Originally Posted by
Jagboi
I always tie a piece of ribbon to the handle in some bright colour so I can distinguish my bag from the other 400 black bags that come down the belt. So far it works well, and its always easy to spot my bag.
I usually use long strips of duct tape spelling my initials. It is kind of makes the bag look held together by tape which has the added benefit of reducing the temptation to thieves.
This black bag they gave me will only be used as a back-up in case my new suitcase is in the shop or lost so I'll leave the duct tape off unless I need to travel with it. My new bag is very distinctive in its colours, they are almost nauseating but it is really easy to pick out on the carousal! I just hope it lives up to its reputation and lasts better than my older bags have.
I've had two fail in well under a year (the one above and Samsonite wouldn't honour their warranty on the other which failed due to a design flaw - there was no way the zipper would not get ripped apart because of the design - I had it fixed once at my cost because I loved the bag but it failed the very next trip and WestJet destroyed the luggage strap I had holding the bag together that trip so I had to retire it.)
My other bags were all Walmart specials and held up well for years for regular North American travel. The airlines weren't the problem it was the wear being pulled on cobblestones for blocks on end in Europe (we tend to not take taxis, because, if you haven't already guessed - I'm really cheap.) I was literally wearing out wheels or the bottom edge even if I protected it with duct tape.