For many travelers, checking a bag has become the “kryptonite of air travel,” according to Audrey Kohout, Co-CEO of Luggage Forward and LugLess. With excessive fees, long lines, and potential fraud posing threats, many are turning to a better way of traveling known as luggage shipping. This innovative travel hack, which was once for the 1%, has now become more realistic for the average traveler.
In order to help you manage packing for an almost year long round the world cruise, Royal Caribbean teams up with Luggage Forward to arrange for your bags to go directly to the ship: perfect for a long trip!
If you’d rather skip hauling your gear altogether, services like Ship Sticks or Luggage Forward will pick up your clubs and deliver them directly to your destination. It’s not the cheapest option, but it can certainly make navigating parking lots, airports, rental car areas, and hotels a lot easier.
“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.