Away is a Finalist for Best Luggage Brand at the
2026 Travelling for Business Awards, and its impact is measurable by a simple gate-side census: few brands have colonised the world's boarding queues faster. Away took a commodity category that had barely changed its retail model in fifty years, rebuilt it around the direct-to-consumer playbook — considered design, honest pricing, digital-first service — and turned a suitcase into one of the decade's genuinely definitive travel purchases.
The product justified the phenomenon. The Carry-On arrived with the details frequent flyers actually wanted: a tough polycarbonate shell at a sane weight, wheels that track straight, an interior compression system that genuinely adds a day's worth of clothes, and the famous built-in battery — ejectable to satisfy airline rules — that made the case a power source at exactly the moment devices became boarding passes. The range has since grown through checked sizes, softsides and travel accessories, all sharing the same quietly confident design language that lets a case read professional on Monday and personal on Saturday.
Ownership is engineered to feel safe from the first click of the checkout onwards. A generous hundred-day trial lets buyers genuinely live with the case before committing, a lifetime warranty stands solidly behind the shells and hardware, and the brand's direct relationship with its customers keeps service human, parts available and feedback loops short. In an era when a checked bag's location can matter as much as its contents — with
smart trackers now sharing lost-bag locations directly with airlines — Away's tech-conscious customer base was early to the habit, pairing its cases with trackers as standard practice.
For business travellers, the appeal is the complete package at a mid-premium price: durability, design and a returns policy that removes the gamble. For the industry, Away remains the case study in how quickly a category's rules can be rewritten — a shift
Travelling for Business charted from the first boarding queues.
A place among the 2026 Finalists recognises the brand that modernised luggage buying itself. Winners will be announced at the 2026 Travelling for Business Awards, and Away's cases will be waiting neatly at the gate, batteries charged.
