14 Best Carry-On Luggage (2024): Away, Travelpro, and More

Aer’s Travel Pack 3 is about as close to a travel-bag Swiss army knife as you can get. It’s a practically indestructible backpack made of 1680-denier ballistic nylon! It’s a sophisticated briefcase with a handle! It’s a tech organizer and a laptop bag and a suitcase! Though it might be over-engineered for some (“almost too much bag,” according to my husband), the Travel Pack has a sleek, unisex design (available in black, gray, navy, or olive) and utility that make it usable for everything from day-to-day work to business trips to international backpacking.

There’s a roomy, clamshell-style main compartment that fits shoes and about two outfits, or more with a couple of packing cubes, plus a separate divided laptop compartment for two computers. The front unzips to reveal two rows of pockets reminiscent of a miniature over-the-door shoe organizer, perfect for pens, power cords, snacks, or notepads. There are compression straps on both sides to cinch it down to a more manageable size. It should be noted that even when not compressed, the 21.5 x 13-inch profile is still small enough to be stuffed under an airplane seat. Both main compartments have zippers that can accommodate a lock, and a loop on the bag allows it to fit sideways over a suitcase handle. The only detractor is that the water bottle holder is bizarrely small, even when unzipped to its full capacity. It barely fits a 40-ounce ThermoFlask, and the included magnetic strap won’t even fit halfway around it. As long as you don’t get thirsty, this is a pretty solid bag that I think most people would be happy with. —Kat Merck

★ Alternative: I recently took Travelpro's Altitude travel backpack ($280) on a work trip. I loved the full-access, flat-top opening, which saves space in a small hotel room. I also loved that it has structure, so you can pack it like a suitcase, and it's expandable so you can bring home a large book or a library souvenir T-shirt if you really want to.

When the 35-liter version of Cotopaxi's now-ubiquitous travel backpack first launched, I had trouble wrapping my head around why you wouldn't … just use a duffel bag. Now soft, frameless travel packs are ubiquitous, but Cotopaxi's colorful deadstock version will always be one of the best.

The company recently launched a 28-liter version, which fits better on my 5' 2" frame. The 15-inch laptop compartment is accessed via the side, and it's both padded and lined. There's now also a luggage pass-through that fits onto the handle of my Aer roller bag. I've been using it for camping weekends all summer and I love that it works well for both rugged weekend adventures and for more civilized ones. For work trips, I much prefer the stiff structure of the Travelpro backpack above—the internal zipper pockets have an annoying, tiny lip that seems designed to get small items caught—this bag is extremely light and very popular. Every time I go to the airport, I find myself standing behind one of these backpacks at least two or three times.