I have a modest sized piece of blue gift wrapping ribbon tied to each of my bags.
After reading the responses I want a “bumper sticker” in neon green that states: “THIS IS NOT YOUR BAG.”
The idea of someone who is picking up a bag for someone else is reasonable. Especially in a state where retirees congregate. Think of retired parents meeting their children/grandchildren at the airport - and the father says to the mother “You greet the kids at the gate, I’ll grab their luggage.” (Now what does their luggage LOOK like…?)
Everyone’s different but I’ve never had trouble finding my plainish black duffle. I guess it looks similar to some others but it’s still distinctive enough. I’d no sooner tie stuff to the bag than I’d tie stuff to my plainish car’s antenna.
I have a red rolling duffel bag, which is easy enough to pick out of the massed luggage because while I’ve seen other rolling and non-rolling duffel bags none of them are ever red. I also do my best to position myself as close as possible to the beginning of the carousel so I can grab it before anyone has a chance to.
When I used to travel for work, I had a black bag identical to my colleagues. I could distinguish mine because it was the only one withOUT any ribbons or other identifying marks. Of course it was inevitable that I ended up travelling with someone else who also didn’t have any ribbons or tags. D’oh!
I used to have a bright orange faux leather Amelia Earhart suitcase my mother must have bought in the 1970s that I used until the early 2000s when the locking mechanism finally broke. You can bet your sweet Aunt Patootie I could easily identify that monstrosity from hundreds of yards away. But since then? I often have a hard time telling my luggage apart from the rest.
When I go to baggage claim today I see a pile of vaguely cube like suitcases that I can’t always spot mine immediately unless the green tag I put on it is visible. Yeah, I can tell that the red one isn’t mine. But if it’s back, dark grey, or navy it’s close enough in color to mine that I sometimes have difficulty. On more than one occasion I’ve picked up another person’s luggage thinking it might be mine only to be disappointed.
This is a great idea… until everyone starts doing it. 
I only buy colorful and/or textured bags, and I put a ribbon or whatever around a handle as well, so I’ve never had an issue identifying my bags.
But…
It’s a funny system when you think about it. In an alternate universe they’d give you a number and the cases would come out in numerical order, or you’d have a fob or something that clearly matches one case.
In our universe, it’s just based on people buying different colour cases, and not making the fairly understandable mistake of picking up the wrong bag. (Yes obviously if people check the tags the bags are identifiable, but that’s not particularly eye catching)
I don’t see why an alternate universe is needed since that is partly what we have been doing with baggage claim since the beginning. Every tag put on by the airline has a unique number which you are supposed to check before taking the bag. Heck, once many years ago, there was even a man at the exit to baggage claim politely asking if people had checked their number. Of course everyone had and avoided any delays at the exit. 
Of course the bags don’t come out in numerical order-that would be challenge for arbitrary numbering systems.
What about Bluetooth trackers? Seems like a perfect use for them or do airports not like Bluetooth?
I haven’t flown in over 25 years so I have not been inside an airport post-9/11.
Bluetooth tracker wouldn’t be accurate enough, and if you’re willing to look at your phone to identify your bag, you’d be willing to look at the bag tag to identify your bag.
From the post that you’re replying to:
I fly a lot and I have never seen anyone check the tags. Heck, a couple of times I’ve seen people even open bags to double-check that it’s theirs, the thought of checking the tags didn’t occur to them.
And it’s not entirely their fault: if the tags were designed more with passengers in mind (rather than just airline staff bag-sorting), then they might be printed with different colors and/or randomly-assigned “avatars”, so at a glance you can see it’s yours.
Like I say, I fly a lot, and I’m 100% used to this system as is. But it’s one of those things…If right now we had a system for unambiguously matching people with their bags, and you suggested “Hey, let’s just have a system where the bags come out in a line and you take the flight case which looks like it’s yours” people would think you were crazy.
My wife and I have generic luggage, but we have My Little Kitty bandaids on the handles. Always easy to find.
The obvious solution is to use The Luggage which will not only go to me but will bite anyone else who tries to pick it up.
This was the practice as late as the 00’s in the AA terminal at San Juan.
Besides people becoming impatient about slowdowns, as more and more travelers stopped having ticket envelopes/boarding cartons to which to stick/staple the claim tag, making it easier to lose, this finally went away.
Yes, Trunkie! Yay.
Most of my flights are international, so there’s no one else looking for my bag for me, except my husband, who knows what our suitcases look like.
All suitcases have two luggage tags, one on each handle. They are bright and colorful, and I’m disappointed that one of them already failed. The locks are also colorful.
The suitcases are dark green, burgandy or weird bluish green. We tend to buy Samsonite from outlet stores, so you would think there’s many other suitcases which are the same, but it’s not so common. I would never buy black (again), as too many others buy black.
All carry ons also have colorful luggage tags. Anything to help mark them. And they have our names, cell phone number and email. No addresses.
When I took the dog out this morning, we passed a neighbor’s door, and it was open. Max always has to stop and check out an open door, so I noticed they had two suitcases in the entry. Both were generic black rollie bags, but they also both had a bright floral tape wrapped around the outside. I immediately thought of this thread.