Between long lines, flight cancellations, and delays, your luggage is the last thing you want to worry about at the airport. Does that mean you have to spend a small fortune to get a quality piece of luggage? Thankfully, the answer is no. Consumer Reports does the hard work for you… putting luggage through a series of tough tests to find some budget-friendly picks.
Consumer Reports says its luggage tests mimic the airport experience and everything in between, such as dragging, dropping, and pulling the bags to simulate someone traveling with a piece of luggage.
CR’s tests find that you don’t have to spend a lot to get a quality bag.
Testers fill the luggage with fabric — to simulate a bag packed with clothing — and then run it along a conveyor belt studded with obstacles for thirty miles. To check handle strength, a machine lifts the weighed-down bags …