3 tricks to getting your luggage faster at baggage claim
By Aimee Heckel
There’s gotta be a “Seinfeld” episode here. The baggage claim is one of the oddest places to observe human behavior.
It seems everyone has their own strategy about how to get their bags the quickest. There’s the Obsessive Checker: The person who elbows in to check the tag on every bag that rolls by, as if it’s easy to forget whether you packed a black or pink or plaid suitcase.
Then there’s the Panicked Pacer. This character walks, typically with arms folded, in frantic circles around the baggage claim — clearly believing the more he moves, the quicker the bags will move, and that without a full 360-view of the carousel, he may miss his bag as it races by, before it’s gobbled back up by the revolving belt forever more.
We get it. The baggage claim is the least happiest place on Earth, because everyone there is suffering the psychological letdown of thinking they are home, but then realizing their trip still has another 45 minutes of boredom to go.
Let us help you get out of there faster. Here are some expert tricks — not just funny theories — to truly help get your luggage faster at baggage claim.
1. Decorate it with a unique tag that stands out — but not just any tag. Victorinox sells a bright red luggage tag, $17 on Amazon.com, that contains a tracking ID. Register your tag online at Victorinox.com, and if your bag gets lost, it can easily be tracked back to you — and the company will pick it up and deliver it to you for free. No more relying on airports to handle that, since, after all, they lost your bag to begin with. Bonus: These tags are heavy duty, so they’ll withstand the abuse of transit.
2. Forget the flimsy ribbon, which can easily fall off or worse, get snagged in the carousel. IDMyBag.com sells brightly colored luggage straps embroidered with your name in large letters. This eliminates the Obsessive Checker, and any mistake over which piece of luggage is yours. The straps are heavy duty, adjustable and inexpensive: only $16.95 for a single embroidered strap.
3. No more black. Buy brightly colored luggage, like this neon blue luggage set from Sears, $149.98. Save money at Sears using these coupons, paired with 6 percent Cash Back from ShopAtHome.com.
Read more articles about saving money at Sears here.
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