Someone walked off with my companion’s suitcase. It won’t happen to me

I’ve travelled with a navy blue, hard-sided suitcase for the past few years.

When I bought it I thought it was a sophisticated colour. I don’t particularly like fluoro pink suitcases or those with butterfly prints. I’m never going to travel with a Little Mermaid case.

Maybe I should.

When it comes to luggage, is bright necessarily better?Credit: Getty Images

Each time I stand at the luggage carousel and watch navy-blue suitcase after black suitcase bump along the conveyor belt, I regret not going for something more individual.

The black-and-white ribbon I tie to the handle helps identify it once it reaches me, but from a distance it’s lost in the jumble of bags if a lot of them come out at once.

The chance of someone travelling with an identical suitcase on your flight is minimal, but not unheard of.Credit: Getty Images

Some people put rainbow straps around their bags to distinguish them. Others buy suitcase protectors with flamingos or smiley faces on them. Some people have their cases covered in multiple layers of cling wrap (please don’t, it’s wasteful).

With a lot of new colour options available, I’ve noticed that there are more purple and green suitcases on the carousel these days. Some of the decision-making is obviously because people think owning an unusual colour will help with identification when all the luggage arrives.

Perhaps. But beware of the great suitcase switcheroo.

This happened to a travelling companion recently. Rigged out with a new suitcase in a bold colour, he stood forlornly at the carousel waiting for it to arrive. Another similar case – same brand, same colour – was doing the rounds, but he’d already checked and it wasn’t his.

Ultimately, it became apparent that the owner of that suitcase had picked up his in error. By the time this was confirmed, the woman was well on her way to another destination.

It took a determined airport worker and a whole day to get it back.

But it’s a mistake that’s easy to make, especially when you’re anxious to get out of the airport.

If you have a black, grey or navy-blue suitcase you’re more likely to check the tags and make sure it’s yours. But if it’s Antler’s bright teal, or Samsonite’s honey yellow, you probably won’t. You figure that the likelihood of someone else travelling with the exact same colour and brand on your flight is minimal.

Suitcase switcheroos are probably not all that common, but this is the second time I’ve travelled with someone whose luggage has been misappropriated by another traveller.

In the first instance it was in Jaipur. I was with a small tour group and the entire group had to wait at the airport while the lost suitcase was retrieved (from a nearby hotel, luckily) and returned.

There are airport protocols in place when this happens, and these might include a physical exchange of the suitcases to ensure no fraud or theft is involved.

A few airports have in place a security system where bag tags are checked at the exit. I’ve sometimes run across it but very rarely recently.

I’m always nervous about theft from the carousel at chaotic airports and figure that it’s easier for a thief when suitcases mostly look alike. I’m sure they don’t want to draw attention to themselves by attempting to sneak off with a pink Barbie suitcase.

That’s often the rationale for not having an expensive case such as a Rimowa, which will set you back more than $2000. Thieves might assume it’s packed with pricey designer items.

I’ve been using an Apple AirTag for a few years now. It lives in my suitcase and gives me the comfort of knowing exactly where my case is if it’s slow to emerge on the carousel. My companion would have been able to track his suitcase leaving the airport and know immediately something was awry, rather than waiting long minutes for it to (not) appear.

Now, a growing list of airlines is making it easier for travellers with tracking devices to share the information with them. That list includes Qantas, Virgin and Air New Zealand.

One thing I’ve noticed on the carousel lately is the number of Australians who are travelling with suitcases by Melbourne brand July. My navy-blue case is by July and I’ve almost mistaken it for another person’s many times. It’s as ubiquitous as those big plastic zip-up bags common in South-East Asia.

I’ve now upgraded to a less common colour, Shadow Lavender. On my last two trips I haven’t run across another one on the carousel.

Please, no one else choose this colour. It’s awful.