Delivering Fliers From Lost Luggage

The Wall Street Journal

Delivering Fliers From Lost Luggage
By STEPHANIE CHEN
November 29, 2007; Page D1

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With a record number of bags almost certain to be lost this holiday travel season, a niche of services that helps find lost luggage or keep them from ever disappearing is thriving. Services now offer door-to-door luggage delivery, assistance with tracking shipped bags and sturdy luggage tags with identification codes to help misplaced items reach owners. Luggage delivery companies also handle shipments abroad, which can help passengers embarking on a long international flight bypass the often slow customs-clearance process. Most companies provide reimbursements if bags are lost, and the services are available everywhere the major shipping carriers go.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reports 3.5 million incidences of missing bags so far this year, compared with 2.9 million in the same period of 2006. The Air Transport Association, a trade group for U.S. airlines, estimates about 930 million bags were checked on U.S. airlines in 2006. "The airlines do all that they can to insure that the passengers and baggage get to destination on time," says Victoria S. Day, an ATA spokeswoman.

Air traffic this year has increased by 3.4%, or 17 million passengers, from a year earlier, the Department of Transportation reported. But the ATA says airlines have been pushing for federal funds to modernize their traffic control systems, which would help ease congestion and reduce misplaced baggage, especially on connecting flights. Those statistics -- as well as big increases in excess luggage fees charged by some airlines -- have created an opening for extending to the masses the services that were once only a perk of glamour travel for the rich and famous.

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Luggage services aren't cheap, especially for passengers whose bags can go through the airline system free. XS Baggage, a division of Global Travel & Transport Services Inc., in Charlottesville, Va., offers ground-delivery service (meaning the bags travel only by truck and van) as a less-expensive option within the U.S. Ground shipping, which usually takes more than three days, costs about $92 for a 50-pound bag, versus $264 for next-day delivery via air cargo plane. The luggage delivery services work with major shippers like United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. Those shippers say customers could much more affordably deal with them directly -- and that a growing number of travelers do exactly that. But luggage services say it is worth the premium -- sometimes as much as 35% -- to eliminate passengers' stress about packaging.

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Some luggage services specialize not in delivery but helping keep bags from ever going lost. Baggage tagging companies like Bagsreunited Ltd., London, and globalbagtag.com Ltd., North Yorkshire, England, help passengers retrieve lost luggage using tags that provide a code to access the passenger's contact information online. Because the companies store the information online, an airline employee who finds a wayward bag can recover the owner's information immediately by logging on to the company's Web site. Chris Truelove, founder of globalbagtag.com, which offers a service for about $20 a bag, says 80% of the lost luggage with the company's stainless steel tags is returned. "It's a safeguard that gives the traveler extra piece of mind," Mr. Truelove says. The company has 1.2 million members, with 40% from the U.S.

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If I have to go to Boston or Providence, I usually drive. If I have to go to Philadelphia, Maryland, or DC, I take the train.

It's much less of a hassle than flying.

unattended or unclaimed luggage! :nuke:

OR just pack light and buy what you need, cheap, and then give it to charity at the end of your visit.

Everyone I know has lost bags, had shit STOLEN from bags--it just ain't worth it. Maybe they should cut the length of the seating area in half, turn an equivalent chunk of the baggage area into seating, and just give everyone an area the size of a large suitcase to shove their shit in right by their seat. Then they could deplane on two levels, everyone takes care of their own crap, and nothing gets lost. Of course, you'd have to improve screening slightly.