Carry-on bags don’t have to be replaced when they wear out.
Luggage can get expensive, especially if you’re in the habit of splurging on a nice case that’s built to last. My Arlo Skye has been through some travel with me—by my count, some 714 flights since I bought it in 2019, which means I’ve wheeled it through an airport, down a jetbridge, outdoor boarding ramp, or stairs at least 1,428 times.
A few months ago, I noticed something had changed. It’s a spinner bag on four wheels, and it used to glide away on a flat, uncarpeted surface if I so much as pushed at it with one finger. But lately, it had gotten impossible to push. The wheels dug in like a frustrated steer, sometimes threatening to topple the bag when I pushed it, instead of progressing it forward.
It got to the point where it would no longer roll on four wheels like a spinner is designed to do, and I had to resort to dragging it behind me like the older style of rollaboard bag, and that soon resulted in a case of tennis elbow.
I like the bag, which they’ve stopped making in the smaller size I use (it just fits in the overhead bin on Canadair regional jets when other rollaboard bags have to be gate checked and waited for after the flight arrives). It also has clasps instead of a zipper—and I’m a complete convert to the simple click-open of the clasps instead of the annoying three-sided whine of the zipper, which I liken to the baggage equivalent of wriggling out of a pair of control top pantyhose—when it’s humid.
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I had to save it.
I tried lubricants, but nothing would un-gum those wheels, so I e-mailed Arlo Skye. On newer bags, they said, they could send me the parts with instructions on how to replace them, but on my particular bag, they’d need to have their repair shop do the work. A set of new wheels would cost about $60, and there were some nominal costs involved with shipping and repair, but I was thrilled that there was a solution.
The bag has since come back and is just like new, gliding across airport floors, but it has me thinking about what a great save that was. I was able to fix a bag I love instead of dropping money on a replacement, not only saving myself the trouble of figuring out what to do with a used-up bag (I think the aluminum bags can actually be recycled, but that’s a process to figure out), but also the satisfaction of thrift and economy—I was realizing the promise of my investment by investing more instead of disposing of the whole thing when it got annoying.
Here are some ways to save money when bags get a bit worn and torn:
Check Your Warranty
My bag came with a five-year limited warranty, which had just run out by the time I got around to sending the e-mail. But that benefit’s not limited to Arlo Skye—most luggage manufacturers offer a warranty on their products, so if the wheels gum up before they’re supposed to, or a handle starts to wobble after just a couple trips, they’re around to come to the rescue.
The popular luggage manufacturer Away offers a lifetime warranty for manufacturer’s defects, while Steamline offers a two-year warranty, while the venerable Samsonite offers a variety of warranties based on product.
Find Out the Repair Cost
As I discovered with Arlo Skye, most of the luggage manufacturers will also arrange for repair if you’re not otherwise covered by a warranty. Higher-end luggage brands like Louis Vuitton have also built significant infrastructure around repairs. That brand operates 12 repair shops around the world, in part to help minimize the carbon impact from shipping repairs over long distances. Oftentimes, repairs or replacements of damaged parts, while not particularly inexpensive, are still a fraction of the cost of a full bag replacement.
If you do plan to have your bag repaired, be sure to check with the manufacturer for a timeline on when repairs will be completed so you can be sure you’ll have enough time between trips to send your bag out for repair and receive it back. Once your old friend is returned with their defects addressed, it’s easier to go back on the road (or to the skies) with a familiar side piece, rather than having to learn your way around a new bag.
