The Black Luggage Problem

We had done car trip before and plane trips but not a cruise before and so pulled out the suitcases for a trip to Fort Lauderdale 2 years back. One of the cases was all black and we packed thinking nothing of it. Once in FFL at the luggage carousel, we realized how many bags are all black and how hard it was to spot since you had to look for small things in the handle details and then do a final check with the name on the tag.

During our overnight, we went to a grocery store and found a small florist selling ribbon and bought some red. (Actually we were given half a dozen scraps, but you may have to pay a bit.) We were thinking this would help bring the bag back home but found out how the luggage carousel at the airport is NOTHING compared to the port. Each handle had a small bit of red ribbon tied to it and still does as I look upstairs now.

The advice:

If you are buying luggage, black is nice but makes it hard to find fast on arrivals so pick some other colour or some pattern. If you buy black, mark it with something bright so you can tell your bag from the moment it shows at the gate. (Still check the name as somebody might tag very similar to you.)

And if you tag with ribbon as we did, try for three side as no matter how it is on the carousel, at least one handle will be visible.

Hope this help at least one person shorten your stay in the airport. :-)

I love black luggage because it's not as noticeable when you mix pieces from different sets. What I've done is purchase tie-dyed fleece, cut it into strips about 16" long and 2" wide, knotted a strip on every handle (top and side). Now those stand out in a crowd!

Yes, colored luggage is much easier to find at the airport and cruise terminal

Never had a problem with my black luggage. I have an odd luggage tag its metal and shaped like a plane yet to see anyone else with anything similar. Incase we do run into someone with same tag, we also have our home made luggage strap nametag bright yellow for her and neon green for me both with our initials in bold black letters and those are velcro and cable tied to both handles of each bag.

I've got ribbons on all my black luggage...and my red and gray, too! I put the same color on every handle on every piece of luggage, so it's obvious that all of our luggage is part of the same group!

Nowaday, colored luggage is the norm, so it will become harder and harder to distinquish yours from other peoples without some "tell-tale" extra on the bags!

We had done car trip before and plane trips but not a cruise before and so pulled out the suitcases for a trip to Fort Lauderdale 2 years back. One of the cases was all black and we packed thinking nothing of it. Once in FFL at the luggage carousel, we realized how many bags are all black and how hard it was to spot since you had to look for small things in the handle details and then do a final check with the name on the tag.

 

During our overnight, we went to a grocery store and found a small florist selling ribbon and bought some red. (Actually we were given half a dozen scraps, but you may have to pay a bit.) We were thinking this would help bring the bag back home but found out how the luggage carousel at the airport is NOTHING compared to the port. Each handle had a small bit of red ribbon tied to it and still does as I look upstairs now.

 

The advice:

If you are buying luggage, black is nice but makes it hard to find fast on arrivals so pick some other colour or some pattern. If you buy black, mark it with something bright so you can tell your bag from the moment it shows at the gate. (Still check the name as somebody might tag very similar to you.)

And if you tag with ribbon as we did, try for three side as no matter how it is on the carousel, at least one handle will be visible.

 

Hope this help at least one person shorten your stay in the airport. :-)

I've had trouble identifying my luggage on the airport carousel also ...

My husband is a frequent flyer for work. Wasting time trying to locate your bags are not the only issue. On several occasions, he's had to stop someone else from walking off with his bag because it was identical to theirs and they hadn't bothered to look at the tag closely. On one occasion someone else actually took his bag home, leaving an identical bag on the carousel. The airline had to track the other guy down to switch the bags. My husband got his bag back 2 days later, and we live 45 min from the airport. They sent someone out to deliver it. Thankfully, this happened on his way home and not at the beginning of his trip.

He tried tying ribbons and other identifiable things to his bags, but often found they got torn off with the baggage handlers. So now, he has put several distinct large stickers on his suitcases (a scuba diver flag, a nitrox diver, and a couple of brand name stickers, a Yosemite National park sticker) so he can quickly spot them, but also so no one else will accidentally walk off with them. Not pretty, even a little tacky, but he hasn't had any mix ups since and he can spot them in an instant.

I've had trouble identifying my luggage on the airport carousel also ...

 

And how much did you pay for inflight drinks??? Just asking. LOL.

I've had trouble identifying my luggage on the airport carousel also ...

 

Makes me think of the Partridge Family lol No worries of anyone walking off with your bags lol

Last time I bought luggage I bought an orange hard-side set. No problem spotting it anywhere!

And how much did you pay for inflight drinks??? Just asking. LOL.

Zero. I only drink the free drinks, unless someone has given me a drink coupon, in which case it is still free (for me).

Last time I bought luggage I bought an orange hard-side set. No problem spotting it anywhere!

You mean like this ...

Too plane looking. :)

Try a big X made from duct/gaffer tape. Not pretty but easy to spot and hopefully it stops someone else taking your bag home by mistake. It happens :mad:

You mean like this ...

 

 

 

Too plane looking. :)

LOL, pretty similar, but mine has a stripe pattern instead of a block pattern.

Thanks everyone. Now I know that the next time I get a luggage, that it will be some sort of weird color; easy to identify, harder to mix up accidently, harder to steal.

Because we travel with different luggages depending on the trip, we sometimes run into the following problem when at the conveyor belt after a long bleary-eyed flight: just exactly which luggage did I bring with me this time?

:D:D..:o..:(

I switch from using a black luggage to a fuschia color luggage. Never had a problem with using that color. I also found some plastic bright color luggage tags with funny saying on them. I brought a couple of them to give to family members who has black luggage to put on them.

I use luggage straps with my name on them. They've always been still attached when the luggage came orund on the carousel.

We also have straps with our town and initials on them - my red luggage isn't as hard to spot as his black bag. You can sort of see the straps in the photo.

Try a big X made from duct/gaffer tape. Not pretty but easy to spot and hopefully it stops someone else taking your bag home by mistake. It happens :mad:

Oh no! And I thought my tackiness was so original. Duct tape happened to be what I had at hand and I did just that - big ugly duct tape X's all over my bags. Now I'll have to worry about my bags winding up in Australia.

I thought I was smart buying the Heys silver luggage set on sale at Costco a few months before our trip, until half of the plane returning to Ottawa had the same set :D

We have always used bright green identification tags on our luggage, combined with the silver it seems to be distinct enough.

Florescent colored zip ties (they sell them in hot pink, lime green, safety orange and neon blue) not only identifies your luggage in a hot second but it is a cheap and easy way to secure your luggage. Much, much better than the TSA locks which FREQUENTLY get cut off because the supervisor (who is the only one who has the keys or code) can't be found and luggage must be checked to make the plane.

I am never without my supply of brightly colored zip ties-available at Home Depot, Lowes and any decent wholesale electrical supply store. Even though I have distinguishable luggage, I still look for the zip ties. IF I can't see them on a suitcase, I won't even pull it off the carousel. I go to the airline office, ask one of the reps to accompany me while I open it. The zip ties may have been removed by a TSA inspection (although they usually re-ziptie with creme or grey) but it might also be someone got into your suitcase and either ripped something off or placed something in your luggage (definitely a possibility in certain places in the world).

Just an FYI to the first timers from someone who travels too much for business all over the world.

For years I used crocheted ribbons made from colored yard. They are easy to spot but only from close up. I still found myself squinting at all the black luggage because you can't always get a spot close to the carousels. Then I discovered colored duct tape. Last cruise - used fluorescent orange and put our initials on the big sides and a strip on the outer flatter sides. There was no mistaking which bags were ours a hundred feet away.

Yep - its true, the only two items you really need are duct tape and WD-40 in your basic tool box.;)

There's a Samsonite Luggage Outlet near our house and we just bought a tourquise set of luggage. My wife wasn't that crazy about it, but we both agreed, you'll be able to spot it a mile away.

I've learned over the years colored luggage is the way to go. I have bright blue, pink, purple bags (different colors but they came from the same set, I just couldn't find the set as a whole!)

The use of duct tape is definitely smart, especially in different colors. I've found the whole tied on ribbon to become pretty regular now.

I will never, ever own a black roller bag. I hate roller bags to begin with...let alone black ones! I have two very unique bags that I use depending on my trip - one I have never seen another of, and one I have only ever seen once (in Oklahoma City of all places). Combine that with luggage tags that pop out (usually sports ones, since I'm a sports junkie), and I can grab my bag and go without ever having to do the "pick up, check tag, put back on belt because it isn't mine" game.