I have a confession to make.
I switched from my Briggs and Riley two wheel 20-inch carry-on bag to one of the four wheel bags: the Samsonite spinner. I made this move because I didn’t want to pull my bag around the airport when I could have it ride by my side in the four-wheel mode. The four-wheel mode changed my life from zipping through airports to walking to train stations. Everything became easier unless there was carpet. Agghh. Carpet is your enemy with the four-wheel bag.
Frankly, four wheel bags have a few issues.
On a trip from Tel Aviv to London, I was waiting in the jet way that has a little tilt to it, and somebody behind me asked a question. I took my hand off of my bag, which also had my Tumi backpack perched on top, and as my hand left the bag, the bag took off. I looked around in horror as a poor woman was attacked by my bag. The heavy four-wheeler knocked her completely over. I tried to hold her up but if that was not enough, her glasses flew off, her hands were flailing, her passport dropped on the floor, and my backpack finished the job as it landed straight on top of her head. If I had been driving in traffic, I would have been arrested for failing to be in control of my vehicle. As it was, I helped her back to a standing position feeling really embarrassed and told her that it was all my bag’s fault. I felt a sense of shared responsibility.
These bags do roll around. If you are in a train, they roll away from you, if you’re in the bus connecting around the airport, they are unreliable. I figured to myself that there must be a bag that has brakes. In the meantime, I had dusted off my Briggs and Riley bag and much to my bags surprise I gave it a second chance. Yeah my arm is hurting me a little more but the danger of uncontrolled roll with the four-wheeler is not there.
So I did some research. The only bag that I could find that had the potential to not move in its standing position with spinner wheels is the unbelievably overpriced Rimowa luggage. When I say overpriced, I mean the 21-inch multi-wheel bag is a cool $850. Yes, I know that this provides “a sublime fusion of fashion and lightweight durability” plus apparently it has “intelligent interior design to make it an indispensable travel companion.” But the key feature here is that it has protective feet to guarantee that the suitcase will stay in place when you prop it up right. No hit and run problems!
My only question is that when I buy a car with four-wheel drive, frankly it has brakes just like the two-wheel models.
Usually there is not an extra surcharge for brakes; it’s just part of the deal.
So why is it that for the added brakes and to look maybe like a movie star, I have to spend $850 on a piece of baggage that really has little interest for me beyond storage capability and ease of movement through an airport? Just a question desperately looking for answers and remembering with horror the incident in the Tel Aviv airport when my four-wheel vehicle went out of control on the jet way.
