Is the Luggage Tag Dead?

One of my earliest travel memories involves helping to prepare for a family trip to Poland. After hours spent packing gifts for our relatives (good ol’ American purchases from the Ralph Lauren outlet), I remember watching my dad marking his all-black, soft-sided suitcase—bursting at the seams—with bright green tape. I asked him what the green stars were for, and when he explained his little airport hack, I thought he was a genius. In the same way we were never to take from the mini bar, baggage claim, he made it seem, was a matter of life and death.In addition to that bright green tape was, of course, a luggage tag containing a handwritten phone number and address, should we have gotten separated from our Ralph Lauren goods. Today the luggage tag comes in various shapes and materials, from long, silicon rectangles to embossed leather flaps: for some, it’s a stocking stuffer put to good use; for others, a souvenir from trips passed. Whatever the origin story, there’s no denying it’s an analog accessory, evoking a more nostalgic era of travel.So long, luggage tagCommerce director Madison Flager is adding a luggage tag to the Delsey Paris Chalet Air 2.0 carry-on Marcus LloydI, along with a few other Condé Nast Traveler editors, gathered some anecdotal evidence that people are using the analog tag less and less. On a recent trip home from France, I watched in horror as my friend played a little game of which is yours with another traveler who owned the same Away Large Checked suitcase in Olive. While both passengers employed the Away-branded luggage tag that came with their suitcases, they forgot to actually fill it out, which led to one of them opening their suitcase at baggage claim and confirming it was theirs via their belongings.Relying on the blank tag alone—what seems to be a common mistake amongst travelers—is like failing to enter the security code during two-step verification. My friend, of course, was lucky that time.The age of AirTagsMy hunch is that, ever since the introduction of tracking technology like AirTags, people have relied a little too heavily on these devices, either consciously or subconsciously subscribing to the misguided belief that it’s all they need—when in fact, the AirTag and that pebbled leather luggage tag serve two related, yet separate purposes. While an AirTag might be able to help you find the stranger with your suitcase, it does nothing to differentiate it from the pack, nor does it provide that stranger with the information they need to find you.“An AirTag is for the self, but a luggage tag is for everyone else,” editorial assistant Skyli Alvarez profoundly puts it. “The ability to track check-ins (through an airline app, text updates, etc.) gives travelers a false sense of security and above all convenience (until it isn't), shifting the focus away from human error at baggage claim.”Baggage claim is, indeed, a lawless place, one of the last institutions on earth that continues to rely on an honor system. Every month the US Department of Transportation releases its Air Travel Consumer Report, detailing reported cases of lost and mishandled baggage (see our rundown of the most culpable airlines here), but I haven’t been able to find any precise global statistics available for accidental swaps. These are considered a customer error, resolved (or not resolved) directly between passengers. But if you ask around, I can guarantee there’s at least one person you know who has been a witness or victim of a baggage claim snafu.Baggage claim horror stories“I was recently reminded of the usefulness of [luggage] tags when I arrived at JFK after a trip abroad and, while waiting for my Uber, witnessed a girl leave behind her suitcase on the tarmac as she whizzed off in a cab. I watched, horrified (didn't see it soon enough to call out to her). I hung on to the luggage for as long as I could, asking folks if they knew where the lost and found was. Eventually, I had to leave and left it with someone who worked the taxi ranks. I think of this forlorn piece of luggage often, and will never not use luggage tags as a result.” —Arati Menon, global digital director, Condé Nast Traveler“This kind of mix-up happened to me last summer—with a blue suitcase purchased specifically because, well, it's not black. My family arrived on a flight home returning from Italy, and went to the luggage belt, only to find that the last bag on the belt looked like our bag, but was not our bag. Now, I have AirTags in any checked bag, so I could see that our bag was on the move. Inside the address slot on the left luggage was a business card with a cell phone. I called the number and politely said: ‘Hi, you have accidentally taken our blue suitcase.’ They were perplexed at first, flummoxed, but pleasant, and unfortunately for them, already long gone from the airport. Within about 30 minutes, they had returned to the airport, and we facilitated a switch of our bags.” —Mike Arnot, airline industry consultantDespite the mishap, Arnot, who is such a fan of the AirTag that he has one strapped to his TV remote with duct tape, says he uses it in place of a traditional luggage tag. “I guess my feeling is that if I've misplaced my carry-on, or my precious checked bag, things have really, really gone wrong, and the best hope for finding it is the AirTag.”Commerce writer Jessica Chapel with a few of our editors' favorite carry-ons at New York City's Faena Marcus LloydHow to prevent a luggage mix-upInstead of relying on a traditional luggage tag, Arnot suggests avoiding putting anything critical in your checked bag (besides something like medicine, of course), and taking a photo of your suitcase before it gets taken away. “When your bag is lost, it's really helpful for the airline's lost baggage teams to be able to differentiate your ‘black bag with a red bow on it’ from the dozens of other, similar lost bags with red bows on them.”Gary Leff, author of View From the Wing, says, “The most useful prevention advice is to check the name on the bag and match the airline tag number to your claim receipt before leaving. Get to baggage claim promptly, too, before someone grabs your bag (usually, though not always, by mistake).” The best measure you can take, it seems, is to do a bit of double security—employ the AirTag and a filled-out luggage tag.“After Air Canada recently misplaced my luggage on an international flight, I felt good knowing my black suitcase had a personalized luggage tag with my contact information,” says RVshare travel expert Maddi Whitehead. “When you lose your luggage, you want to have an easily identifiable object to report when filing a claim. The airline's online form also allowed me to include AirTag details, giving the airline more information to locate the bag. I would recommend including both. Lost luggage happens all too often.”If privacy is a concern of yours, you might want to avoid filling in your home address. “I’d put your name, mobile number (including country code), and an email address on the tag,” says Leff. I’m happy to report there are a number of brands that are already ahead of the curve, innovating luggage tag technology. Commerce director Madison Flager is a fan of leather luggage tags that come equipped with an AirTag holder—like this one from Royce—because it kills two birds with one stone.The case for the luggage tagIt’s hard to say what’s contributing to the demise of the luggage tag. If it’s not overreliance on technology, could it be that we care a little less about our possessions? Have greater faith in humanity? Was it a generational, or cultural, difference that drove my immigrant dad to distrust the system, to pull out all the stops to protect our belongings? Maybe it’s simple; the decision to use a luggage tag is indicative of the divide between the Type A and Type B traveler. Or, perhaps there’s a greater variety of suitcases on the market—even minimalist darling Away sells a Cherry Red colorway—that it feels as though easy identification is within reach.If these questions inspire anything in you, I hope it’s the radical act of making sure you have an old-fashioned luggage tag before your next flight, not least because it’s a prime example of form meeting function. “Nothing makes me feel more alive than breaking the crowd at baggage claim for my own suitcase—a natural high I could never get without the allegiance of my pink luggage tag signaling to me that it’s my time,” says associate social media manager Bridget Knowles. Browse some of our favorites below, and for the love of all that is good about the art of voyage, make sure you actually fill it out.Shop the best luggage tags:Royce New YorkAirTag luggage tag ID holderPelicanLuggage tag with AirTag holderLeatherologyDeluxe luggage tagMark & GrahamLeather luggage tagRoyce New YorkPersonalized leather luggage tagThis article is part of Condé Nast Traveler's fourth annual Luggage Week, for which dozens of suitcases, backpacks, and weekender bags were road-tested by our editors. It has been updated with new information since its original publish date. Additional reporting by Madison Flager.