Standing at the baggage carousel can be a little nerve-racking at the best of times, wondering whether or not your suitcase is going to make it. However, if you have luggage that is black, navy or grey, chances are you need to be extra vigilant to make sure you grab the right bag.
Now, a major European airline has gone so far as to warn passengers against choosing luggage in any of those colors to “avoid confusion” when travelling.
Ryanair has issued a stark warning to passengers who typically travel with black, navy or grey suitcases, urging them to ‘change’ their luggage to prevent any mix-ups upon arrival.
The airline advised travellers to make their checked-in luggage more recognisable on the carousel due to the commonality of these colors.
The leading European budget airline released a statement and said: “Make it easier to spot your checked-in luggage on the carousel, especially if your luggage is black, navy or grey (like 99.9 per cent of the population). Add a colourful luggage tag or ribbon to the handle so that there’s no confusion on arrival.”
However, the advice to use a ribbon as a point of differentiation is a contentious one, as other airline staff have previously warned against the practice.
A baggage handler from Dublin Airport warned anything extra on your suitcase could interfere with the automatic scanners at airports – especially ribbons.
The airline also suggested passengers photocopy their passports, driving licences, and ID cards and email them to themselves for emergency situations. It’s recommended that passengers take photos of these documents and save them on their phones if they are offline when they arrive at their destination.
The luggage tags can also include full name, contact number and email ids. Meanwhile, passengers should refrain from including residential addresses, destinations and travel plans, details of valuable, sensitive information such as national insurance or passport numbers.
It also recommended people to remove any old stickers on the bags otherwise it can “cause confusion with the scanning process”.
In June, 19.3 million people travelled on one of the airline’s 106,000 flights.