Scales, Straps and Snake Oil: The Luggage Accessories Genuinely Worth Your Money

Every UK traveller knows the moment. You're at the till, about to pay for a suitcase, and there they are: the luggage scale, the packing cubes, the TSA padlock in a fetching shade of teal. 'People usually buy…' says the assistant. And because we're British and constitutionally incapable of saying no to a suggested add-on, into the basket they go.

But which of these accessories actually earn their keep, and which end up in the drawer under the stairs with the travel adapters for countries you'll never visit? We bought a basket of the most popular add-ons, used them on real trips — a Ryanair flight to Dublin, a soggy Bank Holiday in the Peak District, and a fortnight's self-catering in Cornwall — and kept ruthless score.

The Digital Luggage Scale: The Undisputed Champion

Let's start with the star. A £9 digital luggage scale, the kind with a hook and a handle that you hoist your case off the floor with, is the single best £9 in travel. Full stop.

Anyone who's repacked a suitcase on a hotel room floor at 11pm because easyJet's bag drop read three kilos heavier than your bathroom scale knows the pain this little gadget prevents. Ours lives in the side pocket of every case we own. Yes, the readings drift by a couple of hundred grams between scales — but they're consistently within the margin that matters, and the peace of mind at check-in is worth double.

Verdict: Essential. Buy one, thank us later.

Packing Cubes: Divisive, But We're Converted

Packing cubes split the BaggageHub office like Marmite. One half of the team thinks they're overpriced ziplock bags for people with too much disposable income. The other half can't imagine a trip without them.

After proper testing, we've come down on the side of the cubes — with caveats. They genuinely work for family trips, where a cube per person transforms a shared suitcase from a jumble sale into something navigable. They're brilliant for hostels and multi-stop itineraries, letting you grab tonight's clothes without detonating your entire bag. And they make repacking after a spot check at security almost dignified.

The caveats: cheap sets have zips that burst at the seams when overfilled (we split two), and cubes add weight — around 100g each — which matters on a seven-kilo Ryanair allowance. Buy a mid-weight set of four for about £15, not the £40 designer versions.

Verdict: Worth it for families and multi-stop trips. Skip if you travel solo with one bag.

Compression Cubes: The Honest Truth

These are packing cubes with a second zip that squeezes the air out, promising to halve your clothing volume. In practice? They compress about 20–30%, they're heavier than regular cubes, and they encourage you to overpack — which rather defeats the object.

The one genuine use case is bulky kit: duvet jackets, towels, hiking fleece. For a walking weekend in Snowdonia, a compression cube for the outer layers was genuinely useful. For city breaks, leave them alone.

Verdict: Skip, unless you're hauling bulky outdoor kit.

TSA Locks: A Necessary Evil

Here's the thing about TSA padlocks: if you're flying to or through the US, your case will be opened by security, and without a TSA-approved lock it'll be opened with a knife. So for transatlantic trips, they're not optional.

But let's not pretend they offer real security. Any airport thief with a ballpoint pen or a pair of decent cutters will be through one in seconds. Their real value is deterrence and zipped-shut peace of mind — keeping your case closed when a zip slider pops, which happens more than you'd think.

A £7 twin-pack with a built-in search indicator (a little window that turns red if it's been opened) is the sweet spot. Buy the combination kind, not key — keys get lost in pockets on the Piccadilly line.

Verdict: Buy for US trips. Optional elsewhere, harmless everywhere.

Suitcase Covers: The Drawer Clutter King

The stretchy spandex suitcase cover — often printed with a Union Jack, for some reason — is the accessory we most regret buying. It took a wrestling match to fit, added a sweaty layer of condensation to the case, and made every bag-drop interaction slower. On the one flight where it might have protected the case from a scuff, we'd left it off because it was in the wash.

If you want to spot your black suitcase among forty others on a carousel, a £3 ribbon on the handle does the same job.

Verdict: Skip. Genuinely, just skip.

Luggage Straps: Surprisingly Useful

We expected to file these under 'gimmick' alongside the covers. We were wrong. A simple cross strap — the kind that buckles round the middle of your case — does three jobs. It keeps an overfilled case from bursting open (relevant after a Christmas shopping trip to Bath, in our case), it gives your bag a distinctive look on the carousel, and it provides a grab handle when you're hauling the thing into a car boot or up a train step.

£8, adjustable, and ours has survived three trips without fraying. Just avoid the versions with combination locks, which add nothing but fiddling.

Verdict: Buy. Quietly brilliant.

The Ones We Didn't Even Bother Testing

Quick mention for the wider ecosystem of nonsense: suitcase cup holders (you have two hands), luggage trackers that need a subscription, 'travel size' everything in plastic you'll bin after one trip, and wheel covers for keeping cases clean (they're suitcases; they're meant to travel).

The Final Tally

If you're kitting out for your next trip, here's the shortlist. Five items, roughly £40 total:

1. Digital luggage scale — non-negotiable
2. Mid-range packing cubes (set of four) — for families and multi-stop trips
3. TSA combination locks (twin-pack) — for any US-bound flight
4. Cross luggage strap — for overpackers and car-boot haulers
5. A proper luggage tag with a covered address window — £4, and the only reason we got a lost case back from Edinburgh in one piece

Everything else in that airport accessory aisle is, mostly, a solution looking for a problem. Spend the difference on a decent coffee before the flight instead — you'll enjoy that more than a suitcase cover, we promise.