Review of
Onward 40L Cabin Bag
— Deceptive Practices

Their Published "Risk-Free" Promise Turned Out to Be Meaningless

My first move after opening the box was to request a return — the bag was smaller than I expected. It was untouched, with its original tags. I reached out to customer service to ask how to send it back.

The reply? Returns are only processed for defective products. That stands in direct contradiction to what Onward advertises on their own site:

"100% Money Back Guarantee — 100 Days Risk Free. We'll refund you if it's not quite right for you or your loved ones." Those are their exact words — not mine. They just don't seem to apply in practice.

The Compression Zipper Requires Unreasonable Force to Operate

The whole pitch of this bag is a vacuum-sealed main compartment: zip it closed, attach the pump, and compress your packing down. Sounds great in theory. In practice, pulling that zipper shut feels like you're about to tear the bag apart. Anyone with reduced hand strength — arthritis, joint issues, or just not-superhuman grip — would struggle to use this bag at all.

Support's response to this concern? The resistance is intentional — a necessary feature of an airtight seal. By their definition, an unusable zipper is a design success, not a product flaw.

The Pump Arrives With a Pile of Unexplained Accessories

Inside the box with the pump you'll find an assortment of adapters, nozzles, and rubber rings — with no documentation whatsoever explaining what they're for. No printed guide, no QR code, no app. Nothing.

After testing everything myself, I determined that zero of these accessories are actually required. The pump plugs directly into the bag's valve. My conclusion: this is a mass-market pump sold with its full generic accessory kit attached, repackaged as a premium product feature. The extras add confusion and plastic waste but serve no purpose for this bag.

When I Showed Them Their Own Guarantee, They Found a New Excuse

I responded with a screenshot of Onward's product page displaying their guarantee. Support's reply introduced an entirely new justification: because my purchase occurred during a "promotional sale period," it was final sale and ineligible for return.

The issue: that same price appears on their site today, weeks after my purchase. My order confirmation says nothing about final-sale terms. There was no limited-time promotion. The product just permanently shows as being on sale.

Using a perpetual "sale" label as grounds to void your own guarantee isn't a discount policy — it's a structural workaround designed to make returns impossible for everyone.

The Vacuum Holds for Roughly Half a Minute Before Failing

Before taking things further, I gave the bag a genuine test run. I loaded the compression compartment, forced the zipper shut, connected the pump, and compressed the contents. For a moment, it worked exactly as advertised.

Then, within about 30 seconds, air crept back in. The inner lining went slack. The compartment that's supposed to hold a vacuum simply doesn't. This is the one thing — the single differentiating capability of this product — and it doesn't function reliably.

Other Buyers Report Identical Experiences With Returns

Before concluding this was a one-off, I searched for other customers' accounts. It wasn't hard to find them. Trustpilot has multiple reviews describing the same cycle: a generous guarantee on the sales page, a refusal when a return is requested, and a different excuse each time it's challenged.

Their Refund Policy Has Been Written to Ensure It Never Actually Applies

Reading their published refund policy carefully reveals this clause: "Sale or discounted items: All promotional or clearance items are final sale and not eligible for return or refund. This is clearly stated at checkout and on our website."

It was not clearly stated at checkout. My order confirmation makes no mention of non-returnable terms. And since the bag's price appears to be perpetually discounted — not temporarily on sale, just always listed that way — this language effectively functions as a blanket denial of all returns, for every customer, forever, regardless of the guarantee displayed on the product page.

The supposed "sale" is shown on the home page with a countdown of hours. As I write this on June 22, 2026, the countdown currently shows 12 hours left of the Onward's supposed "3rd Anniversary Sale." But, sadly for them, I took a screenshot of their home page on June 16, and you can see that the "sale" was still there with 10 hours remaining. So, clearly this is a permanent sale, for the sole purpose of not refunding people. You can see my June 16 full screenshot here.