[manaboutown]

I have used Costco (Kirkland), Samsonite and Travelpro, the latter being what I see almost all AA flight crews using - maybe they are given a special deal on them, I don't know. I had a Costco carryon bag that flew at least a million miles with me over fifteen years. Finally the telescoping handle gave out and would not fully extend. Truthfully, I was embarrassed to take it back to Costco for a refund as it had served me long and well. The refund guy at Costco looked up when I had bought it. He handed me cash for the amount I had paid. I still feel funny about taking the money but I bought another Kirkland bag from Costco within an hour. A Southwest flight attendant I had dated years before had told me Southwest flight attendants bought Costco bags and returned them otherwise I never would have tried.

I bought the Travelpro at a luggage shop where I compared several "full size" carryons to obtain the smallest as I fly on AA Bombardier 900s and the bag just fits in their overhead compartments if I do not overfill it. The male flight attendants know this and let me bring it on board without question. The women flight attendants want me to gate check it usually - but not always - let me take it on when they see my 2 Million miler tag on it and I tell them it has fit in AA Bombardier 900 and even some Bombardier 700 overheads a few hundred times.

As a previous poster mentioned go with a four wheeler which is what most now are. I still use an old large two wheel Kirkland bag to check as my up to 50 pounder that has not yet given up the ghost but find it a pain to control compared to a four wheeler.