In this detailed comparison, we are taking a look at the Away Carry-On Flex and the Tumi Alpha 3 Continental four-wheel carry-on to see whether it’s worth the price or not. Let’s dive in.
The Away Carry-On Flex: Design and Exterior
The outside of this carry-on looks very, very similar to the regular size carry-on. The only difference is that this one has an expansion system so you can get a little bit more capacity, a little bit more storage out of it. Taking a look at the exterior features, we’ve got a polycarb shell which is pretty standard like the other one. It has got some just general Away logo kind of branding around the suitcase here, but in general, it’s pretty simple.
It works really well. When you think of a suitcase, you kind of think of Away at this point; they’ve been around for long enough, and this design is something we see a lot. In general, what’s nice about Away is they have just a very subtle professional look. It feels really sturdy and it just looks nice as well.
Handles and Usability
We also have a little grab handle here. The function of this is like if this is in the overhead bin or even like if you’re laying this on a bed or something, you can put your hand in the bottom handle there and use the top carry handle and just kind of shift it from side to side. It just gives you another grabbing point. I personally really like having that on the bottom as an option.
We also have, like I mentioned, these side carry handles. These are pretty comfortable; there’s no additional padding or anything, but they do stay pretty flush to the side of the suitcase when you’re not using it. There’s not a ton of extra room there for it to get caught on anything, and you can really pretty easily stick your hands under there and do some grabbing. In general, no notes on that like working poorly or anything like that; it works pretty well.
Then we also have the telescoping handle here which has two adjustment points. This is the carry-on at the highest adjustment point—this is as tall as the handle will get. This is the next stop down, which is a little bit more comfortable for me at 5’6, and then it just falls all the way down into kind of its return position when you let go. The actual handle itself is pretty comfortable. It’s just kind of like a soft plastic; there’s no ergonomic shaping or anything to it, but I don’t necessarily miss it. It’s just not the most comfortable handle that we’ve used.
The Tumi Alpha 3 Continental: Durability and Access
Some of the features that make this carry-on luggage worth it are the ballistic nylon material that makes all Tumi products pretty rugged and durable. I think by combining all these features together, which are rare to find all in one piece of luggage, makes it not only a great versatile carry-on luggage but also one of their best sellers according to their website.
Unique Pockets and Locking
There is a pocket that goes all the way down to the bottom, and then this other pocket here is for things that you would want to quickly reach to that it’s okay if it’s on the outside. Here’s where you would put your initials if you feel like adding that.
There’s this unique locking mechanism for the zippers. Basically, the lock you can push it this way to unlock this set of zippers and then push it this way to unlock this set of zippers combination lock. With this pocket, this allows you to access the bag from the top. So if the luggage is sitting on the floor, you can access everything in here.
There are two zipper pockets here; this is a very small one just within this black lining and then another pretty deep zipper pocket here. There is another zipper compartment over here; this is that front compartment, that bulge, so whatever you would put in here is going to be inside this. You can close up the top path to have some organization and clear compartmentalization. Then over here, there are two zipper compartments on the side.
Interior Organization and Capacity
Inside the Away Flex
With the actual main compartment here, just going to open this up. We have just pretty simple organization. It looks very similar to their other suitcase, the primary difference being instead of this compression panel having two individual pockets, it has one big one. I personally liked the two individual pockets because it allowed me to store smaller items in either side. In this case, it’s all just kind of meshed together.
The buckles move out of the way; I think these are Duraflex buckles if I remember correctly. You have a ton of space though to work with. These straps, if you’re not using them or if you remove this panel, you could just use them like a regular compression strap. They do just go across that way so it’s not like locking it down top to bottom or something like that, but I think it still works really well.
On the other side here, we have a zippered mesh panel. This opens up and then in here I just have like some packing cubes, an additional layer, and a pouch here. In terms of space, they say this is for like 3 to 5 days of clothing; you can get like 5 to seven outfits or something like that. I can fit way more than that in here personally. I was able to fit I think it was like a week’s worth of clothing on this side alone if you do like a capsule wardrobe type thing.
And on this side as well, you have this little pouch and this is like an additional laundry bag and it comes buckled in here so it stays in place and you can use this as like a shoe pouch too. If you don’t want to use this then you can just sort of roll it up, tuck it away and leave it in this little pouch.
Inside the Tumi Alpha 3
The organization and pockets are really well thought out. For example, having the battery charging compartment with a zipper connect to the outside of the luggage so that it’s still easily removable to go through TSA and airport security. There is this zipper pocket over here with a USB cable so that you can access and charge your accessories and phones and stuff through this USB on the side. This basically will house like a power bank and you know maybe like a computer mouse or something like that.
Inside you can basically clip down a lot of other like clothes and you can clip it together like that. And then this compartment can zip closed to basically separate maybe some formal clothes that you would put in here depending on how you’re traveling, and then you can put other things over here that maybe are more casual clothes just to be able to separate and organize what you’re packing.
It comes with a garment bag and then there’s several different pockets in here. Opening it this way allows you to open the luggage in half like a normal suitcase so basically, you can access that same pocket that we were just looking at this way. And then it allows you to hang some garments over here on this side of the luggage. If you throw in a hanger with this garment bag in this section, there’s a place where you can hook in the hanger for the garment bag.
Expansion Capabilities
The Away “Flex” System
With this one here being the Flex, like I mentioned, you get a little bit of extra storage space. Basically, what you get you can see there’s like a double layer of zipper track here. In this case, having these two zippers adds a little bit of structure and they are matched like at the very top here. I do feel like this one is like it just feels a little bit more secure.
If you were to expand it, there’s an expansion zipper on the one side here and you just unzip all the way around and it adds a little bit of dimension here. It’s an additional I think it’s 2.25 inches of packing space. With this closed as it is, you get a 39.8 L capacity, and then with this expanded, you get 46.7 L. That kind of nets out to be almost like a full 10-liter difference. If you want that extra space option, that’s going to be really great, but it will impact carry-on compliance, so definitely keep that in mind.
Just keep in mind that if you are going to be using this expansion system it could impact your carry-on compliance so make sure that you’re taking those measurements into account when you’re doing so compared to something like a beis vs away situation where size matters.
Tumi Expansion
This will allow the bag to expand I believe it’s up to an inch and a half or so. I’m expanding the bag as much as I can right now and the different color material should show you how much it expands. The expansion in the bag is available if needed.
Mobility: Wheels and Handles
Tumi Smoothness
These wheels are super smooth, better than any other luggage that I’ve ever used. You can basically move the luggage in any direction that you want. And because there’s two wheels on each and they can move independently, it’s a very smooth travel experience.
The handle is one of the things that I usually hate the most on most luggage in that usually it’s very wobbly and it makes it a quick way to tell if a luggage is cheap or not. So if it wiggles a ton, usually it’s not very good. So with this, it’s very smooth going up and down, very minimal effort, and it easily locks in place and doesn’t really wiggle. The smooth handle that raises and lowers easily and the super smooth rolling wheels make it stand out against away or samsonite options.
Away Mobility
We’ve got some pretty decent wheels on the bottom here. No issues rolling over different terrain or anything like that. We have four wheels so you can roll this on all four or you can tip it back and just roll it on the one or on just the two. These wheels roll really nicely, no issues getting them over like thick carpet or anything like I mentioned.
Pricing and Value
The Cost of Tumi
You can see here have the Alpha 3 tag retails for $975. But so I actually got this at the outlet for $575. That was the reason why I ended up buying this otherwise I would not have paid full price for this luggage. Although I do think this would be one of the few pieces of luggage that would be worth its price tag even at full price just because of the level of quality and the materials.
To provide some clarity on the price I got the luggage for, they have since raised the price on it from when I purchased it in 2023 when the sticker price was $975. I got it for $400 off at the outlet for $575. Keep an eye out for Alpha lines at the outlets and in general since it’s among their best product lines anytime you can get Tumi at a discount it’s probably a good idea to think about buying one if you need some kind of luggage or backpack.
The Away Proposition
If you’re looking for just kind of like a basic sort of suitcase that does the job with a little bit of extra room then this is going to be a pretty solid option. The suitcase also came with a luggage tag here and then also this little scuff remover. I find that it honestly just works mostly for like dirt but something that’s like more damage to the actual shell itself like right here that’s not really going to buff out.
Feature Comparison Table
| Feature | Away Carry-On Flex | Tumi Alpha 3 Continental |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Polycarb Shell | Ballistic Nylon |
| Wheels | 4 Wheels (Roll on 4 or 2) | 4 Dual-Wheels (Independently moving) |
| Expansion | 2.25 inches (approx 10L) | Up to 1.5 inches |
| Locking | TSA Friendly Lock | Unique Combination Locking Mechanism |
| Weight | 8.15 lbs | Not specified (Implied heavy duty) |
| Special Tech | None specified | USB Cable/Power Bank Housing, Tumi Tracer |
| Organization | Mesh panel, Compression straps | Garment bag, Split opening, Multiple pockets |
| Price Point | Mid-Range | High-End ($975+ Retail) |
Final Thoughts
The Away Carry-On Flex suitcase is a little bit heavier; it’s actually 8.15 lbs which is heavier than we see with a lot of suitcases, but the higher you go up in capacity the heavier the suitcase is going to be. If you add on additional features that goes on top of that as well. The zippers are YKK and then we have the TSA friendly lock up here so you just kind of put in your code there and then pull that button and then you can open up this thing pretty easily.
For the Tumi, this is the Tumi Tracer where basically if you ever lose the luggage they can scan it and try and figure out how to retrieve it. I think by combining all these features together which are rare to find all in one piece of luggage makes it a great versatile carry-on luggage.
If that’s something that was like a huge selling point for you, I would maybe consider something else if the scuff remover is a major factor. But for Tumi, at about 41% off I couldn’t complain about the color on an item that does not go on sale. It is a smooth travel experience.