Taking off Travel blog

Suitcase.com has recently published its Consumer Luggage Report 2010. Among its key findings were:

57.4% are now packing lighter and using smaller travel bags, and 56.5% check fewer bags, due to increasing airline fees and restrictions.

72.3% most commonly use carry-on bags during air travel.

79.1% consider luggage size and dimensions the greatest influence on their decision to purchase, with luggage weight (69.3%) the second-most deciding factor.

44.2% prefer lightweight materials the most when purchasing luggage.

88.9% consider wheels the most important luggage feature, with retractable handles (71.4%) the second-most important feature.

The Taking Off Travel Blog talked to John Ebb, CEO of Suitcase.com, about the findings, especially related to business travel.

1. John, what can we learn about business travel behavior from your Luggage Trends survey?

Based on the survey results from those travelers who stated they fly for business more than 50% of the time (with the majority taking more than 10 trips a year) now use lighter, smaller suitcases (61.5%), and check fewer bags (53.8%) than in previous years. In addition, these business travelers use carry‐ons 79.4% of the time.

What are the latest luggage trends?

When purchasing luggage, these business travelers consider luggage size and weight (89.7%) the greatest influence on their luggage purchases, with specialized luggage features and functionality (73%) the second‐most important factor and luggage weight (71.7%) the third factor.

Many of these business travelers included in their responses that they seek the added features and functionality of durable wheels (91%) and retractable handles (71.7%), when purchasing luggage. Several responses also mentioned preferring to switch their airlines to one without baggage fees, such as Southwest Airlines, rather than bringing different luggage. Read more »

When I wrote last week about travel trends that tick me off, I left out one major part of travel that takes the shine off the trip – airport security. Until eight years ago – and we all know why it changed – you would show your passport at the check-in desk, show it again at immigration and you and your stuff would get scanned quickly on the way out. On the way in, checks took only a short time (except in places like Miami Airport, which is always a time consuming stop).

Airport Security Checks

However, security checks now take an inordinate amount of time. On my recent trip to Bahrain, my bags were scanned several times, the first time even before I got to the check-in desk. Then they were scanned again at security, and then the hand luggage was searched on the way out of the country. Read more »