It hasn’t yet taken off in the US, but checked-luggage wrapping stations are cropping up in airports around the world. For a fee, an attendant will encase your suitcase in plastic wrap. A few small incisions to restore access to the handles and wheels, and off you go.
I’m admittedly a skeptic, though I jealously wonder how fat the margins are in this business.
On the one hand, I see the logic: If it’s wrapped tightly with plastic, it’s less likely to break open or be damaged by moisture. Some of these services, such as SecureWrap, also include some luggage insurance in the cost of the wrapping.
But how much protection is this, really? An airport security official looking to inspect your bag’s contents will just cut the plastic right off. A determined thief will do the same. How much protection is this, really? And for 6 euros (the price charged at Madrid) or 9 dollars (the price at JFK) per item, is this money well spent?
Hit the poll and the comments below the video.
Loading ...(Reading this via the RSS feed? Visit the site to vote.)
RSS (FeedBurner)
Read with Amazon Kindle
Subscribe by E-mail
Follow on Twitter
June 12th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Fat margins, indeed. This isn’t skilled labor, and I imagine that industrial-sized Saran Wrap isn’t too pricey. The biggest costs are the spinny-thing machine and the rent I assume they pay to the airport.
Stupid, by the way.
June 12th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I have seen these for years, mostly in 2nd or 3rd world airports. Never used them, though. Some theories on why they popped up there first (I think?):
- higher perceived risk of luggage pilfering (I never had a problem)
- more pax depart with more fragile and/or overstuffed suitcases and boxes
I never have anything but clothing in my suitcase if I actually check one, and the clothing I take on vacation isn’t exactly designer material, so if anyone really, really wants my used underwear and t-shirts, be my guest.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
These are widely used at Turkish airports and although it looks good I doubt the cost is worth the limited protection it buys. A slightly tougher suitcase than average would be a smarter investment.
June 12th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I would love to hear from one of the people who voted that this is worth the money. What’s your logic? come on, there are (currently) five of you… fess up!
June 12th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I would love to see it integrated with TSA inspection. After scanning, your bag could be sealed, with a guarantee that it wont be opened or rescanned, and if you have to transfer terminals, etc with your checked luggage, it doesnt need to be rescanned, as long as the wrap is undamaged.
OTOH, its terrible environmentally.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I’m a devotee of luggage wrapping. I couldn’t begin to count the number of times that a zipper pull or zipper lock on bare baggage has been mutilated. Or my bag delivered to me at baggage claim soil and even sopping wet. Of course, a determined thief can break into anything. But if that thief has to choose between my Saraned luggage and the evidence of a heap of plastic wrap or your bare, naked, unprotected luggage, I’ll lay good odds that he won’t touch mine. I wish all airports had spin-wrapping facilities for luggage.
June 13th, 2009 at 6:56 am
It’s dumb. At $9 a whack, the outlay over time will far exceed the average traveler’s expected loss from incremental damage or theft.
Also, not to get all Kantian here, but what if everybody used this service? It’s bad enough that half the bags on the carousel are identical black roll-aboards. Imagine all those same bags emerging in identical plastic cocoons, their luggage tags/colored handle grips/other distinguishing features obscured? Mayhem.
June 13th, 2009 at 8:34 am
I agree with jennifer rose’s point – a thief is mostly an opportunist, taking the least effort to grab what he/she can. The plastic wrap could be a deterrent in the baggage handling area and make them look for easier cases to target. Also protects the zippers.
Have seen these in action at airports all over the world. At Dubai’s, it mostly used by the African and Indian people taking oversized luggage back home in cartons and bags with no real means of securing them. They get them wrapped as a means of, hopefully, having the items arrive intact on the other side.
Barcelona is the only airport where we have been approached by a sales rep (some distance from the machine) asking if we would like to have our luggage wrapped. Unfortunately, she asked us as we had arrived, so there was little point – although maybe it would be a good deterrent against the pickpockets and thieves in the city’s metro!
June 13th, 2009 at 11:46 am
This has been done in Colombian Airports for many years now, for flights to the US or Europe. The rationale behind it is that this will make the suitcase harder to break in to and have people place drugs INSIDE the case. This has little to do with theft prevention. There have been a number of publicized cases in Colombia over the years of peoples bags having been opened and having had drugs placed in them. When the bag’s owner arrives in the US, he is carted of to jail (innocently) while the DEA makes a proud infomercial, while 10 other bags slip through unawares…
The idea is that if the plastic has been tampered with at all, this will certainly help any legal defense.
So in this case, it does have some validity.
June 13th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Interesting, David – these are hugely popular here in Europe so I always wondered what on earth the point was…
June 13th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
ugh…unfortunately my wife and I were “forced” to use this device. We had our daughter’s car seat that we wanted to gate check (and pick-up at the gate when disembarking).
(Daughter was <2 yrs old at the time and we didn't buy her a seat, for the short JFK-YYZ flight.)
LAN insisted that they couldn't accept it at the gate and we had to check it.
We said: OK. Let's check it.
They said: We can't check it like that, go wrap it. Then, get back in line and re-start the check-in process all over again.
We said: Ugh. OK. (What are we going to say? No?)
On the upside, the price of the flight was VERY low (about $70 ea.), so an extra $9 was not a major issue, and the wrapping was so good we could have lost it over Lake Ontario and retrieved it completely dry.
The kicker(s):
-we got on the plane and saw it was nearly completely empty. We could have put the seat ANYWHERE.
-LAN lost our stroller for 3 days and were nearly impossible to reach when calling to find out where it was
(but I digress…)
We used a wrapper at JFK…and at least they do a damn good job for the suckers that want/need to use it.
June 14th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Check out these links and you’ll understand why. They are just a few of many, there are literally dozens of similar stories, just google for more.. Every couple months or year or so they bust another person or group of airport workers lifting small valuable items out of luggage. And that’s just in the US, in developing countries I can’t imagine it’s not a major problem as well. I’d imagine this is what the wrapping is for, and that it’s quite effective. Typically you hear of workers making a quick open and grab what they see move as a bag comes through the system on the way to the belt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN7G9QHHomY
http://www.kyw1060.com/TSA-Screener-Accused-of-Stealing-From-Luggage-at-P/4529295
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=732&sid=1566121
Oh this is pretty amusing too while you’re at it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikW5mK4Zeg
June 15th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Most of my travel is domestic or transborder (Canada/US) with either a direct flight or max 1 connection to major moderm facilities. I suppose if I were travelling on a multi stop itinerary across the globe where the chance of theft and damage increased (many more hands and machined contacting the bag) I may use it. In my regular travels it is just a waste of $9.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I use these sometimes on bags, and backpacks when travelling internationally and BACK from foreign locations. Often times, I have a bag that might have been compromised and or there are many pockets or zippered pockets containing items that could easily be taken.
I’ve paid between 3$ US and 10$ US from Latin America, China and Europe. I dont’ use it all the time, I CERTAINLY would not use it for simple domestic travel with one of my quality suitcases, but for the type of items/travel described at the beginning of my comment – certainly, I’ll continue to pay what is a relatively small fee for the convenience and hassle reduction of damage/theft/loss I think it deters.
June 15th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I used this service one time when traveling from JFK internationally with a stop in Europe.
I had a cardboard box of books. It weighed to the limit. I had a felling without the help of the plastic wrapping I wouldn’t even find the books sliding down one by one on the baggage belt at my destination.
I confess, I did get it wrapped up, and i gotta say, it was amazing. I’m sure that was the only reason the box (and books) were in ship shape was only to the credit of the plastic wrap.
Although I did think about it being opened by the TSA. I dismissed that thought because I believe that they anyways x-ray everything and open up baggage that they think that they need to put their hands on. Being that the content of the box was just books, I decided it was safe.
June 15th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I think the baggage handlers in some “third world” airports have a deal with the baggage wrappers to damage the bags of nice looking bags that come off of European and U.S. flights. I have received so many bags from these airports that are so badly damaged (straps missing, pull handles gone) that I can’t image it was caused by negligence alone.
C’est la vie.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
They became popular in Australia following the case of Michelle Corby. Her unsuccessful defence against drugs important charges in Indonesia were they were planted in her bags.
June 16th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Interesting discussion, thanks for all the comments.
David Thomson’s comments re: Colombian airports are particularly disturbing, and are perhaps sufficient reason for use from certain locales. Perhaps the poll should have asked which from departure airports it would be appropriate to use such a service.
I’ll also echo Dan’s comments that this isn’t exactly an eco-friendly service. But then again, putting destroyed baggage into a landfill isn’t all that green, either.
@mark, I always appreciate a Kantian response. And yes, if this really took off, even if “only” half the bags were wrapped, you’d see mayhem at the carousels. Then again, the wrappers might innovate, and offer different colors of wrapping, or stickers and decorations for an extra fee. The possibilities are endless.
June 18th, 2009 at 7:34 am
found it useful to use around India, for similar reason viz @David’s Columbian experience, but also airlines tend to be less picky about luggage weight if it is wrapped. Rumours are that the airline staff get a cut of the fee.
June 18th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Just what we need… the introduction of more wasteful plastic into an already over-burdened environment. Get a TSA-approved lock or carry your valuables in a carry-on. As for saying that “putting destroyed baggage into a landfill isn’t all that green, either”, I certainly agree. But really, is wrapping your suitcase in cellophane really protecting it from being junked? I somehow doubt it. It’s a miracle my bag has made it over 280,000 miles so far and works just fine!
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:04 am
From an environmental perspective, this is stupid beyond belief.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
How much does it cost to wrap a bag at Heathrow airport? I
September 21st, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Hello to all having left those comments.
Our company is one of the manufacturer for such equipment (bags wrap machines). That is an excellent opportunity for anyone to start this business, don’t think only for the benefits for the passengers.
having the bags wrapped with that hard to tear plastic (100 % recyclable) your luggage shall survive most of the troubles during the transportation like: accidental openings, steeling things from inside (because it is difficult for the thefts to open the suitcase, they prefer more easy catch), dust, pollution (can you imagine that most of the suitcases for travel are standing in your rooms without to be cleaned after the journey), dump. There are many cases in which the passenger needs to wrap something he has bought from the market as souvenir, we are even wrapping fragile items, cooling boxes with liquids. many traveler have more than two items and some times the only chance to put all of them as checked luggage is to make wrapping of two of them (becoming after the wrapping one pcs). There are so many advantages for having your suitcase wrapped!
If someone wants to chare his opinion directly, we shall love to her the arguments at:
airportservice@abv.bg
To al of you have a good luck!
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:42 am
This service actually includes insurance for open packages, so if you’re carrying a package that contains sth that may be opened or stolen, then its better to wrap it, tho it doesnt really make much sense!
We never did it, we got stolen a perfume from our suitcases, we probably saved more money from just not paying the 10 times a year we get on airplanes, cause the perfume was not worth more than 60 dollars, but anyway, they pay for it if anything is stolen!