Fly Naked

  If you’re planning on traveling for the holidays, you may want to go Greyhound.  Sure it’ll take longer—a lot longer—but, according to new reports, you’ll have a better chance of arriving at your destination with luggage in hand.

  On August 10, the Travel Safety Administration banned the carry-on of all liquid and gels, which resulted in a pretty steep increase of checked baggage.  As checked baggage rose 25%, the airlines seem to have buckled under the pressure to keep track of it all.  As a result, 107,731 more people lost their bags in August than in August 2005.  That’s an increase of 33%.

  In September, things got worse.  92% more bags were lost in September than in September 2005, with more than 380,000 passengers arriving at their destinations empty-handed—pretty grim odds for anyone planning on flying home for the holidays.

  Now, as a guy who’s a little math-deficient, I know that the numbers and percentages can seem a little overwhelming.  But here it is in plain English: the airlines can’t keep up with all of that extra luggage, and luggage-loss is on the rise.  Think of it as “luggage lotto.”

  It seems a little ironic, in fact.  The airline industry places such strong emphasis on “keeping an eye on your bags at all time,” “don’t leave your bags unattended,” “don’t let any weirdos pack your bags for you,” and “don’t let anyone—friend or foe—anywhere near your bags.”  A person is given the distinct impression that they would be best served by shackling their luggage to their leg.  But then, when you hand your bag—carefully packed and carefully watched—to the airline’s baggage handlers, they lose it like a second pair of reading glasses.  They lose it like an Enron pension plan.  They lose it like Pete Rose in Atlantic City on his birthday.  Like Oprah after New Year’s.  Like Britney did K-Fed.  But I digress.

  The TSA relaxed its ban on carry-on liquids and gels a little on September 26, but the more lenient restrictions may only confuse the casual flyer.  It remains to be seen how these changes will affect the amount of lost luggage.

  There’s a way to help clean up this mess, you know.  As it stands, tracking down lost luggage costs the airline industry about $2.5 billion a year.  The front-runner in the fight to increase the winning odds in “luggage lotto” may seem to be the least likely.  McCarran Int’l Airport in Las Vegas is bucking the trend and installing radio-frequency ID tag readers, and tagging all outgoing luggage.  The RFID technology allows bags to be tracked immediately, and is more effective than the industry-standard barcode system.  And while RFID can’t guarantee that your bags will be waiting for you when you get home, it can automatically alert you by text-message if your bag doesn’t make your flight.  You can avoid wasting time at the claim carousel, and call to arrange delivery of your luggage.  The ID tags would cost the airlines between 10 and 20 cents per tag, and could collectively save them more than $700 million a year.

  If you plan on flying for the holidays, brush up on the what’s-not-allowed list, and if possible, pack everything in your carry-on.  Unless you’re a gambling addict—then, roll the dice and pray for sevens.

-From Pulse
   November 16, 2006