7 *NEW* Tips for Checking Luggage in 2024 (Airlines Won't Warn You!)

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Lost, damaged and stolen luggage is a major concern for anyone checking a suitcase at the airport in 2024. Today's video covers 7 practical and lesser-known tips that any traveller checking luggage needs to know. From avoiding luggage theft from baggage handlers to keeping your stuff free from bed bugs to tracking your baggage, we cover it all!

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Welcome to Portable Professional, where I, Megan, use my experience from over 300 flights to offer you simple, practical and game-changing travel tips and hacks. Our mission is to help you reduce stress and make the most of every trip.

🐶 Chapters
00:00 Checking Luggage for Flights 2024
00:11 Tip 1: Avoid THIS luggage tag mistake
01:14 Tip 2: Avoid lost luggage
02:25 Tip 3: Track your suitcase
04:04 Tip 4: Avoid THIS packing mistake
05:44 Tip 5: Pilot SECRETS!
07:04 Tip 6: Do this after every trip
07:54 Tip 7: Easy, cheap HACK
08:47 WARNING: Luggage theft on rise!

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[PortableProfessional]

Use code *TRAVEL* for 20% off full-priced items

[JanetJohnson-yz]

A tip that a frequent traveller mentioned to me a few years ago is if you're travelling with another person, always split your clothes up between the bags rather than each person having a bag just for themselves. That way if one of the bags goes missing, both people will have at least some clothes for the trip and will minimize having to buy replacement items.

[r.]

Put a large picture of your face in the suitcase. If you get security to stop someone taking off with your bag, and there's a dispute as to whose it is, when the bag is opened and your face is right there...

[richardgotshall]

This isn’t about luggage, but it’s an important safety reminder: DON’T post your location on Facebook, especially at the start of an extended trip. One wrong “share” and a burglar will know you’re not home.

[annpetlin]

One tip I learned several years ago is that bedbugs can’t tolerate heat and dry conditions. If you don’t need your suitcase contents right away when you return home put your whole closed suitcase into a black plastic trash bag. Leave the bagged suitcase out in the hot sun for at least several days. The heat and the dry conditions will kill any bedbug hitchhikers that traveled home. Wash everything when you decide to open your bag and bring it inside.

[jolies]

Great tips & hacks! Thanks! I’d like to add 2:
-Remove tags and those little stickers from previous flights to avoid confusing baggage handlers.
-Take photos of your bag and its contents to use in any claims.

[kiyoshitakeda]

Once lost a bag in Canada. It disappeared and the airline did not know where it went. Ten days later I received a letter from the "Airport Manager, Rio de Janeiro Airport" telling me they had my bag. They had used my information as you suggested we do. Told the airline and I got the bag two days later. People should pay attention to your ideas. They work.

[chrishebert]

I stayed at a 5-star hotel in Dallas years ago. When I woke the first morning, I saw bed bugs on the other bed next to me where I had set my suitcase. When I got home, I undressed outside and put all my clothes in a hot wash. I threw out my bag since the handle had broken on the way home. I put my backpack and all items inside in the freezer outside for a week just to make sure any bugs/eggs were killed. Now, I pull up the sheets and look around the mattress when I check in to a hotel.

[TheoWerewolf]

Just want to say "Kudos!" for offering an Apple AND Android option for smart tags. So many of these videos assume everyone is an Apple user and just recommend their products when those are completely unusable unless you have an Apple phone or computer.

[jacqueschouette]

I'm a frequent flyer and every year, I get those luggage tags from the airline that advertise my frequent flyer status to the world. I shred them like used credit cards immediately since I feel that they are telling thieves to "Steal me. The owner has money".

[claudiamiller]

BesidesI putting contact info inside all my bags, I put my HOTEL DESTINATION on the luggage tag along with the info Megan suggests here. When black luggage was the only option, we were the victims of careless travelers several times, who picked up our bags from the turnstiles instead of their own, and of feckless shuttle drivers in Vegas who let riders grab their own luggage out of the transport instead of checking their claim tickets. Nothing starts a vacation off with a bang more than standing in the street yelling “ you’ve got the wrong bag!” and waving your arms! No one mistakes my obnoxiously decorated luggage for their own these days…imagine that!💕

[r.]

Bed bug tips: Invest in a hot box to treat luggage. When you get home, pop the entire, unopened suitcase in the hot box and let it heat for 8 hours. It should get up to 140°F/60°C/. Examples of these are ThermalStrike Ranger, and Zappbug Heater/Oven.
Also, pack some white plastic garbage bags in your luggage. Put your suitcase in a bag and then into the tub. Tie it tight. It'll keep bed bugs out (which can walk across ceilings and drop onto their targets) and if one lands, you can see it on the white plastic.

[miked]

About 5 years ago, I accidentally forgot my laptop on a domestic Delta flight in the overhead bin. I immediately notified the airline and asked them to see if they could find it and filled out the appropriate forms. No such luck even though my name, address, and telephone number were on the case and taped on the laptop itself. I heard back nothing so I bought another laptop ($2, 500). About 3 months later, I got a telephone call from an old man in Atlanta wondering why my name, address, and telephone number were taped to the laptop. I explained and for the low low price of $35, they sent it back to me.

[njhart]

Also, do NOT throw away your boarding pass and luggage tags with bar codes because anything with a QR or bar code can be read and there is a VAST amount of information that the airlines have put into those ID pieces. SHRED boarding passes and luggage tags BEFORE throwing them away.

[michaelmalone]

I've traveled to Asia and the Middle East several times in the past. After watching your video, I think I'll stay home.

[helmuthreese]

I am a 43 year Airline employee. I saw two errors in this video. I saw that you put a camera and an ipod in your suitcase. DON'T EVER PUT ELECTRIC S IN YOUR CHECKED BAGS. AIRLINES DO NOT COVER MEDICACIÓN, CAMERAS, OR ELECTRICS IN YOU CHECKED BAGGAGE. Last, never put cash in your check bag.

[lynnevandewalle]

I’m seeing lots of comments about actions to prevent bed bugs from entering one’s luggage. Good advice to protect your bag but my thought is there is another priority to act on. There are bed bugs in the beds! You cannot sleep there! Any presence is not good, but If bed bugs are getting into your bag there is quite an infestation. 😳

[johnclark]

wow, just when I thought I had considered everything when traveling, the “don’t put your suitcase on a bed” was a tip I had not thought of😳. Fortunately, I have not run into bedbugs while staying in any hotels before, but one of my sons has had an infestation in his place so I know it can be a nightmare. The exposed address risk another tip not considered before. The other tips are also good and I have used most of them.
Some that have saved or helped me internationally are keeping my luggage ID receipt in my passport, no-zipper locking hard shell luggage, itinerary copies inside luggage, bright straps or covers that stand out and other tips shown on your channel. The sling bag tip has been a great help keeping critical items safe & handy while providing bonus carry-on storage.
Thanks for keeping the travel ideas coming, John

[susan]

The tip of cleaning your suitcase wheels should extend to the shoes you’ve been wearing. After all, they come into contact with the same floors and streets.
I stopped putting my address on luggage tags years ago. My husband and I always carry two to three days of each other’s clothes on the outward trip

[Steve_in_NJ]

Here's a tip I do when traveling: I "air out" my opened luggage before packing at home to make sure nothing smells or any uninvited guests are inside while storing luggage at home. I also do this when I return home, and after unpacking, I spray the inside with Lysol disinfectant all throughout.