Picture it – you’re going on the holiday of a lifetime. You’re through security in your dream destination waiting for your bag to arrive on the airport carousel and as you spot it coming round, you can see it’s been thrown around.
It’s dented, maybe the zip is busted and you just know that when you open it up, anything fragile in it will have been shattered beyond recognition.
It’s a nightmare for any traveller – but luckily, there are steps you can take to ensure that your bag won’t get manhandled by the baggage workers.
A baggage handler posted on Reddit, saying they would be open to anyone asking them questions about their line of work.
The top question was “how can I make sure my precious cargo doesn’t get thrown?”
The answer is simple – it’s all in the wheels. If your luggage has at least two, but preferably four working wheels, this means handlers can roll it down into the hold which will keep your items safe.
If you’re wheel-less, then your bag will almost certainly need to be hurled into the hold, leaving a wide margin of error.
The baggage holder said their “absolute least favourite” bags to load were ones with wheels that have seized up.
The airport worker continued: “We try to roll it down, but it just falls over after moving six inches.”
In order to stop your things being damaged, they recommend a good quality bag with four functional wheels and a soft lining and a hard outer shell which will keep your belongings cushioned.
The handler admitted that fragile stickers do little to protect your bags and it even tempts some staff to be rougher with them.
“Some of us are tempted to treat them worse, but we never do. Having a fragile tag doesn’t really make a difference,” he explained.
When it comes to how far your bags can get tossed if you haven’t got wheels on them, the baggage handler said the longest distance they had witnessed was “about five metres or so”.
