Away soft-sided luggage review: Easy glide and space to overpack

When Away offered a suitcase from its new Softside collection in July, I was excited to use it for a birthday trip to Canada later that month.

But when a global tech outage forced me to cancel my trip, I found myself putting the suitcase back in my closet.

Fortunately, it wasn't long until I found new chances to test out the Away bag. A trip to Las Vegas in mid-August and a trip to New York City two weeks later served as terrific opportunities to try out the new suitcase.

Is the bag worth it? Here are my first impressions of The Softside Bigger Carry-On and how it compares to my Hardshell Carry-On.

This soft-sided suitcase is slippery

After removing the suitcase from its packaging, it immediately rolled across my living room into the closet, likely due to the uneven condition of my apartment's engineered hardwood flooring.

I also took note of how it rolled throughout my travels. From my building's hallway to the floors of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD), New York City's LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay and New York's Park South Hotel, the suitcase's 360-degree, smooth-gliding spinner wheels glided effortlessly along each surface.

When you need to move quickly, the wheels can move quickly with you, as I experienced when running from security through LGA's Terminal B to make a last-minute flight in 20 minutes. Just make sure you have your hands controlling the direction of the suitcase, or else it will slip out of your hands.

There's no battery pack

The second most prominent difference between the soft-sided carry-on and the hard-sided carry-on is the lack of a portable battery pack.

Classic Away suitcases sold before July 2023 were equipped with a removable 37-watt lithium-ion battery located underneath the handle. That made it easy to eject the battery and carry it onto flights.

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Not having a battery isn't a big deal to me since I travel with a portable charger, but I was not aware the brand had removed their batteries.

There are some size differences

When selecting a size, I was concerned that The Softside Bigger Carry-On would exceed the carry-on restrictions of the domestic airlines I frequently fly. For example, United Airlines requires items to be within 22 inches by 14 inches by 9 inches, including handles and wheels, which is larger than Away's Bigger Carry-On. (That bag measures 23 inches by 15.7 inches by 9.1 inches.)

When I asked Away whether its Bigger Carry-On fits the policies of most domestic airlines, the company told me that many customers do not have issues fitting their bags into the overhead bin. Since I've used the smaller hard-shell carry-on for the past several years, I asked Away to send me the bigger Softside version to test out this theory.

My travels in August took me on United, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines, and I am happy to report that I had no issues carrying the suitcase on board. However, it may have been a different story had the airline asked me to fit the suitcase into its bag sizer before boarding.

Another difference I noticed with the Bigger Carry-On was the expanded volume, which can fit 44.3 liters when expanded. The interior felt noticeably larger than my other carry-on (23 inches by 15.7 inches) than the original carry-on (20.1 inches by 13.9 inches).

This is perhaps due to the bag's high-strength, water-resistant nylon construction. The soft-sided suitcase also has a wraparound zipper that allows you to expand it when you need additional packing space. Although Away says its bigger, soft-sided suitcase holds six to nine outfits, I comfortably packed 10 outfits and three pairs of shoes for a two-day trip, thanks to my trusty packing cubes. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that my 16-inch laptop fit in the front pocket.

Lastly, though I was initially skeptical about whether the suitcase could fit into the closet at Mandalay Bay, it did fit, though the door did not fully close.

The prices and color options are not the same

The Softside collection starts at $225 for the smallest carry-on bag ($275 for the hard-shell collection) and goes up to $325 for the large soft-sided bag. The new collection's bags are available in five colors: jet black, cloud gray, navy blue, coast blue and clay pink.

Bottom line

One of the most common complaints with Away bags is that the hard-shell case gets dirty easily, as I have observed with my black hard-shell carry-on over the past five-plus years. When I decided to try the soft-sided luggage in cloud gray, I expected it to get dirty rather easily. However, there's only one minor mark so far, unlike my other suitcase that clearly looks like it's been used.

Overall, I appreciate Away's Bigger Carry-On for being carry-on compliant yet larger than your standard carry-on bag. That said, given the price point, I would consider other brands like Beis and Calpak that have come on the market since Away launched if I wanted to purchase a new suitcase.

Related reading:

• Ode to an ugly suitcase: Why I can't part with my very first piece of luggage
• Why I'll take photos and videos of my suitcase contents before my next trip
• Carry-on luggage showdown: Away vs. Rimowa