The cheapest large luggage I found with a lifetime warranty.
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bettina44 on 11/11/2023 - 04:48 antler.com.au (7952 clicks)
Last edited 13/11/2023 - 11:53 by 2 other users
Last edited 13/11/2023 - 11:53 by 2 other users
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This happen to me. The integrated name tag sheared off after the bags first trip. I contacted Antler to get a replacement part since the rest of the bag is fine. They couldn't even provide one and said i should contact an authorised repair center.
I have a long story about a colleague of mind and his experience with Samsonite
if anyone can be bothered reading it. I do warn ppl - I’ve been told the story or bits of the story multiple times over the year but it happened about 20 years ago. Lots have changed, but at the time I knew Samsonite was super expensive, I didn’t know that it can be fixed almost anywhere in the world providing they have an authorised repair centre, but it pays to read the fine print and when you put yourself in someone’s shoes who tried to make a claim in the USA and the initially made it just about impossible. Technology has changed a lot and also this definitely not an everyday occurrence. Always keep the original invoice with you went you travel.
As I said, it’s long, plus I add my own experiences with cheaper luggage before the story.
You must use a hardcase when travelling. Baggage moves around in the airplane hold too. Wheels get caught on other wheels.
And most damage is done on the airports sorting belt before it gets to the baggage handlers. They're like giant pinball machine pucks smacking bags into the correct baggage belt.
Then there's other idiotic passengers who pack red wine or alchohol in their checked bags and they get smashed and get all over everyone else's stuff.Hardcase is the only way to go.
Why were you down voted?I agree. Hard cases are the way to go
You must use a hardcase when travelling.
Why?
Baggage moves around in the airplane hold too.
And scratches the hard case.
Soft case won't scratchWheels get caught on other wheels.
And then they break.
A soft case with more integrated wheels won't have that problem.
Hard cases with external wheels will have that problem.
Wheeling a suitcase with a broken wheel isn't fun.And most damage is done on the airports sorting belt before it gets to the baggage handlers. They're like giant pinball machine pucks smacking bags into the correct baggage belt.
Hard things hitting a hard suitcase can cause them to crack.
A soft suitcase won't have that problem.Then there's other idiotic passengers who pack red wine or alchohol in their checked bags and they get smashed and get all over everyone else's stuff.
Hard suitcases are better here
Good lord - I wonder how I survived my recent trip from Oz, when I travelled with a 5 litre wine cask packed inside a 12 year old soft side case.
It's probably the 10th time I've done this with the same case, but now I'm thinking I should ditch it and swap to a (relatively) heavy and far more easily broken hardcase.
See my story about Samsonite at the bottom. That was hardcase. Cost a fortune. Got a fork lift Tyne through the front of it.
Don't risk flying with a soft shell case like this.
People put wine bottles, milk, or sorts of junk in their suitcases and when it spills or cracks, and your bag is in the plane next to it, you're stuffed.I'd say it's the opposite, don't fly with hard shell cases that can crack or get damaged easier.
I work in the industry and have worked in baggage. I would never fly with a softshell. No one in the industry would either who's ever seen how the bags sit in the aircraft or seen how they go from check in to the aircraft.
Hard case is doomed to fail. Don't pack anything fragile into your checked in flexible, elastic bag, and nothing will break. The only problem are protruding wheels
@mrau: I've got a big American tourister hard outer case (although it's a bit of a flexi hard material) that I've taken on about 40 plane rides in the past 7 years. Had no issues and still using.
My wife on the other hand, I've seen her soft bag get replaced once and it's now damaged to the point of no repair again—- and come home wet (thanks Qantas) more than once.When it's time for me to buy again, I'd try to get the same semi-hard case again, and without a doubt definitely not a soft case.
@Jayblesz: Choice rate American Tourister pretty high up their list, and the Prestwich, they only rate the smallest of the three, and it’s not on their recommended list. It’s about middle of the road. However price for all three with this discount for an infrequent Traveller, definitely worth considering.
But it’s not the first time I’ve ignored advice from Choice and had a decent to very good experience.
When I worked for Emirates all of our luggage was soft-shell & I never had an issue - but personally I do use a hard-shell that is holding up well.
@StiSupafly: Emirates is containerized. Virgin and qantas aren't. Huge difference in the beating that bags take on a manually loaded plane.
On Jetstar domestic and most international flights, bags go in containers before going onto the plane. They are packed in tighter overall and protected by the container while being loaded onto a plane with a lift loader.
On Qantas/Virgin/Rex domestic flights the bags are manually loaded by hand onto a baggage trailer then loaded from the trailer onto a belt by one person who sends them up to another one or two people inside the cargo hold- and then stacked on top of each other depending how many bags+ freight are on the flight…so much more risk of something breaking/leaking/crushing your bag.
Qantas 737's have an electric carpet in both the front and rear that glides back to create more room. Virgins old shitboxes only have a carpet in the front hold, so in the back, they literally throw the bags from the cargo door entrance to another person who is further down in the back of the plane.
If you spend good money on a hardshell suitcase, it should last you 5-10 years without problems. Unless they are dropped from height, a good Samsonite hardcase is unbeatable IMO.
If you have expensive clothing or anything fragile, you are rolling the dice with a soft case. Eg: wedding dress or wedding suit, work suit for important meeting…red wine, fish, powerade, alcohol will not touch anything in a hard case.
Source: I have Qantas staff travel and use it regularly, I am literally on the ground lookig inside the cargo holds as part of my job and I see what happens to bags every day.
So when the bag next to yours has a case of wine in it and it cracks open, your bag/belongings get doused in shit, what do you do? It happens every day at most major airports.
If you fly regularly, you're at much more risk. If you dontfly regularly then it's less risk I guess.
You probably see more planes a day than the average person would fly on in their life, hence the risk is probably not as high as it seems to you. They're great points you're making and I'd consider switching to hard case next time I purchase but my American tourist soft cases have gone through probably 50+ flights over the last decade without any issues so it will probably be a while.
I've been using my Antler softshell for 8 years and it's still in really good shape. Maybe they used to make them sturdier. My wife's American tourister all the seems are tearing after one trip. We did over load it though.
I have flown multiple times, with wine bottles and glass items.
Bubble wrap your items and secure with tape.
And wrap it further with clothing.
No idea what the heck other people are doing.
I personally fly with hardshell, samsonite cosmolite is the one I still use ( more than 15 trips,same suit case for the last 10 years)
Personal preference in the end.
Soft shell is better than hard shell. Hard shell has a seam in the middle of the bag, so you pretty much need to unpack everything at your destination. Whereas soft shell bags have a lightweight lid that you can rest on the wall of your accomodation.
If you think your bag is at risk of spilling or cracking (which is very very rare) consider using a luggage strap.
Their lifetime warranty is dodgy, you have to register very shortly after receiving the case to get the lifetime warranty.
What does it mean by lifetime warranty? Ware and tare will not be it.
Usually it specifies, things like zips or sewed liner, generally the structural things that would make it unusable that are generally not just wear&tear for a good quality suitcase.
The frame or wheels getting bent/broken would likely not be covered, that's when you go directly to the airline baggage place when you pick up damaged luggage and get a report to request them to fix it, or claim travel insurance.
you have to register very shortly after receiving the case to get the lifetime warranty.
The consumer should supercede this BS requirement.
Sorry about the previous post - I meant the consumer Law supercedes these kinds of BS requirements.
We bought Antler Juno from Myers and part of handle broke during first international trip. Antler refused the warranty claim advising that the damage is due to mishandling which definitely was not the case.
Since then I use Delsey who would even replace the broken parts without any issues.
Strange, we have had both the carry handles and wheels (worn out rubber not broken) replaced on our Antler Junos under warranty.
Same wore out rubber on Juno wheels, went to the Antler authorise repairer at Camberwell and was advised not covered by warranty & cost $100 to replace 4 wheels.
Is there a size limit to planes leaving Australia or international standards limits on Large 83 x 46.5 x 31 cm?
Yeah the limit is usually less than that on almost every airline in the world. But it doesn't seem to be enforced in my experience, as long as the weight is right.
Size & Weight limits differ by airline, you should confirm with the airline you plan to fly with
I'm glad you used your time to comment on this deal to let us know you're not interested. Hopefully I'll see you in other posts.
I think it was Ricky Gervais who wondered if these people walk through town centres, see a sign advertising piano lessons, pull out their phone tremlbing with rage, dial the number and wait for them to pick up, only to scream down the line "BUT I DONT WANT (profanity) PIANO LESSONS"
Ahhhh Pikaloo, what fun we are about to have
Rip your back and shoulders
More like: my neck, my back….
Sounds like you’ve already given up.
Not on the song.
Thank you for letting us know.
rimowa or im not traveling
Any discount codes?
yes "URPOOR" will get you 150% off
Thanks OP, get the set. Always been a fan of Antler softshell
If you buy set, isn't the medium size a waste? :-) Don't think there is much of price advantage too
I sometimes need the medium for a short trip :)
Even better than the Qantas deal. Amazing
Medium is $131.60
Anyone have experience of how quick delivery is from Antler? Leaving Friday…
If you put your address it’ll give you an estimate.
Showed 3-5 business days for me.
Looking for classic Samsonite hard cases. They only make semi hard with weak zippers which can easily break.
Thanks was looking for hard suitcase. Just used the code for an already reduced Stamford.
Is this alot lighter than hardcase?
It might cost 2-3x the on sale price to get a hardcase of the same size and same weight. This suitcase is 3.2kg. An example of a light hardcase would be Samsonite Oc2lite 75cm which holds 9L less and weighs 4.1kg.
Thanks. Useful info. I travel only once a year so this might be better for me than hardcase if I dun abuse it. Might even be useful for moving my stuff when I move home which probably will occur more often with rental going crazy these days lol
Have been using the same large Antler suitcase for 10 years, still going strong. I fly INTL 2 weeks of every month.
Good deal and good timing with trip booked!
I travelled the world when I was a teenager using the cheapest luggage from Reject Shop. Probably lucky the case didn't tear open, spilling all my stuff all over the baggage handling area.
Rimowa is popular in particularly Asian countries. Its value comes from the effortless rolling and manoeuvring even when overpacked (thanks in part to the sturdy handle bar). Compared to my shitty Samsonite softcase it is night and day. Although I've never had broken red wine bottles on softcase as the bottles are always wrapped in bubble wraps/clothes/socks (not worn ones…)
Thanks OP!
TL;DR Airlines don’t take responsibility for damaged bags unless it’s completely destroyed but you are more likely to get money on a travel insurance policy, and some people are lucky and others unlucky. I hated putting a brand new bag, especially on INTL trips, AU can be hit and miss. Minor scrapes and front pocket being torn off was the worst except the crush damage but that was coming back from AKL.
I travelled around AU and NZ quite a bit between 2002 and 2009. Also six trips to North America, our head office was in Montreal which can take up to 30 hours door to door depending which airlines you fly.
I learnt early on that luggage is there to protect my possessions inside the bag. Airlines rarely took responsibility for even quite significant damage.
I went through “four sets of luggage” they weren’t complete sets, they were a medium and a large, bag sizes have probably changed in that time, I usually only replaced one at a time if there was fairly bad damage. Zippers tapes being torn off, bumps, scratches, was the most common and I had a pocket torn off one and another almost ended up in a Diamond shape. Fortunately this nearly always happened on my return flight.
Other guys I worked with who also travelled, some a lot more than the 2-4 times a month I was averaging.
The most destroyed bag I got back was from a return flight from Auckland to MEL, that was the “almost” diamond shape one.
Qantas gave me a $50 voucher, but my regional office boss said I was able to claim it as a company expense.
However, as I was told by our Sydney and eventually Singapore office, luggage is not normally covered but when they saw the photo and it was only it’s second trip they agreed to replace it.
Thinking back, seems like forever ago, how different things are now, no idea. In the 2000s then was quite a bit different. But I learnt a lot of tips and things done from fellow travellers and some from my own bad luck.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
This is a FAIRLY LONG story about Samsonite and you can probably SKIP IT as I go into a LOT OF DETAIL, the best I can recall and since it happened ~20 years ago I’ve tried to get as much as I could remember but I heard the story multiple times over the years.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-I had a friend, but now I barely hear from him, who worked at another company, he flew multiple destinations, showing off some local made tech, something requiring roadcases to show it off, he flew not only AU capitals but multiple foreign destinations.
After getting several bags trashed, he eventually got some Samsonite bags which iirc are the hard plastic shell ones as he said was sick of buying new bags and was knew they could be fixed anywhere in the world and their global warranty was amazing (which they do have but what if you need to claim). This is that story or the best I can remember it. Like I said it’s long.
No one ever suggested to me to spend huge $$$ on Samsonsite and I didn’t know about their “amazing international warranty” and also be nearly indestructible - however I had heard of them. I also knew they cost mega dollars.
Anyway my colleague ended up with a forklift hole through the front of his bag upon arrival to LAX from MEL which made it difficult to open because the hinges were also bent
He tried to lodge a claim first with the airline Qantas and AA codeshare, they said they wouldn’t help or pay damages.
He then called Samsonite USA who told him without his original receipt, and they refused to accept a faxed copy which took him a few days to get sent over, they wouldn’t fix it for him even though they will fix what ever country you are in as long as they have a authorised repair centre,
the scale of their repairs varies greatly from country to country though, but at the time they were supposed in be in all the major western counties, but here is the thing, some companies have agents or only repair centre - but USA had multiple offices and multiple repair centres
But if you get customer service saying they want the “original receipt” given they money he spent on them and a faxed copy of his Australian receipt apparently wasn’t good enough for them, but I can only assume he called their generic Vustomer Service and since that he was travelling on to Denver, meant they basically said the repair time would have been longer than he was going to be in the USA for and i believe to even get someone to look at it required multiple calls and to even get them to acknowledge his global warranty as at the time the Australian Warranty said copy, he didn’t even read the fine print. (If I spend $2K on luggage I’d wanna know every little detail). I think wherever he got them from, never revealed what was involved.
Finally getting Samsonite to agree to do it he was five days into a ten day trip and they said, this was in the early 2000s when camera photos weren’t high resolution, they told him it would take over a month to repair the bag.
He insisted upon a replacement which they said they on do in situations of catastrophic failure which he had a hard time getting them to “define catastrophic damage” but it would take more than a hole in the front of his luggage to be considered catastrophic.
He spoke to Qantas USA and AU multiple times which just resulted in long waits on hold and told to take for in personal inspection at a LAX where they all figured it must have occurred.
Since Qantas’s presence was quite small in the USA at the time, they kept palming him off to Australia, who said you have to speak to our LA Office etc.
The best suggestion someone came up with for return journey was to wrap the bag in heavy plastic. He also had gaffa tape with him which he used but as he said he didn’t have a lot of spare time while he was there and he tried to get his office in Australia to organise things for him, after all he was at a trade show most days. Cannot remember what he did between Denver and LAX
I recall
TSA nearly didn’t let him fly back to MEL with the bag especially wrapped in plastic and gaffa tapped, he had to cut all that open as anyone knows travelling to USA, if ppl don’t know by now TSA are super strict.I think I asked him why he didn’t ship it with the road cases? There was something with the way you buy extra freight it was going to cost hundreds and his Australian office refused to pay. At least I think he already asked them. I can’t recall.
If you have flow back from the USA you know Qantas flights I used to take generally leave for MEL, SYD, BNE between 22:00-00:30 Not sure if this is still the case but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Sorry jumping around as I remember bits : I think He figured TSA might want it open but they just cut through the whole thing with a knife and not sure why he didn’t wait to wrap it, he said the scissors to cut the heavy grade plastic were inside the bag.
So this is all a bit vague - dunno what he did with TSA I know he has someone from Qantas with him - vague again he and Qantas rep said they were going to rewrap with Qantas standing with him - they something like very thin gladwrap to rewrap it and he used their entire roll and then only having a small amount of gaffa left, he did his best plus to secure but then then they cut a hole for the handle thus ruining any measure of water proofing. But I’m so vague on this bit as TSA in T4 is where you drop your luggage off iirc. So what happened here is where I forget what happened because TSA would want to reinspect it after wrapping. Surely?
I still don’t understand all this but and I’m sure I’m remembering wrong because usually once TSA take your case that’s it, it goes out to the plane to be loaded. All Qantas flights used to, probably still do leave from T4. Anyway, sorry about lack of detail here because this is why this next thing may have happened.
Upon Getting back to Australia he said the inside of the bag was soaked,
AU customs removed all the plastic and it appeared the gaffa tape direct over the 200mm hole had come lose but again that makes no sense since I vaguely remember it being wrapped in thin plastic wrap plastic was wrapped in that glad wrap plastic unless TSA removed it? Sorry for the vague details. If anything they should have been able to get pallet wrap. That is thin but if you know what you are doing you can stack a pallet at least 2M tall - I’ve done it enough times. Most of the warehouses I worked in weren’t heavy freight - so wrapping outgoing pallets was done by hand. It’s time consuming and you have to pull it tight over every corner. Sorry, I digress.
Everything inside was wet he went immediate to the baggage claim area at MEL the guy took photos but said after filling out a claim form. He showed him proof that it happened from Australia to USA and guy said well it could have happened in LAX and what proof did he have etc. apparently the only thing got him across the line was he was collecting two road cases of gear as well. I don’t understand how he managed to push it all around. Anyway….
So claim time with Qantas, travel insurance and Samsonite.
Apparently this went on for months. He had a $500 suit which was ruined, travel insurance were going to pay but said there wasn’t enough evidence,
Qantas gave him a $50 voucher and iirc about four months later he got a brand new bag with a signed letter from senior guy at Samsonite apologising for tte trouble he has in the USA and they would personally follow up their treatment.
OK FULL ON NIGHTMARE. I’ve small warranty claims but nothing that involved this level
Alas the brand new bag he received because he chose dark Green, the dye batches were slightly different and it never quite matched the rest of his bags. Samsonite apologised but they had already done a replacement instead of a repair apparently the hinges were bad so they couldn’t repair it by putting a new front on.
So what’s the moral? read the fine print!
I never spend more than about $200 on my largest bag, but they all got destroyed over the years. Four sets of luggage in almost six years.
And I think someone wrote in earlier, International Warranties aren’t worth shit.
Well he got a new bag but it took ages, no one wanted to help him, and the waterproofing was cut off by the TSA which you would expect as they used to open every bag. Probably still do. So he had pretty bad luck.
Work promised to pay for a new suit but every time he tried to submit the claim the accounts department rejected it. I do recall said it was one of the most miserable trips he had ever had except one where they lost his main equipment cases so he had no product to show - it turned up the day he was due to fly home and he said it looked like someone had dragged it along it’s side. IIRC fees to ship the road cases with you on a commercial flight cost hundreds for sending two fairly large equipment cases to the USA and normally they arrived in perfect condition.
That’s just one story and I realise it’s extreme, but it can happen but he bought a five piece kit from Samsonite - I don’t remember how much but I’m sure was over $2000 iirc but over 20 years ago please forgive my details.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
I had my fair share of luggage pain and learned some invaluable travelling tips which is probably better for a forum tips for travelling.
I just thought that Samsonite were supposed to be nearly indestructible but a fork lift Tyne coming at it at speed, I doubt there would be much that would survive that. Why a fork life was involved at all is still a mystery and after working for this company for 22 years after threatening to me he was going to quit at least 20-30 times, the only piece of that five piece kit that wasn’t scratched, dinted and looking like it had been around the world 20 times, was the toiletries bag since that goes inside a bag. Though he said the handle broke off and they gave him a replacement on the spot.
I think he wrote to Samsonite in the USA and he’s the sort of guy who will make your life a living hell if you wrong him - he spoke to multiple customer service people only to be told it was clear that he had to have a copy of “the original invoice” with him to make claims and the Australian paperwork was different it said a copy but the Americans said well that’s wrong, I recall that there was lots of hostilities that went back to Samsonite in Australia and USA and he promised he would tell the story of how he was treated by Samsonite USA to everyone until they day he died.
However his $2000+ five piece kit when I last saw it was still in one piece but scraped and scratched lasted him the last 10 years he was with the company and travelling regularly, (you have to wonder if the “ramp rats” aka “luggage handlers” don’t treat the Samsonite exceptionally badly because they are supposed to be nearly indestructible(under normal travelling conditions - a solicitor and barrister would eat up a vague statement like that”
But it looked like crap from what vaguely remember for about 10 years ago. No idea whether he still has it but he said he was going to systematically destroy it and get Samsonite to replace each part but he was saying that from when this happened in 2003 or something.
I know I personally spent about $700-$800 on relatively cheap nothing soecial brands, I even tried KMart brand once, but I think that didn’t last too long from memory. I don’t think any of mine has anything longer than a standard 12 month warranty and most of it only lasted 12-18 months before at least one bag would have its handle ripped off or the stitching on the zip ripped out
- I took them back to various places but no one who sold ever even suggested there was warranty , they were more just horrified to see the condition and offered to give me a 10% discount on a replacement. I think it might have been. Strandbags - are they still around?
So some people can travel the world on Reject Shop Luggage and others get theirs destroyed first trip. This story is about neither. It’s just a story about expensive luggage and the reality of so called lifetime international warranties.
Apologies for the length, but I did say it was long. But that Antler bag sounds like a good price depending on the dimensions.
Cheers.
I wonder if this is the longest ozbargain post ever? Sorry to here you experienced such shitty service.
Sounds like everyone has different experiences but I guess it also depends on the plane. The bags in the 737 are loose in the cargo hold held down with a cargo strap it doesn’t take much turbulence to give them a good shake. I’ve always had soft shell cases, usually with reinforced corners. I’ve never lost wheels or handles, but had other minor damage. I would always put small bottles double wrapped in plastic bags. Anything more than two bottles of wine, I’d be talking to the winery about shipping for me.
Anything that could break or leak would get for me got double wrapped, air squeezed out of half full plastic containers and some stuff I’d use sandwich bags with ziplock and another plastic bag but anything that could leak should be double wrapped in plastic IMHO. I did somewhere close to 100 trips multiple times silver FF, once gold.
Lounge access was an absolute must.Larger planes as was mentioned earlier, are packed into storage containers, the old 767 had them, 747-400 still have them if you are unlucky to get one 737 MAX unknown but most of the bigger planes have storage containers, Virgin are still flying mostly 737-700 and 737-800 however the have more 737-Max and A321 on order from what I understand.
I also know someone who worked as a baggage handler until he got illegally stood down by Qantas in 2000. He is expecting compensation but no idea how long they are going drag this out.
Qantas are now hated to almost same level as NBN. I think NBN will be the misted hated company/govt enterprise until everyone has FTTP and symmetrical gigabit but that’s as like yo happen as 500,000 EVs on the road by 2030.
Insurance companies don’t know what to do with them and the risk to the battery even months after an incident could still result in thermal runaway.
Anyway, that’s another topic for for future OzBargain when someone knocks 10K off an EV because they can’t sell them. The risk of thermal runaway is real, there is not enough charging and if you don’t have a driveway with garage with a 7kW charger, recharging fron public infrastructure will end up costing so much you’ll wish you never bought the thing.
I digress
Luton Carpark next to Luton Airport in England collapsed completely because of one EV though it hasn’t been confirmed but EVs may soon be banned from Multilevel car parks all over the world and any water used to try to fight thermal runaway is highly toxic and fire fighters aren’t trained in all this yet.
I digress
Fibre for all, Solar for all
WTF 😲
I bought a samsonite from catch a decade ago. Several years after purchase, the bag zipper had got caught onto the bag conveyor belt at the airport and had ripped off. I gave it to my cousin who works near a samonite store /repair place. They took the bag and fixed it for free. I was quite surprised by that.
Anyone that purchased got confirmation that it has been shipped? I didn't even get an email confirmation of the order.
Arrived today. Large is bigger than I thought but it's a good purchase.
I live in Sydney. Received email confirmation soon after order.
Has anyone been successful in applying the 20% of sign up code? When I try to apply it I get - Unable to apply welcome discount on sets and sale products - already discounted.
Same here, can't apply promo code to sale items
Shame must have been Ozbargained
Unable to apply the code.
Warranty is useless when baggage handlers inevitably ruin your luggage