plug adapters listed as a feature on the orginal page for my 2018 suitcase, so maybe that wasn’t something included normally? Did someone mistakenly put it in the bag? Was it a promo deal? I have no idea.) These are no longer included with an Away suitcase, which I think is FINE. I used the charger maybe twice, and I think it was a hassle for some people to deal with at the airport. I personally was never told to remove the battery, or told my bag was too large and I had to check it, but I’ve seen other Away travelers complain about both of these things.
My purple one with her barely used battery pack. And Gus!
The other downside was the color options. My purple suitcase was a limited edition color, so I couldn’t get that, but I could only choose from the core colors for my replacement, which did not include the current limited edition purple. I miss my purple suitcase! Oh AND when I got my suitcase in 2018 it came with a customizable luggage tag (only customizable to a point. It’s made to have your initials but mine says BRB) and now the tag you get is flimsy and cheap and really just trash. It belongs in the garbage. I guess a lot of folks like to use their own luggage tags, and frankly, if the new Away tag is the only one you have, go buy a new one. As it is, I just moved my old luggage tag to my new suitcase, problem solved.
There are a bunch of small but meaningful changes between the two suitcases. There are more pockets in the mesh divider, there’s a handle on the bottom that makes you wonder why it wasn’t there in the first place, and the included laundry bag is better in just about every way.
When I looked up what would happen if I activated my lifetime warranty, the results said Away would have me send back my old suitcase. They didn’t to that. They didn’t even tell me to take it to the Away store that is literally 2.5 miles from my home. They said I could do whatever I wanted with it. So… now it holds shoes that used to clutter up the floor of my closet. (It does not look as nearly a dramatic transformation in photos as it does in person, but believe me, it’s a real closet glow-up.)
I was already in love with my Away Bigger Carry-On, but the wonderful customer service and speed that I got my suitcase has turned me into an obsessed fan. AND now I know they really do mean it about that lifetime warranty.
