Jaunted - Tag: Baggage

Cops Nab Phoenix Airport Baggage Thief; Is Your Missing Luggage In His House?

JetSetCD — 2009-11-05T10:34:22-05:00

There are baggage thieves, like these petty fellows, and then there are compulsive baggage thieves, like the couple who were just caught after having stolen 1,000+ checked bags from the carousels at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport.

Keith King and Stacy Legg-King lived in squalor amongst towers of stolen luggage strewn about their suburban home, the ill-gotten goods pinched by Keith straight from the baggage claims of arriving flights. He was spotted three weeks ago when an airport officer noticed King parking at the airport, taking a bag from the carousel, and then putting it in his car and leaving. After this incident, the police put surveillance on him and caught him in the act again this past Monday. And that's when the operation blew wide open...

The Search For Ideal Luggage Continues: V Australia's 'Perfect Bag'

JetSetCD — 2009-10-28T12:12:53-05:00

It's one of the oldest moneymaking games in the book: convince tourists that the bags they're traveling with aren't safe enough, or convenient enough, or stylish enough, and sell them a more jaunt-friendly bag. Very very soon however, all this could be put to rest by the release of the fruit of the labors of a fashion designer-airline combination.

Whether you're of the type that prefers the sixteen zippered pockets and multitude of snaps, or the type that wants only a simplistic tote, V Australia is asking you to help them design "the perfect bag for the perfect trip."

Virgin America Tests Allowing Baggage-Free Passengers To Board First

Omri — 2009-10-20T17:08:41-05:00

Ever the innovators, Virgin America is testing a new boarding scheme for speed and efficiency. They've ordered agents at targeted airports to let people without bags board the airplane first, the idea being to seat them and then let everyone else slow down the line while fighting for overhead space. It's the kind of thing that, if you run it through your mind, seems just crazy enough to work. So naturally everyone, us included, is trying to come up with reasons why the new policy is doomed to failure.

Travel blogger Cranky Flier is worried that overly ambitious, roll-a-board toting business consultants will try to sneak onto the plane along with legitimately carryon-free travelers. That would put gate agents in the awkward situation of either having to contradict a customer or letting them cheat. It's not that these passengers would be jumping the line in the strict sense—they have more of an incentive to do that in the status quo, where they're not assured that the people ahead of them will leave overhead space—as much as a "what do you mean my 'backpack' counts as a carryon?" kind of scenario.

Queens: Two Airport Workers Caught In Baggage Theft Sting At JFK

JetSetCD — 2009-07-15T11:44:18-05:00

Reason number 1,679 to avoid checking baggage: yesterday, cops nabbed two JFK airport workers, one a TSA agent, who had been going through passengers' baggage and blatantly stealing items of value.

It seems that the airport and Delta Airlines had noticed an unexplainable amount of missing items from luggage over the past year, and so set up a sting operation to test for sticky fingers among ground crew. The police checked a bag, filled with a laptop, two cell phones and an iPod, onto a flight from JFK to Miami and easily caught the pair of thieves pilfering the goods before the luggage had even boarded the plane.

To confuse matters for the unlucky passenger claiming the bag at its destination, the pair then tore off the bag tag. If convicted, each man faces up to 4 years in prison, so let's hope there's some more condeming evidence back at their homes to keep them out of our baggage claim forever.

[Photo: tttallis]

Scottsboro: Where Unclaimed Baggage Goes to Die (And Live Again)

BS — 2009-04-28T08:46:45-05:00

Ever lose your luggage on a flight and wonder what happens to bags that never get reunited with their woeful owners?

Well, a good deal of it ends up in Scottsboro, Alabama at a massive thrift store called the Unclaimed Baggage Center. UBC buys unclaimed luggage from airlines in bulk, to the tune of 7,000 new items a day (that's a lot of lost bags!) Then everything is sold to the public out of their Alabama warehouse, and we do mean everything. Clothes, cameras, iPods, exotic souvenirs, prescription eyeglasses, and of course the bags themselves.

They've also got a museum where they put aside the stuff found in lost bags that's just too good to sell—for example, a life-size version of the creepy Hoggle puppet from the movie Labyrinth and a slew of 3,000-year-old Egyptian artifacts. Seems like those could have been reunited with their rightful owners, but oh well, finders keepers.

Related Stories:
· Unclaimed Baggage Center [Official Site]
· US Air Eats Luggage For Breakfast [Jaunted]
· Shopping coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: J-Rad]

Los Angeles: Travel Woos: Crouch of Shame at American, Before SXSW

markj — 2009-03-18T10:34:16-05:00

Yes, we know it is woes, so don't bother correcting us, but if you take the time to watch the entire video you just might get the joke. If you do decide to watch the video you will see Jaunted Embed Shira Lazar take you through the grueling, painstaking process of the airline crouch of shame, brought on by the 50lb baggage restrictions.

Luckily, it looks like Shira has the process down, she even has a couple tips for our overpacking readers -- jeans and shoes weigh the most, so layer up. Shira was on her way from LAX to AUS for SXSW via AA -- enough acronyms for you?

Related Stories:
· Jaunted Embed Shira Lazar [Jaunted]
· Baggage Scale Crouch of Shame [Jaunted]

Ryanair Will Fine You £30 If You Have Too Many Carry-Ons

juliab — 2009-01-22T11:53:05-05:00

Checking in luggage, checking in at the airport, choosing the seat you want… we already knew Ryanair was the airline that’ll sting you for as much as it can. But just when Europe was getting used to its crazy rules, it’s gone one further.

Ryanair is now only allowing passengers one item of hand luggage on its planes, whether that’s a suitcase or a teeny purse. Ordinarily, this would be no problem. We would just get a big bag, stuff our camera/laptop/handbag inside it to go through check-in and decant it all the other side of security. Besides, the cabin crew would be too busy posing in their scanties to even notice.

But not anymore. Anyone who arrives at the gate with more than one piece of hand luggage will be stung for a flat �30 ($42) and then will have the offending bag relegated to the hold. The crackdown comes after one passenger apparently arrived at the gate with five whole pieces of hand luggage.

Maybe now it's about time to look into travelling on a slightly more reasonable airline.

Got your own carry-on hell story? Let us know.

Related Stories:
· Is Ryanair The World's Crassest Airline? [Jaunted]
· Baggage stories [Jaunted]
· News: Ryanair introduces �30 excess hand luggage charge [Press Release]

[Photo of plane: elward-photography]