Sampaguita

Technically its "plastic wrap" or "cling-film" : Saran Wrap is a popular domestic brand of wrap in USA, but I doubt whether this is the type used in the machines. All my Russian friends used to have their bags wrapped up, but IMO its not going to prevent someone breaking in, only to alert you sooner that the bags been tampered with.

raincitygirl

Toucan, that is awful. I am not surprised though. To carry on in the luggage vein from what I said about our awful landing in LAX, after we survived the weird sunglass wearing passport control guy we heard an announcement that said "the luggage from flight such and such will be on carousel three....and if you don't see it there, it will be on the floor".
We looked at each other and started laughing, the twilight zone was just getting weirder and we said oh, I guess this early in the am the staff like to get on the loudspeaker and pull pranks!
Uh, no, when we approached the carousel, which was perfectly functioning, all the luggage was on the floor and I mean literally just thrown all over the place, not stacked up or placed side by side, it was just randomly chucked everywhere and the carousel was going round and round with not one piece of luggage on it.

Luckily we didn't have any nice plates in there!

theotherside

This is one of those posts with a lot of irrelevant information in the replies. Anyone wanting genuine information is filtering through about 95% of irrelevant information.

I can't say for Spain in particular but it would be interesting to know where the people paying for the wrap were travelling to?

As mentioned , the wrap indicates any tampering with luggage!!!!

In Australia it became quite popular for anyone travelling to countries known for drug trafficking, after the arrest of one of its citizens in Indonesia for smuggling drugs in a body board bag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schapelle_Corby


Wrapping luggage for bed bugs??? thats a bit extreme isn't it?

Toucan

A little off topic maybe, but its an old thread so we take a little license.

To stay on topic though, recently in Guatemala City while checking in for a domestic flight to the northern reaches, they were wrapping almost everyone's luggage using a spiffy little portable machine. Definitely for security reasons.

acampoflores

Hi folks,

I'm a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, based in Miami, and doing an article about plastic wrapping for luggage. I'm curious to hear people's thoughts about it, whether they've used the service or not. For any people open to speaking to me, please send me your contact info to [email protected], and let me know when would be convenient for me to call (also please include your time zone!). Thanks so much and hope to hear from some of you,

Arian Campo-Flores

hector1702

I’m a airline baggage agent and I hate these bags! They don’t stack well because they aren’t uniform. They are hard to load in aircraft bins due to their odd shapes, weights, and the plastic won’t slide inside the cargo bin. Along with those issues, when something looks suspect in the bag TSA will cut it open. Since there’s no clearance between the bag and the wrapping, quite often the bag is damaged and can’t be secured. It then has to be taped up and is normally a big mess! I’m always under video surveillance and would be easily identifiable if I was opening bags. Prison isn’t on my list of destinations to travel to! Plastic is bad for the environment