Pack with care. A leaky bottle
of perfume or sunscreen can
ruin the lining of your suitcase.
To avoid damage to your bag
or its contents, pack liquids
in a sealable plastic bag. And
secure or remove shoulder
straps or other attachments
that could be snagged by
a baggage conveyor belt
or carousel.Use the right lock. Luggage
passes through a lot of
hands—not all of them
honest—from the time you
check it until you pick it up.
“Before you leave home,
think about who is coming
into contact with your
luggage,” says Micah Lewis,
founder of My Bag Check, a
pickup and storage service
in New York City. Lewis sayshe always recommends that
customers use luggage locks
to protect the contents of their
bags, but notes that less than
half of them do.
If you’re checking your
suitcase with an airline, be
sure to use a lock that’s
labeled “TSA compatible”
so that agents can open
it with a master key if it’s
selected for scrutiny. (The
Transpor tation Securit y
Administration selects about
10 percent of all checked
baggage for additional
screening, according to a
spokesperson.) Screeners will
break non-TSA-compatible
locks, including those that are
built into luggage, in order to
open suitcases for additional
screening. That could damage
luggage.Go undercover. Secure Wrap
and other companies at
various international airports
will tightly encase your
luggage in a cling-wrap type
of plastic starting at about $15
for a standard-sized suitcase.
The wrapping will reduce
the chances of damage
and pilfering. But if the TSA
removes the wrapping to look
inside, not all companies will
rewrap the bag. (Secure Wrap
says it will.) Another simple
and affordable way to guard
against scuffs and scratches
is to buy a protective cover
to encase your bag. Luggage
protectors are widely
available online and range
from clear plastic sleeves to
patterned fabric wrappers.Stand out in a crowd. A lot of
luggage looks alike, and bags
sometimes go missing because
they’re mistakenly picked up
by a fellow passenger. If that
happens, you’ll probably get
the bag back but only after a
lot of annoyance. Attaching
a brightly colored ribbon,
luggage sticker, or even
some vivid duct tape to yourluggage can send a hands-off
signal to other travelers.Track your bags with an app.
The mobile apps of some
airlines, including Delta and
United, let you track your
bag’s journey from check-in
to arrival. (The ability to
track your checked bags will
probably increase as the
technology that makes it
possible becomes more widely
adopted by airlines.) You can
also purchase GPS-powered
baggage tracking devices
designed to allow you to keep
tabs on your bag with an app.
(CR hasn’t tested them.)Leave valuables at home. If
something happens to your
bag, the airline is responsible
for compensating you—to a
point. In the U.S., airlines are
liable up to a total of $3,500
for lost, damaged, or delayed
baggage and contents. On
international flights, the
limits are roughly $1,500 per
checked bag. But there’s a
very long list of items that
aren’t covered by most airlines,
including electronics, cameras,
jewelry, and computers. If you
must travel with valuables,
don’t check them; carry them
with you. If you do check
them, know whether your
homeowners insurance will
cover their loss or damage,
and for how much. (Certain
credit cards may also provide
limited coverage.) Some
airlines sell excess valuation
coverage, which increases
the maximum amount of
compensation they’ll provide,
but exceptions for valuable
items still apply. Always keep
a record of what you packed;
it’s easy to simply photograph
the contents before you place
them in your bag. This should
help if you have to confirm
that an item is missing or need
to file a claim for a lost or
damaged suitcase.
—B.P.Increase Your
Luggage IQ
Travel can be even harder
on your luggage than it
is on you. Department of
Transportation statistics
suggest that luggage
problems are rare: Only
about 3 in 1,000 travelers
reported that their bags
had been lost, damaged,
delayed, or stolen in 2018.
But it can certainly spoil
your vacation and be
costly when something
does go wrong. Follow
these strategies to improve
the odds that your bag
and belongings will survive
every journey unscathed.
FEBRUARY 2020 CR.ORG 49