Originally Posted by
afterburn81
Yeah although I have yet to come across a bag with a destroyed handle, the little velcro strip could easily be improved. They have eliminated the destroyed handle problem by creating the new SS handle. The old (black) aluminum handle was easily bent or broken. If you can break or even bend the new handle, you have done something with enough force that might have shifted the earths axis a bit.
I have seen what happens to the machine that makes the handles when things are misaligned. They are tough for sure.
There's more to keeping the handle stowed than handle protection. I was commuting home once and when placing my bag into the overhead bin I let the bag tilt. When tilted, the SS handle slid out to full extension and narrowly missed smashing a paying pax in the face. That was almost an ugly deal.