Just in time for vacation season, an airport worker has revealed why passengers should avoid tying ribbons to their suitcases if they’re checking in luggage before a flight.

Many people attach colorful ribbons around the handle of their suitcase so it’s easy to spot when they’re picking up their luggage from the carousel upon arrival. 

Little do they know, it’s a significant reason why luggage gets lost in airports. This is because identifying tags are typically attached to the luggage’s handle and bows can easily get in the way of the scanner.

“Ribbons that people tie onto their suitcases to help identify them can cause issues with the bag being scanned in the baggage hall. If the bag can’t be scanned automatically it can end up in manual processing, which could mean your bag doesn’t make it to the flight,” a baggage handler at Dublin Airport told Irish magazine RSVP Live.

As another word of advice, they added that you should always remove old stickers and tags from the bag because this can also confuse the scanning process.

This might seem obvious to seasoned travelers, but the baggage handler also had some more niche advice for those with a sweet tooth: don’t ever pack marzipan in your luggage. So the theory goes, it has a very similar density to some explosives and has been known to set off alarm bells at airport security.

If you’re looking for other insights into the weird world of airports, have you ever wondered why you rarely see pilots with beards or why cabin crew never seem to drink hot drinks? Fear not, we’ve got you covered.