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Travel

22nd Feb 2020

Why you shouldn’t put your address on your luggage when going on holiday

Melissa Carton

It could put you at risk of being burgled.

I’m a bit of a sucker for a luggage tag.

For someone who usually uses the same suitcase every time I travel I have enough luggage tags for every month of the year. Personally I blame Penneys.

Growing up I was always advised to put my name and address on my luggage tag incase it were to get lost but now it’s actually considered a security risk to your own home, especially if it’s a family holiday and it makes a lot of sense.

I know what you’re thinking, how could a luggage tag cause me to be burgled?

I thought the same thing the first time I was told but apparently thieves can use the personal info on your suitcase to break into your home.

When you think about it, not everyone in an airport needs to go through security or even need a ticket to be there.

The atrium area where bags are dropped are open to anyone and we’re not looking to see who may or may not be looking at our luggage tags especially if we’re trying to wrangle small children.

Because of all these elements, opportunistic theieves can take their time noting addresses on luggage tags and how many people in a group have the same address.

This can help a burglar figure out if an entire family are heading away and if their home will be completely empty.

So how can we keep our suitcase safe incase it does get lost, because let’s face it, sometimes it happens.

The best way that you can keep both your luggage and your home safe is by writing in your phone number and email address on your luggage tag in lieu of your address.

This way airport security or anyone that comes across your suitcase will be able to contact you but they won’t know where you live and if your house is empty.