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Save/ShareHere’s one way to deal with all the new baggage fees: Have your luggage shipped to your destination ahead of time, by companies that promise door-to-door service. Last week, the Wall Street Journal tested out five of the services by shipping 40-pound suitcases from South Florida up to the WSJ's offices in New York.
The main drawback? "Prices were so steep, from $122.19 to $198.23, that the services can't really be considered practical for frequent fliers or families with lots of luggage." That's an understatement. And who exactly is getting your bags from A to B? Four of the five companies farmed out the pick-up to UPS or Fed Ex, either of which would have charged much less if approached directly.
There are times when it’s relatively easy and affordable to ship bags or souvenirs directly through companies like FedEx. We outlined how to tackle various shipping scenarios in this 2007 magazine article, Quit Lugging Your Luggage.
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Good article on shipping luggage and other packages on vacation.
Posted By ileana Laplant on July 3, 2008, 1:19 PM
I always ship items ahead when we vacation. It frees up space in what we must take with us, saves us money at our destination and is much less stressful. I've used the US Postal Service without a problem. (I even have a couple videos over in MyBudgetTravel all about shipping items and packing light.)
Posted By Jody on July 3, 2008, 2:05 PM
we just paid $110. to send our 3 bags roundtrip(going to a wedding, need the stuff) on our flights with Spirit Air in Oct. from FL to VA..and for the privilege of selecting a seat in advance, $40. for 2 roundtrip (maybe we'll actually get the seats we picked this time..a month ago, same flights, same destination, no charge to select the seats but they switched seats on us and wouldn't correct it (got kind of snippy about it too and next to me was a guy who must have played basketball taking up his legroom and mine too, and they said I couldn't move until after we were up in the air and seatbelt sign was off..so we just passed on the $3.00 bottle of water as a protest and on our return flight brought our own water, purchased after security (and I found prices varied for bottled water at National APO, DC..but that's another story for another blog.
Posted By G & R Kent on July 3, 2008, 4:05 PM
Although pre-shipping your luggage sounds good in theory, I've had bags lost/delayed several times and had to either do the paperwork or deal with airline officials. Arriving in a new or foreign place without some or all of your stuff is a huge hassle - and the costs are prohibitive at this time.
I vote thumbs down.
Posted By Dana Wong on July 10, 2008, 5:45 PM
Here's a thought...take only one or two outfits for a week trip. Wash smalls in between. No one will remember what you wore, anyway. See how FEW items you can take with you!
Posted By Stephanie Winter on July 17, 2008, 9:57 AM