CBS News
The best polycarbonate luggage in 2024
Rimowa introduced the first polycarbonate suitcase to the market in 2000. Ever since, hard-sided plastic suitcases — like these top picks — have grown in popularity with travelers. Many of the best luggage pieces of 2024 are polycarbonate suitcases.
Polycarbonate luggage is highly durable, making them an ideal choice for most. Polycarbonate holds its shape during travel, providing stronger protection than softside luggage. And while aluminum luggage makes a great option for luxury travelers, polycarbonate luggage is much more affordable.
Read on for our top polycarbonate luggage picks in 2024, plus more info on what makes polycarbonate luggage different from the other luggage options available.
The best polycarbonate luggage in 2024
We’ve found the best polycarbonate luggage options for all of your 2024 travels from top brands like Rimowa, Away, Monos and more. All these picks are reviewer-loved, with four-star ratings or higher.
Best luxury polycarbonate luggage: Rimowa Essential
The first polycarbonate to hit the market, the Rimowa Essential remains one of the most luxurious polycarbonate luggage pieces you can buy. Available in different sizes and a bunch of glossy and matte color options, the sleek suitcase comes equipped with a TSA-approved lock, a telescopic handle and a smooth, multiwheel system.
Prices start at $850 for the Cabin S size, up to $1,450 for the Trunk Plus.
Why we like the Rimowa Essential:
Looking for something even lighter and lower in price? Check out the lightest Rimowa polycarbonate suitcase, the Essential Lite, weighing 4.6 pounds. Its price starts at $720 at Rimowa.
Best polycarbonate checked bag: Royce & Rocket The Castle
Anyone who struggles to stay organized while living out of a suitcase will appreciate the clever built-in shelving of this checked luggage piece from Royce & Rocket. Neatly stack clothing on the two shelves that emerge when the suitcase opens. There’s a hidden zipper pocket for stashing jewelry and other valuables.
It’s available in burgundy, silver and black exterior colors with the option of a pink or tobacco interior.
Why we like the Royce & Rocket The Castle checked luggage:
Best budget polycarbonate luggage: Samsonite Omni
The polycarbonate Omni, a highly rated and popular piece from Samsonite, offers high quality at a reasonable price. Features include TSA-approved, side-mounted locks, multidirectional spinner wheels, an interior mesh divider and cross straps.
The Omni comes in two checked-bag sizes: a 24-inch suitcase and a larger, 28-inch version (which may fall into the oversized luggage category). Prices vary based on size and color.
Why we like the Samsonite Omni:
- This is one of the best-selling and well-reviewed suitcases on Amazon, where it’s rated 4.5 stars.
- It’s a premium-looking luggage option available for a reasonable price point.
- Comes in a wide range of color options to fit your tastes.
Best polycarbonate luggage with a built-in charger: Away luggage
Away Travel’s spinner wheel bags have amassed a fast following. Their durable, locking polycarbonate bags are stylish and a staff favorite.
“I got the Away The Medium suitcase as a gift this Christmas and it’s completely changed the way I travel,” says CBS Essentials Managing Editor Fox Van Allen. “It’s filled with so many pockets that make organization a breeze — I can find everything in it so quickly. I especially like how easy it is to roll through the airport, even when it’s packed full of heavy things.”
If you don’t like it, return it within 100 days for a full refund.
Why we love Away luggage:
- The compression panel helps you get more clothes into this suitcase when packing.
- Away luggage comes with a lifetime warranty.
- Personalization options are available (at an extra charge).
Best staff-tested polycarbonate luggage: Monos luggage
Available in a bunch of designer colors, Monos’ polycarbonate luggage features an effortless telescopic handle, lots of pockets and compartments with zippers and an easy-to-use lock. You can read our full review of the Monos carry-on for more details.
Choose from six carry-on options (including two aluminum and polycarbonate hybrids) and two check-in sizes.
Why we Monos luggage:
- Monos carry-ons and checked bags offer smooth, seamless maneuverability according to our testing.
- Monos offers a 100-day trial period and a limited lifetime warranty.
- Monos luggage comes in a variety of stylish colors.
Best sustainable polycarbonate luggage: Paravel Aviator
Looking for a sustainable polycarbonate suitcase? The Paravel Aviator is made of all recycled materials, from its interior lining to its aluminum handle to its vegan leather accents. Geared with frictionless, carbon steel-bearing wheels, the Aviator offers 360-degree movement and a telescopic handle, which makes walking (or running) through the airport a breeze.
Paravel offers three sizes: Two carry-on options and a larger check-in.
Why we like the Paravel Aviator:
- The luggage is carbon neutral and made with recycled materials.
- Reviewers state that it is easy to maneuver.
- It features a scuff-hiding textured finish.
Best customizable polycarbonate luggage: Roam luggage
Design your own polycarbonate suitcase with Roam. The company allows you to customize the color of just about every aspect of your suitcase, from the front and back panels down to the trim. Some of the bags are expandable, giving you extra room to bring home souvenirs.
Not feeling creative? You can also choose from pre-designed bags in appealing colorways. You’ll get great luggage either way.
Why we like Roam luggage:
- You can heavily customize the suitcase and choose your favorite colors.
- Roam suitcases come with a lifetime warranty.
- Roam luggage comes with a 100-day trial period and a lifetime guarantee.
Best colorful polycarbonate luggage: Calpak Hue
Available in carry-on and checked sizes, the Calpak Hue collection features a durable polycarbonate exterior, smooth spinner wheels and TSA-approved locks. The Hue collection comes in classic colors as well as more vibrant options.
Why we like Calpak Hue luggage:
- The collection includes a wide range of styles and color options.
- Calpak Hue suitcases feature a zippered interior divider with multiple pockets for easy organization.
- It comes with a two-year warranty.
Why choose polycarbonate luggage?
Compared with leather and textiles, polycarbonate, a form of plastic, has major advantages. Polycarbonate luggage offers ample impact resistance, durability, scratch resistance and water resistance. Plus, it’s lightweight. This makes poly a top option for both checked luggage and carry-on. Polycarbonite luggage travels well on roadtrips, too — the suitcases are easy to get out of a car trunk.
Aluminum luggage offers benefits similar to polycarbonite. But polycarbonite has the advantage of being less expensive than aluminum.
Keep in mind that not all hard-sided, plastic luggage is polycarbonate. ABS, a blend of three plastics, looks strikingly similar to poly, but doesn’t cost so much. The biggest con? The less expensive alternative doesn’t fare as well in terms of durability.
CBS News
Compromise deal reached at COP29 climate talks for $300 billion a year to poor nations
Countries agreed on a deal to inject at least $300 billion annually in humanity’s fight against climate change, aimed at helping poor nations cope with the ravages of global warming at tense United Nations climate talks in the city where industry first tapped oil.
The $300 billion will go to developing countries who need the cash to wean themselves off the coal, oil and gas that causes the globe to overheat, adapt to future warming and pay for the damage caused by climate change’s extreme weather. It’s not near the full amount of $1.3 trillion that developing countries were asking for, but it’s three times the $100 billion a year deal from 2009 that is expiring. Delegations said this deal is headed in the right direction, with hopes that more money flows in the future.
“Everybody is committed to having an agreement,” Fiji delegation chief Biman Prasad said as the deal was being finalized. “They are not necessarily happy about everything, but the bottom line is everybody wants a good agreement.”
It’s also a critical step toward helping countries on the receiving end create more ambitious targets to limit or cut emissions of heat-trapping gases that are due early next year. It’s part of the plan to keep cutting pollution with new targets every five years, which the world agreed to at the U.N. talks in Paris in 2015.
The Paris agreement set the system of regular ratcheting up climate fighting ambition as away to keep warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The world is already at 1.3 degrees Celsius and carbon emissions keep rising.
Countries also anticipate that this deal will send signals that help drive funding from other sources, like multilateral development banks and private sources. That was always part of the discussion at these talks — rich countries didn’t think it was realistic to only rely on public funding sources — but poor countries worried that if the money came in loans instead of grants, it would send them sliding further backward into debt that they already struggle with.
“The $300 billion goal is not enough, but is an important down payment toward a safer, more equitable future,” said World Resources Institute President Ani Dasgupta. “This deal gets us off the starting block. Now the race is on to raise much more climate finance from a range of public and private sources, putting the whole financial system to work behind developing countries’ transitions.”
It’s more than the $250 billion that was on the table in the first draft of the text, which outraged many countries and led to a period of frustration and stalling over the final hours of the summit. After an initial proposal of $250 billion a year was soundly rejected, the Azerbaijan presidency brewed up a new rough draft of $300 billion, that was never formally presented, but also dismissed roundly by African nations and small island states, according to messages relayed from inside.
The several different texts adopted early Sunday morning included a vague but not specific reference to last year’s Global Stocktake approved in Dubai. Last year there was a battle about first-of-its-kind language on getting rid of the oil, coal and natural gas, but instead it called for a transition away from fossil fuels. The latest talks only referred to the Dubai deal, but did not explicitly repeat the call for a transition away from fossil fuels.
Countries also agreed on the adoption of Article 6, creating markets to trade carbon pollution rights, an idea that was set up as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement to help nations work together to reduce climate-causing pollution. Part of that was a system of carbon credits, allowing nations to put planet-warming gasses in the air if they offset emissions elsewhere. Supporters said a U.N.-backed market could generate up to an additional $250 billion a year in climate financial aid.
Despite its approval, carbon markets remain a contentious plan because many experts say the new rules adopted don’t prevent misuse, don’t work and give big polluters an excuse to continue spewing emissions.
“What they’ve done essentially is undermine the mandate to try to reach 1.5,” said Tamara Gilbertson, climate justice program coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network. Greenpeace’s An Lambrechts, called it a “climate scam” with many loopholes.
With this deal wrapped up as crews dismantle the temporary venue, many have eyes on next year’s climate talks in Belem, Brazil.
CBS News
GOP senator blocks promotion of general involved in Afghanistan withdrawal, sources say
The promotion of a three-star general who was part of the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has been paused by Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, three sources familiar with the move confirmed to CBS News Saturday.
Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue was slated to be promoted to a four-star rank and take command of the U.S. Army in Europe. However, he was not included in a batch of nearly 1,000 promotions that moved through the Senate Armed Services Committee this week despite receiving a Pentagon recommendation.
Mullin has put a hold on the promotion. The intention is to allow for the new Republican-controlled Congress and President-elect Donald Trump to weigh in on the promotion given Donahue’s involvement in the Afghanistan withdrawal, two sources familiar with the situation told CBS News.
Behind the scenes, there is an effort underway by the Army and other allies to convince Congress to move forward and lift the hold, which appears to be politically motivated, sources said.
During the campaign, Trump frequently mentioned his surprise that no officers were consequently fired by President Biden for the chaotic withdrawal.
Military officers execute U.S. policy but do not create it. It was the Trump administration that in February 2020 brokered the deal with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, but it was Mr. Biden who decided to execute that withdrawal despite the Taliban breaking the terms of that U.S. agreement.
Donahue was the last U.S. soldier to exit Afghanistan in 2021. The U.S. evacuated about 125,000 people, including 6,000 Americans, over the course of its withdrawal, during which dozens of Afghans and 13 U.S. service members were killed in a suicide bombing outside Hamid Karzai airport in Kabul.
The U.S. underestimated the speed with which the Taliban would capture Kabul and the well-documented U.S. logistical and planning failures have been a focus of multiple internal probes at the Pentagon, State Department, and in Congress.
An extensive State Department report released last year found that “insufficient” planning, communication failures and an inability to grasp “the scale and scope of the operation” contributed to the chaotic operation.
CBS News has reached out to Mullin’s office but did not receive a response. It is not clear whether Trump is aware of the hold.
contributed to this report.
CBS News
Trump picks former White House aide Brooke Rollins to lead the USDA
President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he will nominate former White House aide Brooke Rollins to be his agriculture secretary, the last of his picks to lead executive agencies and another choice from within his established circle of advisers and allies.
The nomination must be confirmed by the Senate, which will be controlled by Republicans when Trump takes office Jan. 20, 2025. Rollins would succeed Tom Vilsack, President Biden’s agriculture secretary who oversees the sprawling agency that controls policies, regulations and aid programs related to farming, forestry, ranching, food quality and nutrition.
Rollins, who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime Trump associate who served as his former domestic policy chief. She is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration.
Rollins, 52, previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Rollins’ pick completes Trump’s selection of the heads of executive branch departments, just two and a half weeks after the former president won the White House once again. Several other picks that are traditionally Cabinet-level remain, including U.S. Trade Representative and head of the Small Business Administration.
Trump didn’t offer many specifics about his agriculture policies during the campaign, but farmers could be affected if he carries out his pledge to impose widespread tariffs. During the first Trump administration, countries like China responded to Trump’s tariffs by imposing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports like the corn and soybeans routinely sold overseas. Trump countered by offering massive multibillion-dollar aid to farmers to help them weather the trade war.
President Abraham Lincoln founded the USDA in 1862, when about half of all Americans lived on farms. The USDA oversees multiple support programs for farmers; animal and plant health; and the safety of meat, poultry and eggs that anchor the nation’s food supply. Its federal nutrition programs provide food to low-income people, pregnant women and young children. And the agency sets standards for school meals.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has vowed to strip ultraprocessed foods from school lunches and to stop allowing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program beneficiaries from using food stamps to buy soda, candy or other so-called junk foods. But it would be the USDA, not HHS, that would be responsible for enacting those changes.
In addition, HHS and USDA will work together to finalize the 2025-2030 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They are due late next year, with guidance for healthy diets and standards for federal nutrition programs.