“We are in a new era, where free perks are sold to us as premium add-ons,” said Audrey Kohout, Co-CEO at Luggage Forward. “These frustrating sales models will give way to a change in customer behavior, like booking services to ship bags ahead to save time.”
The worldwide baggage shipping company Luggage Forward conducted a study of airplane etiquette preferences and found the worst offenders (in order) were talking loudly on a plane, playing a video or music without headphones, eating smelly food, taking off your shoes, and using both armrests.
If you are traveling with sports equipment like golf clubs, skis and bikes, outfits that will ship your gear to your destination include Luggage Forward, a company that guarantees on-time arrival worldwide or you get back double what you paid to ship.
"Think about using services like Luggage Forward, which picks up at your location and delivers it to where you're going. Or LugLess, where you take it to a UPS or FedEx location, and the bag is delivered to your destination," says Abramson, a communications consultant from Las Vegas.
More premium offerings like Luggage Forward and Luggage Free specialize in door-to-door service, collecting bags from private addresses. Delivery destinations can include homes, hotels and offices. Most shipping services recommend that travelers let their hotels know about the shipment and its expected arrival date.
"Technology is evolving, and knowing your bag's location may provide peace of mind, but the airline's process doesn't change significantly," Audrey Kohout, Co-CEO of Luggage Forward said in an email. "Many lost bags turn up locked in warehouses, particularly on international flights. Airlines need additional labor who can handle these unplanned issues. Someone must retrieve the bag from the incorrect location, get it on another flight, or pack it up for shipment to the owner's home, hotel, or cruise port."
"We’re really going to see what happens when Southwest takes away its two free checked bags," said travel expert Audrey Kohout, co-CEO of Luggage Forward. "I’m not expecting ticket prices to drop—I expect them to just add on the cost of the checked bags."
Luggage Forward, a company specializing in door-to-door luggage shipping, recently conducted a study of 1,000 travelers on their travel habits and found that nearly six in 10 (57.7 percent of) Americans are interested in luggage shipping services.