How to protect empty suitcases when checking them in at the airport?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 1 Aug, 2023
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If they are quality cases, they won’t be permanently crushed, but plenty of outside scratches/gouges/etc. is possible. (One airline puts in writing that missing straps or handles is “ordinary wear and tear.”)
The air-filled trash bag in another answer sounds like a good idea, but if you want to go one step further, put a trash bag in the case, and empty a can of expanding foam into it. Close the bag and case, and the foam will expand to fill it.
When ready to put something else in, pull out the half-kilo brick of hardened foam and discard.
I did nothing.
I flew back from New Zealand with four massive but empty suitcases and they arrived in Heathrow without an issue, no damage or problems.
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I am facing this exact problem right now, and thus arrived to this question.
A very good solution I found and suggest is to ask family and friends for clothes and other belongings they are willing to let go of (either for donation, or no longer usable). You can fill your suitcase with them and give them away upon arrival.
I had to do something slightly similar once with some half-empty suitcases that would have large heavy things piled on top of them while moving house. What worked quite well for me was to take large, sturdy, readily available bag-like things such as:
- Heavy duty bin bags
- Duvet covers, large pillow cases
- Sleeping bag liners
…open them out to get a lot of air into them, then firmly tie them shut, trapping air making them act like flexible-shaped cushions.
Because these bags aren’t completely full, they can be manoeuvred to fill whatever shaped space is needed quite well, and there’s less risk of popping than, say, balloons (the “bang” of popping balloons coming from inside a bag when a heavy bag is put on top of yours might concern a baggage handler…).
Things like bin bags are also very useful for compartmentalising your packing on the way back, so they’re not being wasted.
I thought there might be some dedicated packing material for doing this and there is this on Amazon as an example, but it doesn’t look very practical. However, there are some super cheap airbeds around which your friend might be able to find from somewhere like Aldi. Just partially inflate enough to fill the suitcase. The added bonus is he could use it at the seaside in India…
There’s always bubble wrap from a self-storage company, or waste cardboard boxes, or just buying a load of balloons and blowing them up. Perhaps some cheap plastic footballs that he could perhaps give away on arrival.
Correct, the fact that they are empty is not an issue unless someone in the security line find this suspicious.
The most common was to accomplish what you fried is trying is to get soft duffel bags which would go in the main suite case.
But, since he already has the suitcases, one way to prevent damage is to fill them with something cheap and disposable. Cheap towels or pillows will do the job.
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