I always put ribbons on my suitcase, but putting stuff on your bags doesn't always work. I read what was supposed to be a funny story in Reader's Digest in which a guy said that he put stickers and ribbons and stuff on his bag, only to see someone else grab it. He went over and said, "Excuse me, but I think that's my bag." And it was! He asked the guy who had grabbed it, "Didn't you see the stickers and ribbons on it? Didn't it occur to you that it wasn't your bag?" The guy answered, "Yes, I did see them! And I wondered who the heck did that to my bag!" So, when you get off a plane, don't stop to visit the restroom. Go right to baggage claim, because your bag could be purple and pink and covered with silver flowers, and it wouldn't matter - someone else could just grab it and leave.

First, I had visions of Aunt Bethany in the movie "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" when she brings a wrapped present with her cat inside.

After getting the wrong bag in Costa Rica several years ago upon arriving for a 10-day ecotour we now do a couple of things, primarily a large duct tape 'X' on the back of the bag with duct tape stripes on the side. We also use those neon Velcro handle covers, but they often get removed (stolen?).

FWIW, taking the wrong bag in a foreign country and leaving the airport is NOT recommended. I learned first hand that the customs and clearance process is designed to be one-way and the recovery effort took nearly six hours at the San Jose airport. We were fortunate that our bag was there in the unclaimed area, but trying to explain to smiling, non-English speaking security people was a challenge. Plus, since American Airlines did not have any flights arriving/departing for several hours there was no one available to help.

I was in a B&B in London a couple of years ago and a woman was on the phone trying to track down a woman at a different hotel because weirdly enough the two of them had switched bags. Both were black bags with wheels and both had multiple purple pom poms on it. Turns out both had shopped in Costco where they both bought the same black bags and the same purple pom poms with the thought of marking it and making it unique looking. They lived in different parts of the country - who would have thought that they'd end up on the same flight.

The morale of the story that I learned from this is to have multiple markings and to add some personal flair to the markings - that way its less likely that others will have the same exact idea.

All I could think of when I read the "don't pack around your pets" advice was the dog of my youth - a lab mix of rather prodigious size and strength.

She didn't like us traveling. So when she saw the suitcases come out, she would wait until my Mom had opened one up and laid it on the bed. As soon as my Mom turned her attention to her closet or dresser, the dog would jump up and sprawl herself across the suitcase. It would take all the kids to pull her off.

As for black suitcases....with some of our wedding money, we bought vivid red luggage. More people are doing that now, but they still do stand out quite a bit, especially with colored tags and colored TSA locks. If we need to add a new piece, it's always in some color other than black. Our luggage isn't matching and pretty, but we always know it's ours.

This highlights the need for the airlines to put in security at the baggage claims so people can't steal bags. Considering how easy it is for someone to accidentally take the wrong bag, it's even easier for someone trying to do it intentionally.

Who checks luggage? I mean, if I could manage a month in China with just two bags that I could carry on, why would I check something for a shorter trip?

Why on earth do people buy those black wheely bags? They all look the same! The potential for mixups is obvious and huge. I travel with ancient ugly blue bags, and I can always see them coming from 50 feet away.

The answer to "travels light": We check our bags because someone has to, or there wouldn't be enough room in the overhead bins for all the luggage belonging to people who want to bring two large carry-ons with everything they need for a month in China.

To Travels Light:

Ditto to what "Check your bags!" said - I can't count the times I've wanted to put the smallish backpack I use for travel (usually only 1/2 filled) in the overhead bin, only to have them all filled by those who bring the large carry ons - many that sure as H*ll don't fit into those "please make sure your carry-on fits into this box" boxes.

Sometimes you just have to check some things. When I used to go on field work/dino digs for several weeks or months at a time, my clothes and toiletries generally fit in my favorite, soft-sided carry-on.

But my field gear was pretty bulky and had to be checked-in. Not to mention a paleontologist's tools of the trade - rock hammer and dental picks - have never really been something that just slide through the security check point.

I used a large duffel bag to tote my gear around North and Central America, and was quite frankly relieved to not have to schlep it around O'Hare or Denver or Atlanta, since wheeled duffels weren't really available back then...

They weren't large carryons; one was a medium-sized backpack, the other a shoulder bag a bit smaller than the typical rollaboard. (I'd rather carry a bag than pull one trundling behind). The backpack easily fits under the seat in front of me, and because the shoulder bag doesn't have a rigid framework but is more malleable it takes up about 2/3rds as much space as that typical rollaboard. As I say, call me "Travels Light". And don't blame me for other folks' abuse of the overhead bins.

Even when you're traveling light with roll-aboards, it's a good idea to mark up the roll-aboards in case you end up on one of the small regional jets and have to gate-check your bags. My husband and I were on our way to a wedding in Canada where he was to be a groomsman, and his necessary clothes were all in a roll-aboard. Well, we ended up on a tiny rj and had to gate-check the roll-aboard. When we de-planed, there was a roll-aboard that looked suspiciously similar to his on the jetway, but his had not yet appeared. Hubby stayed at the plane, and I bolted through the airport in search of the possible person who had taken his bag. I actually found him about 50 yards short of immigration - he was so convinced that the bag was his until he opened it. The wedding crisis was narrowly averted only by our quick reactions.

I actually keep a few hotel and other random claim-check tags on my bags (nothing from previous flights with routing codes, of course) - there's very little danger of duplication of those.

My ingenious foolproof solution is.... READ THE LUGGAGE TAG!!!! buy your own, put on the airline's one, and for backup, heck, how about the one they put on when you check it that has the airport code AND YOUR NAME!!!

Jeez, people, glance at the tag either before you grab or after to be sure. If it's not yours, put it back, no one is going to think you're weird.

Wish they would let people who don't have antyhign in overhead bins scoot out first before you all clog the aisles!

"The answer to "travels light": We check our bags because someone has to, or there wouldn't be enough room in the overhead bins for all the luggage belonging to people who want to bring two large carry-ons with everything they need for a month in China."

Posted by: Check your bags! | January 25, 2008 02:32 PM

My usual roomie/travel companion for a convention every summer has a large suitcase--something neutral colored. People kept trying to take it, so it now has written on the sides things like 'this is not your suitcase!' and 'do not take'. :) It's worked so far......

My big, rolling suitcase is a bright green with a multicolor stripe on the front. It also has a picture baggage ID on the handle. This makes things easier for me to spot my stuff on the carousel, especially when red is the "New Black."

My father-in-law's a nervous twit, and when returning from vising a son in S.C., he grabbed a bag, and when he got home, and opened it, the bag was full of pipes, etc. I don't recall how it was solved, but
old, nervous types, shouldn't be counted on to do a lot right when making that once a year trip. Someone needs to be w/them when they're leaving, and when they arrive back.

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