If you’re planning a soothing getaway to shake off the tail end of winter, a security specialist says you may want to reconsider one detail before you zip up your luggage: the color of your suitcase.
Research suggests black is the most common choice, with around 45 percent of travelers opting for it because it looks neutral and doesn’t draw attention.
Navy and gray are close behind for much the same reason. Estimates put navy at about 30 percent and gray at 25 percent—meaning roughly 95 percent of suitcases fall into these three dark, muted shades.
Travel safety specialist Aran Dharmeratnam argues that, while people choose these colors to stay low-key, the popularity of dark luggage can actually make it easier for thieves. He previously cautioned that wrapping a suitcase in plastic can signal there’s something valuable inside, and now he’s pointing to suitcase color as another factor that can work against you.
Speaking to Metro, Dharmeratnam said the first thing he teaches clients is ‘how to blend in to an environment’, or at the very least avoid presenting as an ‘easy target’.
“But thieves can also be skilled at blending in’, he said. Explaining: “They will enter a venue dressed in an ordinary way aiming to appear unassuming, and then clock who has dropped their guard or who has luggage that’s easy to extract.”
The problem, he suggests, is that choosing luggage that looks like nearly everyone else’s can have the opposite effect of what you intended. If a bag is indistinguishable from dozens of others, someone can lift it and disappear into the flow of people without attracting much notice.
In a busy terminal, it’s hard to describe what’s been taken when the identifying feature is essentially: “a standard dark suitcase.” Picture trying to get help by calling out that the thief has a bag that looks like many others nearby.
Dharmeratnam also pointed out that darker luggage can be harder to visually track once it’s moving away from you: “Dark luggage means as [a thief] walks away, they’re less likely to be spotted should the person suddenly get alerted to their bag being stolen.”
Other travel voices have shared similar guidance ahead of the spring travel surge. Former UPS adviser Ed Burnett told the Independent that choosing a less common suitcase color can help protect your belongings.
He explained: “Bright colors are a deterrent. Thieves prefer anonymous black or navy bags because they can walk away with them without standing out. A neon green bag, for example, is a liability for a thief. If you yell, ‘Stop that man with the green bag,’ everyone sees him.”
Airlines have also highlighted how frequently similar-looking bags complicate lost luggage reports. Estimates suggest tens of millions of bags go missing worldwide each year, and a significant number are never recovered.
Ryanair has previously pointed to the dominance of black, navy, and gray bags as a reason missing items can be difficult to locate, claiming that ‘99.9% of the population’ use these similar colors, which makes descriptions far less helpful.
That doesn’t mean you need to replace your suitcase immediately, though. Dharmeratnam’s practical suggestion is to make your bag easier to identify—such as adding a bright strap—so it stands out quickly on a carousel and is harder for someone else to walk off with unnoticed.