Do You Need Aluminum Luggage? (2026): Rimowa, Away, Carl Friedrik | WIRED

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Summer is right around the corner. We’re headed out on adventures and bringing our stuff with us. Here are all the tech and tips that WIRED Reviews recommends for your travels.

Unless you’re in the top 5 percent club, modern air travel is a grind. The halcyon days of chinking champagne flutes, spacious seating, and sense of adventure has long been replaced by the budget sardine-can approach to air travel. Despite security rigmaroles and overcrowded gates, sashaying through an airport lounge still holds considerable cool cachet, especially if you’re pushing the finest carry-on luggage. That's where the superstar DJ and international business traveler Venn diagram collides. When it comes to carry-on luggage, only aluminum will do.

When you think about metal luggage, you’re thinking about Rimowa. Synonymous with luxury and durability, the brand was founded in Germany in 1898 and is now the benchmark for high-end travel gear. As a rule, the more beaten up the case, the cooler the owner. But at $1,525 for a small carry-on, it’s a big investment for a small bag.

Nowadays, Rimowa isn't alone. Many luggage brands, including Carl Friedrik ($845), Tumi ($1,295), Away ($625), and many mysteriously cheap Amazon/Ali Express/Temu brands, now offer aluminum options. But are they worth double, if not triple, the cost of your ordinary polycarbonate roll-aboard?

Table of Contents

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- What's So Great About Aluminum?

- Is Aluminum the Only Option?

- Why They’re Expensive (and Why That’s OK)

- Are You Really an Aluminum Luggage Person?

- The One You Want

- A Superb Mid-Priced Option

- A Rimowa Alternative

- The Lifetime Investment

- Small But Mighty

- Unbeatable Price

What’s So Great About Aluminum?

Premium pricing, celebrity endorsements, and catwalk appearances create a sense of exclusivity, while aesthetics bring must-have style. But for the regular traveler, buying aluminum luggage is, or at least should be, more a question of durability than desirability.

Photograph: Chris Haslam

Aluminum won’t crack like a polycarbonate shell. You can stomp on these bags and stand on them. Don’t tell airport security, but my daughter and I have been known to race aluminum carry-on bags through airport terminals, like real-life Mario Kart. When frequent travelers buy luggage, they want this structural integrity and reliability. Rigid shells with metal frames and strong latch closures offer better protection for your belongings and should last a lifetime.

Metal rivets, high-quality wheels, robust handles, and better components also mean that all-metal luggage is easier to repair. Well-established brands typically offer generous warranties and repair services, especially on premium cases. Clamshell, zipperless closures are also harder to force open; there's no zipper fabric that you can sneakily slash through with a pen knife. As with all good-quality luggage brands, the majority now use TSA-approved combination locks, which are not only far more elegant than a clunky old zipper, but add to the confidence these cases afford.

A Greener Choice

The irony of making a more sustainable purchase while also burning through aviation fuel is not lost on us, but there’s no denying the eco-friendly advantages of aluminum. Recycling aluminum uses up to 95 percent less energy than producing it from raw materials, and it can be easily recycled without any loss of quality.

The longevity of a well-made aluminum case will also mean fewer replacements over time, potentially keeping harder-to-recycle polycarbonate cases out of landfill. Even if you don't end up buying it for life, aluminum cases also hold their value. Just check eBay.

Weight a Minute!

They’re sexy, desirable, eco-friendly, and long lasting, but aluminum is significantly heavier than the latest polycarbonate equivalent. Most aluminum carry-on bags (standard 22 x 14 x 9 inches as a rule) weigh between 9 and 11 pounds. Of WIRED’s current favorite carry-on luggage, the Rimowa is the second heaviest, behind a 9.7-pound ballistic nylon option from Briggs & Riley.

Photograph: Adrienne So

In comparison, the Samsonite C-Lite Spinner ($500) weighs just 4.5 pounds, and the Travelpro Maxlite Air V2 ($195) weighs just 6.4 pounds. At 9.5 pounds, the Rimowa is the lightest aluminum carry-on we’ve found.

This is fine if your airline doesn’t have an official weight limit, but many do, especially budget ones. Flying short-haul in Europe, I’ve become accustomed to my overweight Sterling Pacific case being whisked away to the hold. Carry-on weight limits start from just 15 pounds (Etihad, Emirates, Air New Zealand). After taking into account the bag’s weight, that leaves you with 5 pounds of luggage to pack.

Practical Considerations

While aluminum provides strength, the rigidity also means you’ll never be able to overpack your carry-on.