Most travelers spend their time worrying about what goes inside their luggage.
It turns out there may be things attached to the outside of your suitcase that can cause problems too.
I’m always on the lookout for oddball rules involving luggage and airports, and I always thought I was pretty good at sniffing them out.
But I have to be honest – this was a new one on me. I mean, I knew to remove old stickers from luggage (here’s why). I even know not to check certain styles of bags because they could get stuck. But this? Brand new one for me – and it makes sense.
For years, when people would buy new luggage, many would get it in black. Sometimes it was the only choice, but for others, I dunno, I guess they didn’t want dirt to show on it? There was even a popular luggage tag about it, back in the day:
The Rise of Luggage Colors
As the years passed, luggage companies got wise to the fact that not everyone wants a black bag. So more and more colors became available. Red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and peach and ruby and olive and violet and fawn and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and cream and crimson and silver and rose and azure and lemon and russet and grey and purple and white and pink and orange and blue (brownie points if you know the reference). Some companies even have multi-colored designs on their bags. Or if you want to be really fancy, you can get one of these.
That being said, some people still put something on their luggage to ensure it’s “different” or, at least, immediately recognizable. Many tie a ribbon to their bag; it’s easy to connect, relatively big, and colorful. However, an airport baggage handler across the pond has suggested that passengers NOT use a ribbon.
The Baggage Handler’s Advice
Speaking to RSVP Live, an Ireland-based show about celebrities, news, TV, fashion, health and lifestyle, the baggage handler, whose first name is John, said you shouldn’t put a ribbon on the handle of your bag.
“Ribbons that people tie onto their suitcases to help identify them can cause issues with the bag being scanned in the baggage hall,” he said.
According to John, the problem is that a ribbon can interfere with the baggage tag being read by automated scanners. If a bag can’t be scanned automatically, he said, it may need manual processing.
“If the bag can’t be scanned automatically it can end up in manual processing, which could mean your bag doesn’t make it to the flight,” John warned.
I always figured something soft, like a ribbon or a pom-pom, could get stuck in the machinery itself. I never really thought that a ribbon could block the sticker. Makes perfect sense, though.
At the end of the day, the whole point of tying a ribbon to your luggage is to make it easier to spot.
And for most travelers, it probably works just fine.
But if this baggage handler is right, that little bit of extra visibility could occasionally create problems behind the scenes that passengers never think about.
So if you’re worried about mistaking your black suitcase for someone else’s, you might be better off choosing colorful luggage, using a distinctive luggage tag connected to the side handle, or even adding a brightly colored luggage strap instead.
While nobody wants to spend an extra five minutes looking for their bag at baggage claim, most travelers would probably agree that’s better than the bag missing the flight altogether. 😬
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