Many travelers won't know or remember this, but there was a time when airline passengers had to to present a claim check in order to pick up their luggage after flights. Until the early 1980s, it was standard for passengers to be asked by a security representative in the baggage claim area to match the…
Every budget-minded air passenger in the United States already knows that longtime no-frills kingpin Southwest Airlines is in bad trouble. The list of woes is daunting: Repeated operational meltdowns forcing the cancellation of thousands of flights at a time, including in peak holiday season. A heightened safety review by the FAA following several near-miss incidents…
There's good news if you're one of the growing number of travelers who like to keep tabs on checked airline luggage by using Apple's AirTags. The little battery-powered tracking pucks, which cost $20–$30 each, can be slipped into anything a traveler wants to track the location of. Owners of AirTags can use their iPhones or…
There used to be very few choices for travelers who are between hotels but have heavy bags to deal with—except to hope that airports and train stations had “left luggage” storage facilities. But for security reasons, many public places strictly limited those old storage options. That left travelers in a bad situation, with no obvious…
In today's installment of The Internet May Be Destroying Society, but Hey, You Should Totally Check Out This Video, someone put a camera on luggage to show were it goes after airport check-in. On March 21, local TV station WDIV in Detroit posted this invigorating 7-minute video of a piece of checked baggage as it…
Live snakes, a mounted ram head, a Halloween card signed by Richard Nixon. Those are some of the most fascinating items found in lost luggage in 2023, according to a new report by Unclaimed Baggage, a store that buys lost items from airlines, sight unseen. The company also found a 13-foot vaulting pole, gruesome props…