Marking Your Luggage

Marking your luggage has two advantages. Firstly, it makes it easy to distinguish your luggage on the conveyer belt. This is not only good for you in spotting your luggage quicker and wasting less time, but also helps you to notice if someone else is making away with your luggage (by mistake, or deliberate.) Secondly, it helps the airline distinguish your luggage in case it goes missing. You can always tell them what to look out for so they can find your luggage more easily.

Ribbons are the most common idea in marking luggage. Make sure the ribbon you buy is bright and has some sort of mark to make it easily identifiable. Have it tied to a particular spot of your luggage that you can see easily. Rather than looking for a type of luggage on the conveyor belt, you now only need to spot the ribbon. You don't need to get into the front line of the conveyer belt so you can see your luggage up close, but can rather stand a fair distance away and look for your luggage in peace without needing to clamor and fight with the others.

Luggage bands are also available, and sold for the specific purpose of making luggage easily identifiable. They are often colorful and provide a space for where you can write your name. Luggage bands are also very helpful in keeping your luggage from coming undone, splitting open or unzipping during flight. Luggage bands can be found in most stores.

A simple but still effective way of making luggage easy to identify is just to use colored tape. The problem is that tape can come undone, and can be removed. However, you may want to consider colored tape as an extra precautionary.

Laptop theft is not an uncommon experience at the airport these days, and you may want to consider going the extra mile in marking your laptop itself with ultra-violet markings. Being careful with marking your laptop luggage and laptop itself is imperative if you have vital information on your laptop. Many businesses also employ electronic asset tracking systems on the laptops and the luggage.

In addition to marking your luggage, you should also try your best to buy luggage that is slightly different to the norm. Pick a striking color that most people would not buy (black is very common, and since most people buy black it gets confusing at the conveyer belt.) If you are still having difficulty distinguishing your luggage – perhaps you can try all of these methods together. Colorful luggage with a luggage band, ribbon, tape and even a specific kind of sticker attached to it. This would make your life easier to spot your luggage, and the airline's life considerably easier to find your luggage if it goes missing. Marking your luggage also deters theft from occuring as the airline or airport would be able to spot it easier in the hands of a thief. If you find your luggage is missing, report it immediately, and be specific about how you have marked it.