Who marks thier luggage

[Mist_ynight]

After having the same troubles finding our black suitcase we went out and bought all different colours of suitcases. Mine is light purple, my DH is light blue, we have a bright green one and a red one that we only use ocasionally. Our carry on suitcases are bright pink and aqua blue. I've only ever seen one person with the same purple suitcase.

[Shining Clem]

Not having bought luggage for over 20 yrs, we had to buy new, with wheels & lighter. We chose chose Eagle Creek, in colors.

 

Most of these pieces were purchased from a web retailer, Luggage Pros*, whom we have had satisfactory experiences with. On their web site I spotted this: http://www.luggagepros.com/myflytag plus other tags, etc. You can custom design both sides.

 

We ordered some with pictures of our dog, Clem. NOBODY else has Clem and we figure if things are missing, it will help to tell the baggage people to look for a doxie! (Actually someone else did, but they dumped him & his brother, seven yrs ago at a local strip plaza, where one of the store people called the dog warden, before they got hit). These will be put inside and outside our luggage for an upcoming cruise.

 

It's also a way to take a little bit of Clem with us! :D

 

Also when you are all packed, take a pix with your digital camera of the checked luggage and identifying 'decorations'. That way you can show people what it looks like if it is separated from you.

 

Like the idea of bright shoe laces tied around things too!

***********

On a similar topic, be careful where you put tags, metal TSA locks. I have seen pix of the luggage conveyor belts behind the rubber curtains - They have 6"+ GAPS between them. This is where locks, tags, wheels, handles get ripped off & zippers torn; as the bags move from one belt to another. Every so often some airport employee has to go in and scoop out the mini-mountain of hardware between the belts.

 

Try to have everything as flat as possible and see that when you check in, the employee puts the suitcase onto the conveyor belt on it's flattest side, so things won't get caught.

*******************

* Have absolutely NO financial interest in Luggage Pros. There may be other places which offer this product/service.

[room010]

Bought a new bright red Samsonite suitcase for a recent cruise. I added my usual woven, lockable strap but was thrilled to note when I got back that the luggage handlers had also added a few distinctive, oily black boot prints too. How thoughtful :mad:

[MrsPete]

No need to mark my luggage.

 

It's the bag in my hand. Hard to mistake that.

[MrsPete]

Bought a new bright red Samsonite suitcase for a recent cruise. I added my usual woven, lockable strap but was thrilled to note when I got back that the luggage handlers had also added a few distinctive, oily black boot prints too. How thoughtful :mad:

I remember on one cruise we were walking down the hall right about the time they opened the "residential hallways" and heard a horrible THUMP, THUMP, THUMP! A crew-only door was standing open, and we looked it -- sure enough, there's luggage being THROWN down a crew-only stairway! Big suitcases were bump-bump-bumping down the stairs, falling where-ever they might, landing upon one another.

 

Some of those suitcases were ours. We grabbed our stuff ourselves -- before more landed on top of it -- and it was the last time we checked any luggage with the cruise line.

[cruiselover57]

I put several strips,(front,back,sides,bottom,top)of flourescent duct tape and bright luggage tag on all pieces. No one can mistake it for thier's, easy to spot on the carousel at airport and easy to spot when debarking the ship.

 

While are bags are all black (like most everyone else's), we have some stickers that we use (although not really bright) but we can often spot our luggage from afar plus we have a few luggage tags that are fairly bright too (red and blue).

[packed&ready!]

One red, one gray and red, white & blue pom-poms. Easy to spot. Of course the first time I used my nice new light gray one, it has big black marks allover it! grrrrrr

[GORDONCHICK]

Be very careful about using things you've attached to your luggage that flop around - they can and do get stuck in conveyor belts and have been known to rip handles and even break them off. Best advice is to use something that is flush with your luggage or handles - duck tape is great because it comes in a variety of colors and patterns. Fabric paint is another great option. I have a friend who hot glued some very colorful ribbon to her non-descript luggage. My DH laughed at what I did, but he was amazed at the difference it made and how fast we got our luggage!

[SadieN]

***********

On a similar topic, be careful where you put tags, metal TSA locks. I have seen pix of the luggage conveyor belts behind the rubber curtains - They have 6"+ GAPS between them. This is where locks, tags, wheels, handles get ripped off & zippers torn; as the bags move from one belt to another. Every so often some airport employee has to go in and scoop out the mini-mountain of hardware between the belts.

 

Try to have everything as flat as possible and see that when you check in, the employee puts the suitcase onto the conveyor belt on it's flattest side, so things won't get caught.

*******************

.

 

Be very careful about using things you've attached to your luggage that flop around - they can and do get stuck in conveyor belts .................

 

Been the recepient of things getting stuck in the conveyor belt.

 

Anchorage Airport in June 2007. The belts were jammed and they couldn't take any more bags. Took them a great while to unblock the belt. The crowd almost lynched an agent when she declared that she had to go on break.:eek:

[goingsailing]

I also use the white fabric paint on my blue luggage. Right by the handle I wrote in big letters "MY Bag". Can't miss that when you grab for the handle. My DD made fun of me when I did it but I have no problem picking my luggage bag out from many.

[notentirelynormal]

These ideas are great but not always effective. We had the bright green belt wrapped around our suitcase with our name in big black letters all over the belt. Had our name written on the luggage tag. Someone still took our suitcase. Seriously, some people just never look. Thankfully we got the suitcase back before we had to board the plane. We were in Vancouver and staying the weekend otherwise we'd have had to leave without it. We wasted half a day because someone just saw the green belt and took the suitcase.

[MszKitty]

Anything you purchased from a big store/company, eventually you are going to run into someone else that has the same thing. Putting your name in big block letters in a bright color near the handle makes it pretty obvious its your bag and no one should mistake it for their's because it has the same belt, etc.

[notentirelynormal]

Anything you purchased from a big store/company, eventually you are going to run into someone else that has the same thing. Putting your name in big block letters in a bright color near the handle makes it pretty obvious its your bag and no one should mistake it for their's because it has the same belt, etc.

 

And yet in my case that's exactly what happened. The guy that took it even said he just saw the green belt and grabbed it. He didn't actually look at the suitcase until he got home.

[marydallas]

Yes, I use 2 1/2 to 3 inch bright yellow duct tape. and put huge yellow XXs on each side. Couldn't possibly be picked up by other than the owner....Happy Sails. marydallas

[room010]

And yet in my case that's exactly what happened. The guy that took it even said he just saw the green belt and grabbed it. He didn't actually look at the suitcase until he got home.

 

No amount of duct tape, dayglo straps, distinctive labels are going to prevent idiots being, erm, idiots.

[notentirelynormal]

No amount of duct tape, dayglo straps, distinctive labels are going to prevent idiots being, erm, idiots.

 

That was kind of my point LOL.