10 miles of cling wrap

Here's a quick one, for those of you who fly a lot.

If, as you check in, you notice there are more people employed as freelance baggage-wrappers than airline personnel, then by all means get your bag wrapped too.

I'm thinking Bucharest and Johannesburg, specifically.

Sort of looks like a trussed chicken, doesn't it? 

You don't want to be the only fool with a naked bag. Especially because for 18 Romanian Lei or 10 South African Rand you'll also end up with a cool sticker like this.

The small print is both calmly reassuring ("protecting your baggage from damage due to manipulation" -- and what in the world would that be?) and weirdly dismissive ("The service providers hereby disclaim any responsibility for loss, theft, or damage of the baggage or its content." Like there's only one "content" in there! Hah! I've got loads of contents!) 

And phew! It's 100% recyclable, non-toxic, and "environmental" friendly to boot.

If you check out the SecurePlus website you'll learn this about baggage-wrapping: "Originated in US, the concept of baggage protection using a special polyethylene stretch film came up as an answer to the passengers' need of having their goods effectively protected during both handling and air transportation, mostly as a result of the numerous compensation requests that the airlines had to face."

Hmmm. Like the compensation request I didn't make for the shoes and biltong stolen from my bag flying out of Jo'burg? Oh well. Next time, next time I'll claim. I didn't know you could.

Oh, and check out the FAQs at Secure Plus. Apparently, it should be Frequently Asked Question, because there's only one. But it must get asked all the time.  And it's this: "What are some characteristics of the plastic film that protects the baggage?" I leave it to you to find out more.

But it sounds a lot like cling wrap to me.