Buy a Four-Wheeler Suitcase to Avoid Damage to Your Luggage and BelongingsS

An anonymous airline baggage handler has spilled the beans on just how poorly our luggage gets treated en route. He offers advice for making sure your stuff stays intact and safe, saying the least damaged suitcases tend to be four-wheeled "spinners."

This is the explanation for how bags and their contents get damaged:

I'm not going to lie, your checked luggage takes a beating. They call it "throwing bags" for a reason. There isn't an easy way around this. Airplanes only make money while in the air, and no airline wants an airplane on the ground too long. Due to the nature of some aircraft, it would be impossible to turn around a 737 or 757 in an hour or less without throwing bags because it's just faster. On these planes, there are only two long and narrow cargo holds where your luggage goes.


His advice: Never pack wine or alcohol in your suitcase or fragile items unless professionally packaged.

The best bags to get are spinners with four wheels on the bottom:

We like these because we don't have to throw them when loading. We just roll them down the belly of the plane so your bag and its contents will suffer much less damage.

That certainly paints a better picture than your bag being thrown 50 feet. Check out the full article for more tips and insidery secrets about lost luggage, bag delays, and other misfortunes.

Photo by Colin Bowern.

Confessions of An Airline Baggage "Thrower": Why You Should Buy a Four-Wheeler Suitcase | The Huffington Post