General plane travel tips – check-in bags

1.  Don’t have a black suitcase if you are checking it unless you do something distinctive to it.  You can tie something on the handle or have your kids decorate it with fabric paint.  The options are endless.  There’s little more entertainment at the carousel than watching the same person look at the tags on each black bag that goes by looking for theirs.

2.  Don’t have a bag you can’t describe. Many years ago when I routinely checked bags, I did get a non-black bag.  And it was a peculiar color so I’d know it was my bag. The problem was that it was a color that had no good name. It wasn’t olive, wasn’t gray, wasn’t brown.  It was the color that you would get if you mixed all those together.  Yeah, I could identify the color at 200 yards, but the one time it didn’t show up, I had a hard time explaining what the color was as it didn’t fit into any of their categories.

3.  Better yet, take a picture of your bag before you hand it in.  That way you can show a picture of your actual bag if it does get lost.  Then they have all the info they want about what your bag looks like.

4. I prefer the pair of inline skate wheels to the 4 roller wheels for several reasons.

• They don’t roll away when you don’t want them to. Don’t roll down hills
• I can pack heavy stuff at the bottom corner where the wheels are and it is quite easy to move because all the weight is right by the wheels.
• I get to use the space that the roller wheels take up for the things I want with me on the trip — wheels count towards the suitcase dimensions in carry-on and checked bags.

5. If you are carrying breakables in you check-in bag, it is best to put them in a box  in your bag, and try to cushion the box with your clothing.  If you need to save space, you can wrap the article in a sweater or such rather than regular wrappings.