What Is a Luggage Liner For?

A luggage liner protects clothing and other items in your luggage from dust, moisture and mildew. The main reason more people have begun using luggage liners lately, however, is increasing public awareness of and concern about bed bugs. Of particular concern to travelers are overnight stays in hotels and motels.

Our Long Term Companions

• Cimicidae, or bed bugs, are small, flat, oval-bodied insects that take blood meals from mammals in order to reproduce. Bed bugs have an affinity for human blood and thrive well in human environments. They have fed on humans throughout recorded history, though their numbers were drastically reduced by widespread use of the toxic insecticide DDT after World War II.

Hyper-Mobility

• Reports of bed bug bites have increased in recent years by more than 5,000 percent. The resurgence is believed to be caused by the ban on DDT, and the increased mobility of human populations. Travel between countries and regions has increased dramatically, as has the use of commercial overnight accommodations. Bed bugs travel easily in clothing, luggage and other equipment. Standard cleaning of hotel rooms and other commercial accommodations doesn't eliminate bed bugs; and any traveler can introduce the insect to an otherwise clean facility.

Luggage Liners as a Tactic

• The bites of bed bugs are a nuisance, but they aren't likely to cause serious disease. For this reason, one traveling strategy has been to prevent importing bed bugs into the home after using hotels and motels. Luggage liners are part of that strategy. By laundering clothes in hot water, and preventing insect entry into packed clothing, the opportunities for the insects to spread is substantially reduced.

Arriving Home Without Hitchhikers

• Nylon zippers make luggage liners impermeable. Adult bed bugs are up to a quarter-inch long, and even the larvae are 2 mm. They cannot breach a luggage liner that isn't torn. The traveler can remove the liner without bringing the suitcase indoors, inspect the surface for bugs, and bring the luggage inside, leaving the suitcase or pack to be fumigated outdoors before reintroducing it to your lodging.