luggage
i have a backpack-style duffel bag given to me by my sister for my birthday one year. it’s probably one of the most useful gifts i’ve received. it needs the straps to be resewn; the thread is pulling away and i’m worried that they will rip off with every shouldering. i try to use the side handle at all times because of this. anyways, the purpose of this post was to let people know that airports aren’t safe places for these types of bags. i travel pretty often and less than half of the time my bag makes it through the whole system without being opened up. it’s pretty hard to open my bag deliberately, so i think there’s something else going on here. the bag in question has three grommets, a loop and a latch that fastens it. the grommets are a little too large and the latch actually gets pulled through them, making it impossible to open the bag unless it is pulled back out and disengaged. anyways, the purpose of this post is to let people know that baggage searchers can’t properly close bags of this type. most of the time, i find the latch hooked on to a single grommet, closing the bag, but not securely. two major annoying incidents stand out:
- going YVR to YYZ. my bag arrived closed, half deflated. a short while later, my camera arrived wrapped in pillow on the baggage conveyor. someone had actually removed my pillow wrapped camera and closed my bag again.
- just recently, coming home from SYD to YVR. my bag had a giant wire twist tie wrapped around the grommets, but looked to be fine. i closed it properly again before going through customs. when i got home and unpacked, the several leftover cans of chickpeas and “baked beanz” that i had in there were missing, but everything else was present, including an australian plug adapter that was packed with them. some asshole took my legumes and carefully repacked my bag.
what am i to do but take a normal looking bag next time?
