One-Bag Travel

A carry-on travel backpack in 1680D Cordura ballistic nylon that opens flat like a suitcase, with a separate laptop compartment and a stowable hip belt. Ballistic nylon is the same fabric used for heavy-duty luggage, and it wears in rather than out.

• 1680D Cordura ballistic nylon
• Opens flat like a suitcase
• Separate laptop compartment

The personal-item version of the Allpa: small enough to sit under a seat, with the same full-wrap zipper that opens the whole pack flat like a suitcase. The shell is a water-resistant, TPU-coated fabric with a PFAS-free finish, and there is a padded laptop and tablet sleeve and a pass-through strap that slides over a roller bag handle. Cotopaxi backs it with a lifetime warranty and a repair service, so a worn zip or a torn strap is fixed instead of being the reason to replace the pack.

• Lifetime warranty and repairs
• Personal-item size, 19 x 12 x 9 inches
• Suitcase-style full-wrap zipper
• Padded laptop and tablet sleeve
• Roller-bag pass-through strap

The smaller of Osprey's two Daylite travel packs, sized for the overhead bin and for a long weekend rather than a fortnight. It opens flat like a suitcase through a full zip, locks at the zippers, and carries a 16 inch laptop in a compartment you can reach without unpacking. The reason to buy it for life is the All Mighty Guarantee: Osprey repairs or replaces a damaged or defective pack whatever its age, so a torn strap or a failed zip is a repair rather than the end of the bag.

• All Mighty Guarantee: repaired free, any age, any reason
• 35 litres, 19.3 x 14.6 x 10.2 inches
• Suitcase-style full zip, lockable zippers
• 16 inch laptop compartment
• Weighs just over two pounds

The answer for anyone who would rather carry their luggage than drag it, and it is here mostly for the guarantee behind it. Osprey's All Mighty Guarantee repairs any damage or defect free of charge on any pack they have ever made, going back to 1974, and replaces it if it cannot be repaired. Not a warranty period, not a receipt, not a defect clause: they simply fix it. The pack itself is built to the maximum carry-on size, opens flat like a suitcase rather than loading from the top, and the straps tuck away so a baggage belt has nothing to catch.

• All Mighty Guarantee: repaired free, any age, any reason
• Sized to carry-on dimensions, opens flat
• Stowable harness, nothing for a belt to catch
• Padded sleeve for a 16 inch laptop
• Weighs under two and a half pounds

A carry-on travel pack that opens flat like a suitcase through a full-wrap zipper, so the whole bag packs and unpacks without digging. The shell is a TPU-coated, water-resistant fabric with a PFAS-free finish, and the pack carries a 15 inch laptop sleeve, a roller-bag pass-through strap and a stretch bottle pocket. Cotopaxi backs its gear with a lifetime warranty and a repair service, which is the reason to buy a pack at this size: a worn zipper or a torn strap is fixed rather than a reason to replace the bag.

• Lifetime warranty and repairs
• Carry-on size, 22 x 12 x 10 inches
• Suitcase-style full-wrap zipper
• 15 inch laptop sleeve
• Roller-bag pass-through strap

Built from the same rugged, weatherproof fabric family as L.L.Bean's other bags, with stowaway backpack straps for when you don't want to carry it by the handles. It's covered by L.L.Bean's unconditional lifetime guarantee, and owners cite it as a rare travel pack that survives years of checked-bag and overhead-bin abuse without the fabric or zippers giving out.

• Carry-on sized, backpack-style straps stow away
• Rugged, weatherproof fabric
• Fits under most airplane seats
• L.L.Bean lifetime guarantee

Osprey's All Mighty Guarantee repairs any Osprey bag from any year, free, and the Farpoint is the one most people should own: forty litres is the largest a cabin will take and the harness tucks away behind a zip so it checks without being chewed.

• All Mighty Guarantee, any bag any year
• 40L, within most cabin limits
• Stowaway harness and hip belt
• Lockable sliders
• Padded laptop sleeve