Color of luggage
 

Do you think if you have unique looking luggage that helps at the airport? This might seem like a stupid question. I got pink. Its seems like everyone has black.

It's not a stupid question at all. For years I carried either a black or navy suitcase and I will never have that again. Here are some benefits of a colorful suitcase:

First of all, your bag is easy to spot on the carousel. And because an odd color is eye-catching I believe helps to prevent theft from the carousel. The way I see it, if there's a thief in the crowd, he doesn't want a suitcase that will draw attention to him. He wants a bag that looks like all others, that way if he's caught he can act like it was an innocent mistake.

Pink is a great choice. :-)

My usual bag is rust colored and I've never seen another one the same color. It makes baggage collection much easier!

Yeah last summer we waited like 30 minutes to 45 minutes to get our bags cause they were black.. So I said I will get a color nobody hardly ever gets.

I have a mint green Kipling rolling duffle bag & I've NEVER seen another like it. I'll never own another black or navy suitcase & think that every time I stand by a luggage carousel.

I don't even care about the stains on it.

If you and your luggage get sent in opposite directions or your luggage just doesn't show up at your destination, you are asked to provide a physical description of it to help them locate it (probably circling under the Denver airport in perpetuity).

Guess how likely they are to find it if you say "it was a Travelpro black 22" rollaboard." Now guess how much easier if you can say "which I painted with day-glo bunnies" or if you can say "it was pink."

We wanted colored luggage, but had to get black because that was what was available. So I have a green striped strap on them, and they are easy to spot. There are also colored ribbons on the handles. ((*))

My big suitcase is this weird orange, and my rollers are lime green and irridescent blue.... no more black suitcases for me!!

Yes, pink is easy to spot on a carousel, but it always draw my attention for another reason. Doesn't matter which brand, it gets so dirty!

These days everybody has black luggage, and people get really creative! Duct tape, stickers, ribbons, luggage tags...

I had red, and now black with color ribbons tied to it. I'd say both are/were equally easy to spot.

Honestly, I don't understand this. I see people who look at every tag of every bag wondering if it is theirs. Do a lot of people have really really bad eye sight? I have black suitcases, and I can easily spot them from at least 35 feet away. And I wear glasses.

There are plenty of ways to tell your baggage apart. The shape of the front pockets. The style of the handles. The wheels. The shape of the stoppers on the bottom. The style of zipper. Your luggage tag. The material. I mean, I really don't see what the big deal is with black luggage. And frankly, it looks the classiest.

You may be able to recognize your own black "penguin" - er - suitcase among all the others, but as I noted earlier, the day will come when yours won't come home with you. And tags can get pulled off -- I've lost several. By the time they decide they can open your to see if you have any interior ID, you're probably sunk.

Black does look "classy," but without something really distinctive, you just have to hope you and it stay close together.

We have one suitcase in bright blue and one in vivid red--no problems finding them on the luggage carrousel or anywhere else. We also use big, bright tags to add to the effect.

Ours are dark green with orange yarn wound around the handles.

Well I hate to tell you Bobmrg, if you and I were on the same flight we could mistaken our luggage, lol.

But not to worry, I will be buying some new luggage.

If you already own black luggage, and fret that it's difficult to discern in the pile on the carousel, a cheap 'n' easy solution:

Buy some brightly colored fabric or duct ("duck") tape. Day-glo orange is my current favorite. Create a pattern on *both* sides of your bag with the tape - a big "X", say, or a fanciful striped pattern. Perhaps your initials. Go crazy, maybe, with two or three different colors of tape.

The tape stays stuck for several trips, and also serves as a theft deterrent -- no thief worth with any brain at all would dare carry off a suitcase striped with Chartruese duct tape.

Of course, if you're one of those with incredibly expensive luggage, or one who likes to keep even the cheapest luggage looking as if it just came off the retailer's shelf -- this tip won't work for you.

Travel shops sell brightly colored pieces of fabric that are fastened around the handle of your luggage with hook and loop material.

We found they were fairly expensive and prone to come off if the luggage is handled roughly (we also found that if you mark only one handle on a bag, that handle will invariably be placed on the bottom where it is hard to see; our solution was to mark each handle).

My wife visited a fabric shop and found some brightly colored cloth and cut pieces and hemmed them on her sewing machine, then sewed them around the handles; we could have used hook and loop, but sewing is sturdier. I actually did the hand sewing, as I have some sailmaking equipment that makes such sewing easy.

They have worked and lasted very well, in addition to saving us money, so now when we shop for a new bag, we don't have to worry about what colors are in stock, we just cover the handles.

I saw a fabulous orange set but was worried it would look dirty in no time. I got dark red instead and have been very happy overall. There are other red bags, but nowhere near as many as black! I think dark greens, blues, and even browns could be good alternatives as well.

I have just returned from a trip with my new bright yellow suitcase with black trim and OMG is it ever dirty, after only one trip!! But that's OK, I will clean it up and use it again next time. I love being able to spot quickly on the carousel, it looks like a big bumblebee!! :-d

P_M, maybe if you leave it dirty it will decrease the chances of getting it stolen even MORE ;)

hello pgh1974:

Coloured luggage:

I have black hard side cases like 100 million others on the carosel but I can spot mine when it is at the beginning of my sight line and I am as far away as possible.

I pained a large [6 inch high] initial with white paint. One on each side.

I have done this for about 8 years now and repaint every once in a while. No ribbon to snag and tear off, just the wear and tear of travel.

I recently purchased [2] light weight carry on for our next trip in January. Those cases are fabric and they too took the white paint but required many coats to soak into the fabric before it began to show white.

The large letter [my last name] is unique to me and is like no other luggage I have seen in those years or ever for that matter. I have no problem with others doing the same aswe would likely have different initials and different style of font.

The luggage happens to be black because those were the cases that I liked best when I bought them.

Woodie

I think the problem arises for people who don't travel often and aren't that familiar with their luggage. With my first travel in years, I had black luggage and I was confused at first. Then on the trip home, I wasn't seeing what I was pretty sure was my luggage. After several minutes of wondering "did I remember wrong? is that one it?", I found out that while I was rerouted, my luggage wasn't (not lost, just on a different flight).

So, it is easy to get confused with luggage.

If I had black luggage, I would stamp it or paint it, etc. But, if I'm out buying, I'd rather find another color and not have to tag my bag at the getgo.

When I bought new luggage a couple years ago, I went with the tapestry. There are a few tapestry pieces out there, but every brand has its own colors and patterns, so it that much less likely to confuse.

Black is black is black. Red may differ slightly in shade, but will be harder to tell when they're not close together. Same with the other colors.

However, with tapestry, you can have blue, burgundy, green, brown, gold, yellow, orange, rust, and the design can me small, medium or large AND leaves, paisley, floral, etc. So many variations that you're likely never to mistake it.

Hi toedtoes, my daughter has a set of taperstry luggage also. She purchased it at Costco and it has help up beautifully for years. I have borrowed a piece of her set from time to time..and oh I agree..it is so easy to spot tapestry luggage!

At the craft shop, buy white fabric paint. Craft a pattern, a wide stripe, lightning bolts or such. Initials are a great idea...paint them on your bags. Light colored bags show the dirt? Black bags get just as dirty. Get brave, take the bag to the bathtub and scrub it! Most bags will also take fabric waterproofing that can repel dirt. Use your printer. Prepare address notes for inclusion in all bags.

for years i've been dreaming about a Start-up initiative: painting the owner's face as a quick cartoon with a white water-proof marker pen
catch 'em before check-in
$$ will be flowing

It is funny I bought pink luggage because I thought nobody would have it. So today I am waiting for my luggage at the baggage claim and someone else had the same kind I had. Pink. We had to laugh.

I usually don't check luggage but when I do it's a black 26" case. Couple of times "I thought I saw my case" when it just came off the feeder but as soon as it got close I knew it wasn't. Never had a problem recognizing it.

The one time the airline "displaced it" I got it back by morning next day.

I have personalized AA EXP luggage tags on the outside, and I also leave a printout with my name/address/phone number inside the case.

About 750K actual BIS miles and I have not lost a <b>black</b> bag yet.

Only takes once, AAFF.

What difference does it make to you whether people buy luggage colored other than black? Do you perhaps think we think less of you if you have black luggage? Or do you think less of people who buy another color because you think they're idiots for trying to avoid losing bags or wanting to make it easier to claim them?

At the very least, people who use colors other than black make it easier for you to find yours with such impressive, expert ease.

It could be that some people think any color other than black for luggage is just too girly, gay, or unprofessional-traveler-ish.

I really don't understand the hostility. I was just reporting my experiences. I thought that was the whole point of this thread....

I didn't see anything wrong with your post either AA. Let's face it, for every person who buys a colored luggage or &quot;tags&quot; one with fabric paint, etc., there are at least 3 people who are using plain black luggage with no problem.

I don't pay attention to little particulars, so I tend to not remember EXACTLY that my black luggage had silver pulls, requiring me to go slower to find the right one. With my tapestry bags, the differences are more obvious, so I don't have to work as hard. For others, there is no problem identifying their luggage.

I just pack my clothes in a blue striped pillowcase and tie off the end. If that is not enough then I use a very old cardboard box and put tape all over it...:&gt;

I know you don't ever seem to know why your posts are sometimes irritating, but one thing is that you always manage to work in how many miles you've traveled, how well-traveled and experienced you are, as if that gives greater force and accuracy to every and any comment you make. Sometimes it does, and by now most know you are The in-house expert on American Airlines; but you aren't the only one who's traveled a lot, yet others seem to be able to post without reminding us each time. It's never just a &quot;here's my comment,&quot; it's usually &quot;here's my comment, and I really know what I'm talking about.&quot;

In this case (no pun intended), it really doesn't add much weight (no pun again) that you've eluded problems so far -- by any logic, it isn't <i>because</i> you have black bags that you've had no problem, so the inference is either that you've been too smart (experienced, well-traveled) to have trouble or that you are dismissing the idea that non-black bags can help other travelers avoid problems.

Putting the word &quot;black&quot; in bold, seemed to hammer on that point, taking your post further beyond the realm of &quot;here's my experience&quot; into the realm of &quot;you others are either misguided or you must not be doing it right.&quot;

Sorry if I seem to have posted repeatedly responding to your tone (don't think I've done it more than 2ce, actually, but maybe there was another time). But I always do have the feeling that when you post as you have here, you always intend it to be the definitive word on the subject, based on your expertise, and that if others offer a &quot;YMMV&quot; alternative experience, they aren't really as correct as you are. If you don't mean to communicate that, you're miscalculating in how you frame your comments.

As for this particular thread, it could have been just a case of some people vote yes, some people vote no on having &quot;unique looking luggage.&quot; But it ended up being the Blacks versus Others, perhaps with some of the overtones cfc suggested, but more likely the implication that having non-black luggage just makes you a little paranoid, a little silly, or a little less than a serious traveler. And fwiw it's far more likely that women will use non-black luggage, which probably does add the gender dimension to the discussion, consciously or not.

Correction for clarity: &quot;And fwiw it's far more likely that women will use non-black luggage ... &quot; should read &quot;And fwiw, it's far more likely that the ones who use non-black luggage will be women...&quot;

Phil 101: not all women will use non-black luggage, but most who do use non-black luggage will be women.

Take a chill pill....

Happy New Year! :-)

will chill if you will

What is your problem?

A simple question has been asked and all I did was to answer it as to what <b>my</b> experience with <b>non descript black luggage</b> has been. I never had a problem.

I did not say that anybody else is stupid for buying multi colored luggage. All I said was that IMHO (for whatever it's worth) it does not make a difference. A simple answer to a simple poll like question.

You have to realize that there are probably hundreds or maybe thousands of people that find and read these travel boards for the first time. They don't know who I'm or who you are and they don't care. They just want an opinion if this is something they are researching. I'm not trying to impress anybody. I'm just trying to qualify my opinion with some background. I fly a great deal, I check luggage very rarely, yet the times I do it's a very bland black case and I never had a problem.

Simple answer.

If you do not like my posts then don't read them. Simple. Many others may find my posts informative, helpful, useless, arrogant, etc... but who are you to decide that for them?

Your replies on this thread border between disrespectful to everybody else, as if they can't make up their own mind, to personal vandetta against me.

Chill.

Move on to other threads.

Have. Did. Obviously you have yet to chill, however.

Anything that helps you pick out your luggage is a plus. I have royal blue luggage but I bought some neat luggage tags on eBay ($2.49 each) and I put 4 of them on my checked luggage. I can spot it from the other side of the room now.

This question is very relevant to me because this past summer my daughter and I took the ferry from Victoria B.C. to Seattle. Once at the dock, customs took everyone's luggage and put it in a room asking you to get it and then get in the customs' line. It was a sea of at least 300 blue/black bags. My daughter's hot pink bag was easily spotted instantly while it took me over 30 minutes to locate my navy blue bag. Daughter said, &quot;mom you need a new colored bag.&quot; Since mine was 8 years old (a bargain bought at Marshalls for $69 and through a lot of trips), I got home and bought a green apple colored set from Swiss Army. Love it and can spot it everytime. I had gotten my son an electric blue Swiss Army set because he was going to China when he was 13 and I thought it would be easy for him to spot which it is. Husband has avocado gree Lark luggage. So now we are the brightly colored suitcase family and I must say it is much easier to spot and no one every grabs are bags mistakenly off of the carousel.