As Giorgio Armani once said, “Accessories are important and becoming more and more important every day.” While, Giorgio was referring specifically to clothing, luggage is no different. Accessories and luggage have equal significance, working together to create an luggage ensemble that expresses your style and who you are, as well as provide added functionality to your travel experience. There’s no shortage of luggage accessories on the market today, but I’d to outline my Top 9!
1. Custom Luggage Tags
If you’ve ever looked at bags on the airport luggage carousel, you’ve probably noticed how similar different pieces of luggage are to each other. As a result, it’s easy to confuse different pieces of luggage. To avoid confusion, a lot of people like to tie a ribbon or piece of string around their luggage handle to differentiate their luggage from the rest. But I like to accent my luggage with a custom tag that includes my contact information. That way, you’ve distinguished your luggage from others and provided a way to reach you should you misplace your luggage. Not to mention the potential upgrade in style.
2. RFID Track
It’s likely you’ll misplace your luggage at some point in your travels. Your airline can “misplace” your checked bag. Another passenger could mistakenly take your luggage from the overhead compartment or off the luggage carousel (since they all look the same!). It could even be intentionally stolen. A RFID tag allows you to track and locate your lost luggage. Among the most functional luggage accessories, a RFID tag is even becoming a standard feature for higher end luxury luggage manufacturers.
3. Built in Phone Charger
Digging through your bags to find your phone charger can get frustrating over time. Recognizing this, retailers have started to develop built-in pockets for phone chargers and batteries. That way, you can access your phone charger seamlessly during travel days.
4. Packing Cubes
Packing cubes help you fit everything you want to bring with you into your luggage. Packing all your things tightly into space saving compartments, packing cubes easily store and organize your possessions. The material, usually water resistant nylon material, is built to withstand the wear and tears of travel
5. Digital Luggage Scale Handle
A digital luggage scale handle helps prevent unexpected overweight bag fees. Lightweight and sleek digital luggage scales are easy to store and carry with you during travel (that way you can reweigh your luggage on the return flight home as well). They are typically accurate to 0.1 lb/50g1.44 lcd display and are certainly easier/more accurate than using a traditional scale at home. To use most digital luggage scales, you slip the scale strap through your luggage handle and simply lift your luggage using only the luggage scale handle. The resulting readout is the weight of your luggage. That’s certainly much easier than lifting up your luggage, stepping onto a standard scale, and peering around the ends of your luggage to see the combined weight of you and your luggage.
6. Luggage Locks
Protect your luggage with TSA-approved padlocks. Plus, you can use them elsewhere when you’re not traveling…lockers, cabinets and other bags.
7. Elastic Bungee Cords
Elastic bungee cords allow you to carry additional pieces of luggage with ease. They attach to the handle system of any wheeled luggage and secure a second bag to your handle. As a result, your two pieces of luggage now move as one. This way you won’t have to worry about your laptop bag falling off of your carry on luggage next time you leave it resting on top of your carry on while waiting in line at the airport.
8. Reinforced Luggage Strap
Simple enough, reinforced luggage straps can make it easier to carry your luggage. They’re also likely to last longer than the luggage straps from the original manufacturer and depending on what kind of strap you choose, it may even serve as an identifier that distinguishes your luggage from others.
9. Built In Cup Holder
Believe it or not, I’ve started to notice cup holders that attach to an extended set of handles. It doesn’t seem like the most logical add-on to your luggage, but they can be quite helpful if you travel a lot. Imagine rushing through the airport and managing an important phone call at the same time. How can you possibly carry your Grande, Quad, Nonfat, One-Pump, No-Whip, Mocha from Starbucks without a built-in cup holder on your luggage. or a diet coke if you’re a more down to earth, blue collar traveler.
There are my Top 9 Luggage Accessories. If you have a personal favorite, please let The Council know in the comments!