# Telescoping handles on rollaway luggage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228 "2014-12-03T15:36:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228/21 "2014-12-07T17:51:35Z")
I’ve switched the whole family to Pelican cases. Mine are the older style, but Pelican really seems to have changed their approach to the luggage line, as opposed to just cases. You can’t hurt [these little wonders](http://www.pelican.com/luggage/), and the only thieves you have to worry about have TSA keys… ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228/22 "2014-12-09T11:15:49Z")
I broke my handle off last month carrying it up a flight of stairs. It is cheap luggage, though. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228/23 "2014-12-09T11:37:48Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Never. For one thing, she will never, ever, wear an outfit more than once. So a complete change of clothing for each day we are away. And she prefers to change underwear twice a day. On our last trip, she insisted on packing boots because there might be snow in the driveway when we returned (there was and she was wearing the boots and packed the shoes). And she is always nagging me to pack more–you might spill something on your pants or you might get invited somewhere you don’t have the clothes for. (That actually happened once. I was invited to dine at the high table of St. John’s college in Cambridge, but had to decline because I didn’t have a suit jacket.) Anyway, I have given up on having her pack less. Wait, you are married to my wife? How come I don’t see you around the house? ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228/24 "2014-12-09T14:52:23Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Wait, you are married to my wife? How come I don’t see you around the house? Ha! I was going to say “So that’s where my ex went!” ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228/25 "2014-12-09T16:57:21Z")
BTW for a suitcase so heavy that it cannot be simply lifted by the handle and carried up the stairs, I wonder why you are worried about the telescoping handle giving out rather than the damage to the stair treads when you pull the suitcase up a step and it impacts on the edge of the next tread. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228/26 "2014-12-09T19:02:03Z")
Generally when I face greater than two or three steps I switch to grabbing the fixed handle and lifting by there, but for a curb or something like that I have had no issues pulling on the drag handle – my primary piece of luggage for a decade being a good TravelPro rollaboard that’s just at the edge of qualifying as carry-on. But mind you, I almost never exceed 25 lbs in that item. One of the wheels, OTOH, got the worst of the deal vs. Manhattan’s sidewalks one time rolling down 32d St. from 5th to Penn Station. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228/27 "2014-12-10T01:36:59Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > BTW for a suitcase so heavy that it cannot be simply lifted by the handle and carried up the stairs, I wonder why you are worried about the telescoping handle giving out rather than the damage to the stair treads when you pull the suitcase up a step and it impacts on the edge of the next tread. I should clarify and say that I can no longer carry up a flight of stairs a suitcase weighing 50 lb. Ten years ago, it would have been a piece of cake. I will be 78 next month and you lose something at my age. Perhaps I ought to try to schlep it up using the regular handle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telescoping-handles-on-rollaway-luggage/706228.md?page=1)