WaterField Unveils Enhanced Air Porter Carry-On with Customer-Inspired Updates

The updated underseat bag adds customer-driven upgrades, including a new larger size alongside the original, a lightweight ECOPAK™ option, new security features, and improved organization.

Mar. 24, 2026 at 4:52am by Ben Kaplan

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WaterField Designs introduces the refreshed Air Porter Carry-On, an underseat personal item updated through direct customer feedback. This enhanced travel bag offers significant improvements in security, organization, and material options, all while maintaining its compact footprint designed to fit under most airline seats and preserve legroom.

Why it matters

The development of the refreshed Air Porter Carry-On was inspired by its 10-year anniversary and direct customer feedback gathered through a dedicated Community Design process. This process ensures that the Air Porter continues to meet modern travel demands while preserving its award-winning core design.

The details

The updated Air Porter introduces a second size with an additional 2 inches of depth, offering added capacity for overnight or weekend trips. A new ECOPAK™ sailcloth option delivers strength and durability with cross-ply reinforcement and PFC-free waterproof backing, at a fraction of the weight of traditional materials. The bag also features a padded tablet sleeve, zippered Monolite™ translucent pockets, an RFID-blocking front pocket, and expanded water bottle pockets.

  • The Air Porter Carry-On has been one of WaterField's most trusted bags for ten years.
  • The updated Air Porter was introduced on March 24, 2026.

The players

WaterField Designs

A San Francisco–based manufacturer of premium bags and accessories, handcrafted locally in small batches.

Gary Waterfield

The founder of WaterField Designs.

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What they’re saying

“The Air Porter has been one of our most trusted bags for ten years, so the goal wasn't to change what already worked but rather to ask customers what we could do to make it even better.”

— Gary Waterfield, Founder

“By involving customers in the process, we're able to update a product without losing what made it successful in the first place. It's about making an already popular product even more capable for how people travel today.”

— Gary Waterfield, Founder

The takeaway

The refreshed Air Porter Carry-On demonstrates how a company can evolve a popular product by directly engaging with customers to understand their evolving needs, while preserving the core design elements that made the original a success.