The dog barked at 3:20 a.m., alerting the household to a van quietly leaving the Boston-area home. I tiptoed down the stairs and discovered my purple duffel on the front doorstep. After a 10-hour journey, it looked a little deflated, but overall well.
By Andrea Sachs
Over Labor Day weekend, I tried Bags VIP, which is like a chauffeur for checked bags. The company collects suitcases from baggage claims at arriving airports and transports them to travelers’ accommodations. Meanwhile, voyagers can deplane and go.
“It’s not a door-to-door service,” Bags President Bob Miles said. “We’re not picking it up for a flight that you’re getting ready to go on. It’s a post-flight service.”
There are many reasons you might not want to deal with baggage claim and your checked luggage. You scheduled a tour that starts soon after you land. You booked a pre-cruise shore excursion. You have to zip straight into the office from the airport. Or, as was my case, you have more pieces of luggage than you do arms.
“We’ve seen elderly people use it, so they don’t have to worry about hanging around the airport to grab their bags,” Miles said. “We also see families who are trying to manage strollers, luggage and the kids themselves.”
The service costs $39.95 for one or two bags for drop-offs within 40 miles of the airport; additional bags (maximum eight) cost $10 each. Distances of up to 100 miles maximum incur a $1-per-mile fee. The carrier’s checked baggage fee is additional.
I could have shipped my bags to Boston, but I’m a procrastinator packer on a budget, so that was not a viable option.
John Romantic, senior vice president of business development, said Bags can keep its prices down because it only covers the final leg of the journey — the drive from airport to final destination.
“We’re using the airline to deliver the bag instead of UPS or FedEx airplanes, so the price point can remain low,” he said.
Bags VIP has been around for roughly a decade. Neither the company nor the affiliated airlines actively promote it, according to Miles. I discovered it while I was poking around American Airlines’ website searching for information about delayed bags. (The company also works with airlines on returning waylaid bags to passengers.)
A handful of U.S. and foreign airlines offer the service in more than 250 airports, including 15 international airports with Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance. The drivers have the airlines’ permission to pick up the items at baggage claim.
“They are known agents, since they serve the delayed luggage activities at the airlines and airports we serve,” Miles said.
On the receiving end, the company will drop off bags at residences, hotels (be sure to alert the front desk in advance), cruise ports and offices. I scheduled a delivery for my sister’s house.
Will I ever see my bag again?
You can book the service up to one hour before your flight, but I signed up the night before my trip from Reagan National to Boston Logan. On the company’s website, I typed in my information, which included my flight number and record locator number. The results showed availability for the return flight to D.C. but not to Boston.
Confused, I contacted customer service and was told that, because of a tunnel closure near the Boston airport, they could not guarantee delivery within the promised four-to-six-hour window. A representative said they will occasionally suspend service if inclement weather or road work could cause delays.
Since I didn’t have a pressing need for my bag — it was stuffed with towels for this test — I told her they could take their sweet time. She briefly opened the booking window and told me to expect my belongings within six to 16 hours of landing. My sister’s house is about 20 miles from the airport.
On the day of my departure, I had to affix the checked baggage tag to my duffel and deposit it at the bag drop. I was suddenly struck by an unsettling thought: How would they know it was my bag? On the reservation form, I had described its style and color, but New England is the land of L.L. Bean duffels.
I waited in the check-in line, seeking reassurance from an American Airlines agent. She was unaware of the service and returned with another employee, who told me to go to the lost baggage department. I lifted up my purple duffel and said my bag wasn’t missing.
They vanished again and came back with another staff member, who told me to leave it at the bag drop. I grabbed a few ID tags off the counter and wrote in all caps, “BAGS VIP!”
“A lot of the airline ticket counter agents don’t know we exist,” Miles told me a few days later.
I was supposed to exit the airport without stopping at baggage claim. But I was curious. So, I stood by the carousel and waited for someone to snap up my bag. No one did.
After about 15 minutes, an agent moved my bag to the unclaimed baggage area.
Three hours after landing, I received an email that a driver had picked it up. About 1 a.m., I learned that the delivery was on its way. In the middle of the night, Maisy the dog let me know that the bag had arrived.
The takeaway
Bags VIP was surprisingly easy to use and reasonably priced. It saved me time at the airport and sweat equity in my final destination. However, I was worried that I would never see my belongings again, especially after the befuddled response from several airline employees.
Miles said the company is working on an enhanced version of the service that, subject to TSA approval, would allow passengers to check their bags from home or their hotel. As an 11th-hour packer, I prefer bringing my luggage to the airport and happily letting someone else take over from baggage claim and beyond.
I would definitely use this service again, especially if my only other options were lugging my bags around the destination or detouring to the hotel to drop them off. I just have to remember to not pack any items I might need for the first four to 16 hours of my trip.
