Disappointing Experience at the Away Store
One of the things I was looking forward to in going to New York this summer (May 2026), was to buy a new piece of luggage from Away. My wife and both my kids love their bags and I wanted one too. I’d decided on the Navy Blue carry-on appropriately sized for International travel.
We walk into the store and browse a bit, seeing what all the options are, it’s always different when you see them in person. I decide on the Navy Blue non-flex carry-on. I told the salesperson he could unbox the suitcase, I intended to use it and I didn’t want to carry the box through the city. He goes back, gets the suitcase and I pay for it immediately, excited about my new luggage. He brings it out in its normal cloth bag and no box, but it’s the wrong suitcase, this is the flex version, so he goes back to get the correct one.
He comes back with another suitcase and takes the suitcase out of the bag and my oldest child notices some scratches on the suitcase and we talk about it with the salesperson, but he assures us that this happens sometimes and is considered “new”. We overheard him ask his manager about this situation and the manager says something like, “suitcases get scratched as soon as they’re used”. When you’re paying $300 for a piece of luggage, not what I would consider to the most customer-forward attitude.
I ask the salesperson to get a new one from the back, because I don’t like this suitcase being pre-scratched and it felt like it had been used. The sales guy assured us it wasn’t used, they don’t resell returns, unless they’re in new quality. A few minutes later, he comes back and they have no other navy bags in stock and asks what do I want to do. After some debate, since I really want the blue one, I decide to take another look at this scratched, but “new” blue bag.
He brings it back out, removes it from the cloth bag again, and we examine the outside. My wife exclaims, more than once, that this looks used and that she has OCD and won’t touch it without gloves. She’s already struggling with the idea of me touching a used bag, but the sales guy is sure it’s not. I unzip the suitcase to examine the interior and there some bit of detritus in the bag, but nothing too terrible I guess, but again, feels obvious signs of use. The sales guy says that can happen from the shipping cardboard.
I look through the various zipper pockets, so see what the bag comes with and I pull out, with my bare hands, a pair of women’s underwear, a thong. I quickly drop them and say quite loudly, “oh my god, that’s women’s underwear!”
I start frantically pacing, grossed out and my wife freaks out and says “get to a bathroom right now and wash your hands” and walks out of the store, visibly upset. The manager grabs a huge thing of hand sanitizer and loads me up, meanwhile I’m still freaking out that this, now obviously, used bag had underwear in it that I’ve touched. The salesperson apologies for us having to go through that and the manager gives a one-word "sorry", but did not feel a lot of care or concern in it.
The salesperson starts bagging up the used bag and takes it away, comes back and just kind of stands around waiting for what happens next. They offered nothing but tepid apologies. I finally say, if you have the flex in navy, brand new in a box, I will take it for the price of the regular bag, which I already paid for.
He talks to the manager, gets approval, and brings out a new flex back, still in the shipping box. We unbox the suitcase and I leave with a brand new, not scratched, no panty storing piece of luggage. Disappointing experience at the Away store in NYC, the lack of concern and flippant attitude towards an obviously used bag showed lack of regard for the customer.
