Luggage Shopping/ How to not get lost luggage

[magenta321]

I am very traumatized by my "lost" (I think "stolen" is more likely) luggage. I will have to replace it, and I'm pre-shopping now.

It will be at least 12 weeks before the airline gives me money for my lost stuff, so until then, I am just window shopping.

I want the best luggage ever, because, well, I had the best luggage ever, and now they lost it So it has to be as good, and better.

My old luggage was 1 ginormous bag. It was a suiter. It had inline wheels. It had two pockets in the front. It had the little clippy strap so I could attach my carry-on bags to the front of it which was very convenient when traveling through the airport, as my shoulders always kill me.

I want to improve on my old set by getting something light-weight. The suit case was heavy, so it already was taking away from what I could pack before it would become overweight. It also was khaki. Khaki is not a color you can easily classify when you are reporting your lost luggage. Do you report it as green or brown? Khaki is not an option. Khaki is better than black as far as spotting it on the conveyer belt, but, it's not good.

My next bag will be obnoxiously colored. I will not be embarassed. I will just be relieved to spot my bag!

So... I have my first bag that I am considering. It's actually very inexpensive, and it's a 5 piece set! Which brings me to the next question:

My stuff is worth stealing. My boyfriend's is not. If someone were to look at my "very memorable" bag and see good stuff, are they likely to steal his stuff too just because it's in the same patterened "very memorable" bag? Do you think sets are a bad idea?

Here's my first consideration. I may have to get it in the green color to appease boyfriend. Or maybe he's man enough to have flamboyant luggage, who knows:



I'm still not 100% content. I wish it had the strap to attach my other stuff, and was expandable. I may be willing to trade off because it's god-ugly and therefore wonderful for spotting and sighing in relief when I spot it at my destination.

[pluckyduck]

Sorry to hear you lost your luggage.

I don't think this new luggage is ugly at all, and I'm not a fan of pink generally. I think it's great!

I also don't think there's a chance in hell a guy is going to use it, no matter what background color. This is not a bad thing. One of the reasons we like them is they aren't the same as us.

More likely to get stolen because it stands out, dunno. You could argue it's more likely to be noticed if somebody tries to steal it, hence, they would stay away.

Straps and stuff. You can get luggages straps, brightly colored handle grips, a number of different accessories to add onto your luggage to trick it out. Don't forget a TSA lock.

Good luck!

[magenta321]

I wonder if the TSA lock is what got my bag "looked at" which is what got it stolen. A few people suggested they're more likely to look into your bag if it is locked. Who knows.

[pluckyduck]

magenta321 said

I wonder if the TSA lock is what got my bag "looked at" which is what got it stolen. A few people suggested they're more likely to look into your bag if it is locked. Who knows.

Who knows. It's going to hold up a petty thief who wants to dip in to see what he can get, but it's not going to stop somebody who takes the whole case.

I think (what do I know) you are on the right track with the loud, glaring print. There are many thousands of pieces of luggage to steal in a day, why steal the one that is so easily remembered, go on to the next person's khaki suitcase.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I would put a big long paragraph of text here, but it would probably be easier to tell anyone who's interested in hearing my POV about checking bags yet again to just search EA for "mjfrombuffalo" and "airport security".

[Prepoia[$]]

I would definitely not steal that luggage. I think most people would definitely not steal that luggage. But, I think airlines loosing luggage (never to be found again) will still lose that and any other luggage in their keeping. My big thing about luggage is that it is lightweight and cheap. That way I don't feel the loss as much. And MJ, I agree and try not to check luggage when at all possible.

[magenta321]

I ended up choosing this set:



I went with it because "red" is a color everyone understands (and is a choice on the airline's lost luggage guide), print makes it even more distinguishable, it has inline skate wheels, it had lots of pouches and stuff inside, and it was cheap.

I only bought the smaller of the two suitcases. I plan to use it as carryon, but might check it if I have too much carryon. I also bought the ginormous purse-like carryon because it was so inexpensive and because when will I ever get the opportunity to get the matching set again?

I didn't get it from Amazon but you can see it there:

Amazon.com: Diane Von Furstenberg 3Piece Hearts Luggage Set: Apparel

I'm really tempted to go back and get the big suitcase. I am not sure if I can fit a week's worth of clothes into 21 inches. We'll see!