The Dangerous Reason It's Best To Avoid Black Luggage

Whether you're trying to look sleek and professional, keep your bag from showing all the airport dirt you drag it through, or live out your Siouxsie Sioux dreams with a monochrome wardrobe, there are a lot of reasons to choose an all-black luggage. However, having a black bag might also increase the chances of it getting lost or stolen at the airport.

While it's hard to know for certain exactly how many travelers opt for black suitcases, it's obvious they're popular. Unfortunately, that can make them popular with baggage thieves, too. In an interview with ABC News, Bob Arno, author of "Travel Advisory: How to Avoid Thefts, Cons, and Street Scams While Traveling," explained that black bags are the easiest to steal without anyone noticing. If your bag looks like everyone else's, it's harder to notice when somebody pulls it off the luggage belt — whether they're taking your bag on purpose or by accident.

Whether it's just because they're so common or the easiest to steal, as Arno told ABC News, a lot of bags stolen off of the carousel at baggage claim are black. However, experts also advise against having particularly flashy and expensive luggage, too. Choosing a suitcase that stands out definitely makes it easier to tell it's yours, but if it's a pricey one, it might also attract the attention of potential thieves, hoping that the contents of your luggage are just as valuable as your suitcase.

When you're traveling, one of the best tips for keeping your belongings safe from being stolen is to make them seem unappealing. One way to do this is to keep using your beat-up, old suitcase, as they're less likely to attract attention. If you don't want your luggage getting lost by the airline, you should probably steer clear of New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, but as far as bag choice goes, just do your best to have something distinctive. That could mean having a bright yellow suitcase, a particularly large luggage tag, or some colorful duct tape wrapped around the handles of your old luggage.

If your black bag that looks like everyone else's goes missing, it might be a lot harder to track down. Even so, in some cases, a black bag that's lost from the conveyor belt could be an honest mistake. Your first step should be to check any unclaimed bags that look similar to yours for luggage tags and try contacting the owners. It's possible that they just grabbed your bag mistakenly. If that doesn't work, you'll have to report your missing bag to the airline.

If your luggage is lost, the airline may owe you compensation, so you'll want to document everything inside, as well as the bag itself, in case you need to make a claim. That applies whether the bag goes missing accidentally or is intentionally stolen. To make it easier for the airline to find your lost luggage, you should always take a photo of your bag before checking it in. Of course, if your bag is distinctive, that makes the entire process easier. They may find it easier to locate a bright red bag with rocket ships on it than the most typical black suitcase on the market.