Idenifying Your Luggage In A Sea Of Black

How can you identify your black luggage in the sea of black at airport carousels and at cruise line terminals? The yarn or ribbon your grandmother used around the handle of her suitcase doesn't seem to be working anymore. It either comes untied, or someone else thinks it belongs to him or her. The ribbons can even be torn off by one of the conveyer belt systems used to transport your luggage. With few if any airport personnel checking bags on the way out of the airport, you want to be sure your luggage is clearly identified. To solve the problem, there are a lot of new products in the marketplace that have been designed to help you find your luggage. There is also one method that has been around for as long as the square box luggage. The oldest method and best is still to have your luggage monogrammed with your own initials. This is a tried and true permanent solution to identifying luggage that cannot be removed. It immediately proves that the luggage belongs to you and to no one else.
There are bright luggage tags available that can be placed on the top handle of your luggage as well as the side load handle. That way, your luggage can be easily identified no matter which ends it falls on while on the carousel. Keep the same color scheme on all of your pieces of luggage so that you know what to look for at a glance. You can mix colors, just be sure the same grouping of colors is used on all of the bags so it's easy to spot. The newest tags have the address covered and only the name will show if anything. Most of the tags are now completely covered with your name and address on the inside, and the bright color shows on the entire tag. These tags come in standard sizes, or the super sized tag that can be spotted from a distance. There are also handle wrappers that do exactly that. They wrap around the black handles of your luggage with Velcro and change the handle to a brighter color. Once again, it's best to use two per case so you can spot the luggage whichever way it lands. Bright colored luggage straps have also been around for sometime. They keep your luggage from accidentally popping open and help you to spot your bag. You need to remember that if you use a locking strap it now has to be a TSA approved strap at airports. This will have the TSA emblem on it, and the security personnel at airports can open the combination lock on the strap with their master key. The new combination TSA locks also come in many bright colors. Security personnel with their master key can also open these TSA locks and straps and are the only locks permitted at airports. The locks can be placed on your main zipper and on any of the zippered pockets that have two zipper pulls.
Because identifying your luggage in the sea of black has become a problem for many travelers, there are also some really cute solutions. There are bright colored tags with an initial on them for easy identification. Some leather tags can also be personally monogrammed with two or three of your initials or a short name. Then there are tags guaranteed to put a smile on your face while identifying your cases as "yours." These are branded with sayings such as "Mine!" "Not Your Bag" and "You Won't Look Good in My Clothes!." Another solution is the small "pom-pom" tags in assorted colors and combinations designed to stand out in the crowd. Your business card can also be laminated into a luggage tag. This gives your luggage easy identification with a company name and logo and phone number and address to identify the bag as yours.
There are also products such as "boomerangit" that is an official "lost & found" service. The company provides rewards to finders of lost luggage who call their 800 number. It's a very good idea to put your name and address inside every piece of luggage so it can be further identified. Remember also to remove all old labels and bar codes from your luggage prior to the trip. Now just remember the color scheme you've chosen for your luggage and find your luggage quickly!