Why you should never travel with a black, navy or grey suitcase

While black, navy and grey are staple shades, when it comes to luggage, brighter is often better — even if it clashes with your outfit.

The versatility that makes these colours so popular from a fashion perspective also makes a suitcase prime target to be stolen.

So if you’re in the market for a new carry-on, opting for an outlandish hue could be the deterrent that keeps your belongings safer when travelling.

Aran Dharmeratnam, security consultant and personal safety training specialist, tells Metro: ‘One of the skills I teach is how to blend in to an environment — so you don’t get noticed by street criminals, or at least don’t give the impression you’re an easy target…

‘But thieves can also be skilled at blending in. 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.’

And with recent research showing black suitcases make up around 40% of all purchases, while blue and grey sit at roughly 30% and 20% market share respectively, they certainly won’t stand out in a crowd.

‘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,’ explains Aran, who runs Tri-Tier Training.

‘The other reason they’ll take a bag with generic colours is that, if they’re spotted and approached, they can say they thought it was theirs.’

Essentially, whether at the airport carousel or on public transport, a criminal can fade into the background with your stolen suitcase, which is so ubiquitous they have a built-in excuse in the event they are caught.

Theft aside, there’s also loss, with an estimated 33 million bags going missing across the globe per year, 2.5 million of which are never returned — with dark shades being particularly vulnerable.

Ryanair issued a statement in 2024 saying black, navy and grey suitcases are the most commonly lost, as the fact they’re so used by ‘99.9% of the population’ means they’re difficult for passengers and airport crew to identify.

Don’t stress too much if your luggage is one of these hues though; as Aran notes, you can make it ‘look more distinct by adding a coloured tag or strap’, and place a tracking device like an AirTag inside so you’re covered in case anything happens.

Staying conscious of your surroundings is key too, as ‘sometimes, thieves will use distraction and misdirection to remove your bag in more subtle fashion,’ or quickly take it somewhere close by to ‘cut it open and extract core valuables.’

‘In wealthy areas like Knightsbridge, they may wait outside expensive shops and grab luggage from the boot of a vehicle while the person is entering,’ Aran continues.

‘Bars and restaurants are also common target zones as people drop their guard while engaged in conversation.

Its not a bad idea to use special travel straps that allow you to secure your luggage to a chair, but thieves could still try and steal it — so keep awareness up and keep luggage (as best you can in your line of sight.’

And if you’re thinking of investing in some fancy designer baggage, don’t bother. You’re essentially telling nefarious folks around you that that the contents of your expensive bag ‘are equally valuable’, therefore marking you out as a sitting duck.

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