Baggage handlers know more about checked luggage than anyone else, spending the majority of their working days helping get traveller’s luggage from A to B. One savvy baggage handler has shed some light on the best ways to travel with a suitcase to ensure your possessions end up at your holiday destination without any damage. The anonymous handler revealed his top tips on the online forum Reddit, where he discussed things like weight, suitcase style and the dangers of old luggage tags.
Posting to the forum the clued up baggage handler said that although many of his top tips are simply “common sense” passengers would “be amazed at how some people pack”.
While it is unfortunate, one of the biggest problems with checked luggage can be when they go missing between destinations. Whether its an issue at check-in, or a bag not making it to the plane in time, passengers can be separated from their belongings for all kinds of reasons. In order to ensure your bags stay together, even if they aren’t with you, the airport worker suggests making sure all of your bags are the same.
He says: “Get the same bag, same colour same everything.
If you’re lucky they will stay together and come off the truck together, not only because the handlers will place them together because they look the same, but they stack better when they are the same size.”
When it comes to packing, while it can be easy to over do it on the holiday ensemble selection, the handler issues a word of warning.
“If your bag is over 55lbs, it’s gonna have a bad time.
“How annoyed do you get lifting your own bag into the back of the car, imagine having to do that 200 times, it gets frustrating and tiresome, and sometimes we just throw with very little care because they are too heavy to do carefully.”
Other top tips cover ensuring you have a sturdy bag-complete with a re-enforced handle and strong exterior, and filling out the attached name card that comes with many suitcases.
He also goes on to warn: “Remove old tags, if you have a bag tag from two years ago, as well as a load of other ones, it takes us infinitely longer to find the right date for where it’s supposed to be going.”
Leaving old tags makes it easier for confusion in which case your bag could end up going to the wrong location.
This is more common than you might expect though, with the latest baggage report from SITA showing that 22.7 million bags were lost or temporarily mislaid globally.
According to SITA, there are several common reasons why luggage goes missing.
They include many of the issues outlined by the anonymous baggage handler, such as ticketing errors, bag switches, airport or customs restrictions, failure to load the bag or security issues.
Surprisingly though, not all missing luggage is actually reclaimed. A Gatwick Airport spokesperson described what happens to bags that are left behind.
They said: “Lost property items are securely stored at the airport for a total of 90 days.
“Following this period, and only if attempts to reunite the owner with their lost property have been unsuccessful, the items are disposed of.”