I was watching my basic black rollaboard come around towards me a couple years ago. It had (by design) accumulated multiple red and pale green satin ribbons, an FT tag, an old DL Plat tag, a bright pink gate-check tag, and a couple of tattered paper airline ID tags on the handle.

I stood there in disbelief as the guy next to me grabbed it off the carousel, set it down, looked at it with his wife, then pulled up the handle and prepared to march off - with my bag.

My bag is now a compromise between your two examples: I stencilled a large, bright lightning bolt on the front and back.