Antler Carry on luggage

Antler is a very good brand. I have a carry-on that has being going for years and the whole family take it for their individual weekend trips away so it's seen a lot of use.

The old adage remains true......you get what you pay for.

Thanks JC. It looks like a really good option. I’m looking at several- Travel Pro Maxlite 5 21”, Samsonite, and just saw this one. I wish I had looked into purchasing something when we were in Scotland recently.

I was intrigued by the title “Antler.” I thought this was going to be a crazy deer/camouflage Midwest kind of thing. I was a little disappointed to learn Antler is a luggage brand name.

You could purchase this while in the UK and not pay the import tariff by making it your new suitcase.

I have an Antler suitcase (bought during a sale at a department store in Sydney with a very large luggage selection) and I chose it via the somewhat unscientific method of picking each option up with one hand then settling on the lightest that rolled well, had no weird bulges or unnecessary features, and didn't look like it would fall apart when sneezed on. Two years on it's holding up very well - including being checked on regional flights where anything with wheels has to go in the hold. Its wheels and esp. handle are even a smidge more solid than the Samsonite it's alternating with. (The Samsonite is two-wheeled and slightly smaller - different use case.)

The Samsonite Airea is being discontinued and being replaced with the Samsonite Re-Lite.

I believe it is still not available in the US but Selfridge's in the UK has a US shopping portal.

I bought my Airea from them years ago and for, I believe, $40, they shipped it to the US. It only took a few days.

Antler is a good brand and popular in the UK. Which model are you looking at? The Soft Stripe?

Yes, the Soft Stripe is the one that I am checking out. I like the navy color the best. They have an online site that looks like is available to US residents. I read somewhere that last year they did have a significant sale before Christmas. I like the TravelPro brand, too. I saw the Re-lite in Macy’s I think it was. I didn’t realize it was the replacement to the Airea.

Edit: It wasn’t the Re-Lite I saw in Macy’s, it was the Air-Lift.

The Air -Lift is larger and heavier than the Re-Lite. In fact, it's 23.5" which may get you dinged at a European airline bag sizer.

Neither the Airea nor the Re-Lite is available from Samsonite USA.

I was having problems with the telescoping handle of my Airea so I looked at the Re-Lite while in Europe a few weeks ago. Very similar to each other.

Luckily, one of my hotels had WD-40 and a few squirts of that and the handle was working just fine.

Wow, the Antler carry-on looks great and is really light. If we didn't already have new luggage (TravelPro Maxlite 21 inch spinner), I'd be very tempted to purchase.

It does look very nice, doesn’t it? I’m going to have a hard time choosing between the TravelPro and this one. It’s probably going to depend on the price for the Antler. Unless they offer a sale on it - I’m going to be looking on Black Friday- I think I most likely will go with the TravelPro. I really like both.

The Airea is available in Europe directly from Samsonite. I'm buying a replacement next week.

Frank II, I just need to hop on a plane for a weekend getaway to the UK and purchase one! lol

I’m sorry about Sam. :) I haven’t had a suitcase that I was that fond of. Can’t say the same about my old “Sue”, my first Subaru Outback. Like you said about Sam, so many memories attached to that old clunker!

That bag does look pretty good. It’s very hard to find bags in the 4lb range. I have a 2 wheel bag that’s 4lb, 3oz. Every time I get tempted to look at spinners the weight difference discourages me. The price is a bit of a challenge though but you might just think how many years you will use it….?

I recently bought the Antler Lightest Expandable Carry-on Luggage in Indigo Blue - Soft Stripe (the one I think the OP is considering getting) and took it on a 2-week-plus trip to Southeast Asia. I'm really pleased with it. It was the lightest carry-on I could find that fit within carry-on dimensions for most international airlines that also maximized packing space within those dimensions. And its light weight allowed me, on some legs of the trip, to keep within the 7kg weight limit of the airlines I was flying on. (Though Antler's website lists it at 4.19 lb/1.9 kg, when I weighed the bag myself, I got 4.4 lb/2 kg). On the occasions I went over that weight limit, and checked the bag, the bag held up well. It's sturdy, rolls smoothly, and didn't have a tendency to topple over. (I was able to find a discount code for 20% off for it at retailmenot.com, in case that's helpful info.)

I had also considered the TravelPro Maxlite 5 Compact Carry-on Spinner but from reading reviews and looking at photos, it didn't look like that one would maximize packing space within the dimensions, since the case tapers toward the top. And a lot of reviews mentioned its tendency to topple over. It's also a bit heavier than the Antler.

C’mon Black Friday Sale! Be a good one, Antler! :)

Im also intrigued by Antlers trunk carry on , zipperless. It is 8 lbs but like the safety features. Any thoughts?

Sadly, I just bought the Antler carry on with pocket sleeve for Black Friday. I was deciding between Away, who I’ve had great experiences with and Nobl who I feared was just a tik tok fad. When I read about Antlers commitment to quality and durability, offering a lifetime warranty because they believe a bag should last a lifetime, I bit. We’ll suffice to say this bag didn’t even make it one way in an empty overhead compartment from Los Angeles to London. Although the carry on is a hard case, the pocket sleeve is made of some kind of porous material. The racing green color raced straight off the fabric. I got to the hotel room to unpack and saw that the dye had rubbed off the sleeve and I had white patches. All I did was put it in the overhead and take it out. I contacted Antler straight away thinking it must have been a fluke and they would replace what is clearly a defective sleeve. Instead they told me I must have dragged it against a sharp object. I think I would remember dragging my suitcase against a sharp object. They refused to even look at my bag in person. I was shocked by their customer service. This brand lacks integrity and does not stand by their product the way they claim they do on their site. Such a shame because I loved the case for the few days I owned it before traveling. I’ll be buying any suitcase but Antler.

Mustlovedogs, now that it's been bumped up by a first-time poster, I figured I'd ask if they did have a good sale and if you found a bag to purchase. I was just checking them out again and I found them on Amazon for about $10 cheaper. But it does look nice and I like the fact that it's just a little over 4 pounds in weight.

Jspey, sorry your first post on the forum wasn’t a happy one and that you weren’t able to get a resolution from the company.

mardee, they had a 20-30% off sale right before and through Black Friday. Some of their larger bags were in the 30% off range. The bag my husband bought for me (with me showing him what he bought me afterwards lol) was 20% off. It was a bit more than what I was going to spend- originally I was looking to go for something under $200- but since it was for Christmas, I rationalized. It’s the Antler Green color and looks really great. I can’t get over the difference in what a couple of pounds makes. My RS rolling carry on is 6.5 lbs, which is still a light case and I will continue to use it when I travel domestically by train, but this Antler expandable spinner is 4.19 lbs. So light and the wheels spin very smoothly. I purchased the soft side. Obviously, it’s passed the eye test, but time will tell whether it proves to be durable. I did a lot of research, and it gets really good reviews. I hope I have better luck than jspey. Can’t wait to try it out!

Well, it looks like some of the others above have had good experiences with Antler luggage as well. With all respect to jspey, I'm always a bit leery of first-time posters writing negative reviews (and raving recs). Not being familiar with the poster, I put more trust in reviews from someone I'm familiar with. 😊

I do love luggage! The Antler soft side carry on is the same weight as the July carbonite hardshell I chose to replace my disappointing Briggs and Riley, if anyone is still shopping.
It is amazing how much difference a couple pounds (or almost 4, B and R!) can make, both for rolling along and meeting restrictive airine weight requirements.

I bought two of these in 2025 as I have a bad back and just take carryon luggage as my checked now.
On the most recent trip, the entire black locking section completely detached (I have a photo and video of this!). So the keys are still locked in the black rectangular bit, but the black rectangular bit has completely detached from the bag itself lol!!!!!!

In short, I love the light weight, but this is a totally shoddy bag and I suspect you will have problems with time (Its only months old)