> And that is the day that I learned the Miami airport has a service that will basically use industrial strength cling wrap to seal your luggage.

I did that once at JFK. I was afraid that the rigid suitcase would be mishandled so I anticipated. It did end up mishandled: I don’t know what they dropped on it but it had a large dent when I got it back. I was also checked at customs, where they cut the suitcase open with a knife, at which point I realised that the closing mechanisms were smashed and I could not close it again (they gave me some duct tape to keep it somewhat closed, but the following train journey was a nightmare). That was fun. But I did not regret the industrial strength cling wrap.

> I was also checked at customs, where they cut the suitcase open with a knife

My first thought is to type "WTF!", however having experienced the bully-boy antics of the US police (and how the US population appears to take this for granted) this behaviour by your Customs does not surprise me.

(Ignoring the editorialization)

I believe that the comment is referring to cutting off the cling-wrap to open the case, something that would likely be done by customs in any country.

Yes, indeed, that is poor phrasing on my part. They cut the shrink wrap, not the suitcase itself.

Or the zippers slider breaking into 2 parts on your relatively expensive Ski Jacket in a remote location at the beginning of the vacation. Happened to me, luckily I had a (cheap) fleece jacket with me with the same zipper size and I was able to fix it.

Not a broken zipper but a good trick to know for fixing a broken backpack buckle using two carabiners: https://youtu.be/iIilqYI1JNY

Those aren’t carabiners, they are small quick links and it’s very unlikely anyone is going to be randomly carrying those in the backcountry.

The simplest solution to a broken backpack buckle is another buckle. If you’re going to carry something, carry those. They’re light and cheap and should be part of the repair kit for backcountry travel.

You can also simply thread the strap through the webbing loop and tie it off. Hard to get the length exactly right but works in a pinch.

A lot of airports have them when they have flights to destinations where luggage is frequently broken into.

name and shame?

Reliable stats are hard to come by, but Delhi, Johannesburg, JFK all have bad reputations. For a long time Kuala Lumpur had a gang working with the X-ray guys to tag juicy targets, but they were busted a while back.

Problem is, cling wrap won't stop a determined thief, it'll just make the theft evident -- unless they just grab your whole bag instead.

> Problem is, cling wrap won't stop a determined thief

The point is just to make your bag more effort than the less-protected one next to it.

Is there an insurance company that will pay out if the seal is broken? Probably not, since then the customers would break them themselves to claim theft.

Every airport I've been to in Brazil had some saran wrapping booth. The salespeople can be quite pushy as well at those...