[Tade0]

Guess my normal usage is more destructive than your trips. The main driver of wear in my case was always commuting with the device and thus also plugging/unplugging things several times a day.

Also if you hold a 2kg closed laptop with one hand - you're going to have pressure marks and I learned that the hard way.

Anyway, all around me people have always had hardware issues - also with Apple products. I recall replacing the battery in a late 2011 MBP because it was swollen as it failed from age alone.

Bottom line is that I believe you, I just think you're an outlier.