Shipping your Luggage

[k5jm]

Back on the 4/01/08 Show, Kevin went into shipping your luggage. Now that almost every airline is charging for luggage, I thought it would be good to bring this discussion up again.

I found a great comparison of luggage shipping

http://www.seatguru.com/articles/luggage_shipping_services.php

It actually costs us less a lot of times to upgrade to First Class and get our luggage fees waived.

Talk amongst yourselves, discuss...

 

[mikelan6]

It actually costs us less a lot of times to upgrade to First Class and get our luggage fees waived.

You always have the best ideas, Mike. First Class is the way to go.

 

[safetymom]

Is there any other way than 1st? I got spoiled by first class when I traveled for work.

I used to ship my equipment when I traveled. I can't tell you the number of times it got delayed, deliver to the wrong city, etc. When I took my equipment on the plane it was delayed once. I would rather pay and take my luggage on the plane than ship it.

One of the vendors we worked with shipped a $5000 monitor by UPS and it disappeared off the truck. Never to be seen again. They hadn't purchased insurance.

 

[parrotheadlois]

We've discovered that with Air Tran. We make a reservation and don't pay extra to pick out our seats. On the day of our flight (this has worked for us so far), we have the option of upgrading to first class for something like $69. Free luggage and we even get offered a drink before we leave the gate - we love it!!!!
(The downside of Air Tran at Lehigh Valley is that flights are very limited. We were hoping to do 2 days before and 2 days after PCC2, but there are no flights into LVI on Saturdays - so, we're coming home Friday instead.)

 

[ADP]

I wouldn't ship all of our luggage, but when I heard airlines were charging for carry-ons that was the sign that shipping smaller items would be worth it to me. In fact, I'd rather give my business to the shipping companies than the airlines who are charging for carry-on luggage.

 

[corky441]

Jet Blue allows you 1 checked bag (up to 50#) for free; 1 carry-on (standard overhead bin size); and 1 personal item (must fit under seat)

This has been working out well for us ( except for the ABD podcast trip - we had to send home a box full of all the "stuff" we bought ).

I especially like being able to check in my luggage at the resort the day of departure and not have to schlepp it to the airport myself.

 

[mikelan6]

Also a reminder that if you fly on Delta or Continental, and you have their credit cards, they waive the fee for the first piece of luggage!

 

[klam_chowder]

It actually costs us less a lot of times to upgrade to First Class and get our luggage fees waived.

Thx a mint for bringing this up again, Mike

I was recently looking into shipping options as we're staying a few days post-cruise and then will be heading off for Christmas holidays before returning home via MCO again. On a recent e-mail show, the team said the hotel would not hold luggage so I looking into Owners Locker or shipping the luggage for WDW/cruise home. I'd never considered the upgrade option - clever!

We usually fly SW but was considering others this time around as we have some logistics to work out on our return flight segments.

cheers,

 

[kahblue]

We are going from Buffalo, NY to OK City (to visit family) on Southwest. Then on to Orlando, again on Southwest. Bags are free. Since we need to bring so much for our special needs child (diapers, food, etc), I bought 2 cheap suitcases at Goodwill for $4 a piece. Once we are done with our visit at Disney, we will leave the cheap suitcases behind and just take the good ones since the food and diapers will be gone. We are flying home Air Tran and they charge $15 a bag.