Considering shipping my bags
 

Hi, so am on a bit of a complicated itinerary. Am flying from NYC-RDU for 6 days (work offsite and meetings), then RDU-ORD for a girls weekend, then ORD-DFW for more meetings and finally flying out of DFW to Asia on a 2 week vacation.

In view of all the travel disruptions this summer, friends have suggested that I ship my bags (2 check in pieces) from RDU to DFW and just take a carry on to Chicago as its just for a weekend. That way, the chances that my bags might be lost or delayed to and from ORD is lower, as I'm then flying out of DFW international. Has anyone actually shipped their bags and if so, what was your experience? Also, what would be the cost for two 45-50 lb bags? I tried searching the UPS site but found it very confusing. The cost of 2 checked in bags for the RDU-ORD and ORD-DFW legs would be a total of $140, so hopefully shipping the bags will be as much or lower - I'm hoping!

If you check your bags and you get there, your bags will probably get there too unless you have a really tight connection.

Of course anything is possible but I don't think that shipping is any more reliable (probably less)

If you sign up for an AA Platinum Select CC from Citi, the first bag will be free, and there is no fee for the first year.

Thanks. One reason for looking at the shipping option is I'm only in Chicago for a couple of nights and it seems redundant to be lugging 2 bags around for a short trip. I called my hotel in Dallas and they are fine accepting my bags, but are you saying that Fedex/UPS might be less reliable?

Well, speaking from personal experience...

I travel a lot. Maybe not a lot by FT standards but still, a lot. I always check a bag. Only twice in my life has my bag not shown up at the same time I did. Once when I was little kid (~35-40 years ago, flying from Malta to Canada via London, my bag ended up in Australia) and once 3 years ago, flying SFO-SEA, when my bag actually arrived with me but the conveyor belts in SEA were down and AS baggage handling was (understandably) a complete s-show. And I still got my bag in time for me to go to India 2 days later.

On the other hand, at least 25% of the things that I order online arrive at least a day after UPS says that they will, especially lately.

You can easily look up the estimated cost of shipping a bag from NYC to a Dallas hotel address. https://wwwapps.ups.com/ctc/request?loc=en_US. You may need to also purchase a box to put the luggage in, but perhaps UPS would ship it as is with a shipping label securely attached.

But at ~50lbs and something along the size of a piece of check-in luggage, I don't think it will be cheap. And if you need it there on time, you'll be paying for at least 3 day select service.

I guess you have to decide if the cost of shipping the luggage outweighs (pun intended) the inconvenience of shlepping the extra bags around before you embark on your DFW trip.

You may want to look into:

http://www.lugless.com

there was even a SimplyMiles offer for extra miles as well.

I do this all the time. The office sends Pelican cases of instruments and materials needed for classes to my hotel, and I fly with just a carry-on.

The hotels (Marriott, but I'm sure it isn't relevant) have no issue accepting the shipment(s), and since I often travel to several cities it's actually easier.

We use FedEx. Quite efficient, they even come to the hotel, or training location, to pick it up for the return.

Given the weights, I'm pretty sure it's a wash, cost-wise, between FedEx Ground and overweight bags.

All the best, James

I’ve shipped luggage multiple times, even right to a hotel, and never had a problem.

Check out PirateShip.com, they have significant discounts on UPS and USPS. I always just tape the label right to the suitcase, drop it off, and it works fine - much less lugging.

Maybe I’ve been having bad luck but my wait times for checked baggage have been really long lately - yesterday was around 45 mins at SFO. So, if you shipped you’d get all that time back (plus extra check-in time, etc).

All you are doing is shifting the luggage responsibility to another party, FedEx/UPS. If the bag is delayed, you still need to deal with them in order to deliver or re-deliver to another destination. I recently dealt with a bag delay and that was because of a tight connection, and the bag was received the next day. Perhaps a better solution is to pack some spare clothing & necessities in a backpack/carryon and take it with you as well. As for saving some $ on the check bags, maybe getting the credit card could be an option as mentioned by VegasGambler

Yes, some people ship their stuff to hotels, usually tools, convention stuff and the like that sometimes might be a bit bulky, oversized. I feel in your case that you are over thinking your situation. Take care.

The OP is contemplating shipping her bags from North Carolina, not NYC, since she will be in NC for six days.

From Raleigh/Durham, the UPS Ground service delivery standard is three business days to reach Dallas, so I would not pay almost double for Three-day Select, especially since neither service is guaranteed these days. (FedEx Ground is also three days from Raleigh/Durham to Dallas.)

If the OP can ship her bags a couple of days before leaving NC, I suspect that UPS or FedEx Ground service would be just fine, even if the bags were delayed a day or two. If the OP can only ship her bags on a Friday for Monday arrival in Dallas, I expect that the cost will be prohibitive.

We have shipped luggage a number of times when flying from ROC ( east coast) to PDX and to Napa/Sonoma. Often our flights get in later afternoon and I'm just tired from the flights. Have shipped both FEDEX and UPS direct to hotels. One shipping company put the luggage in a box the other just used a special tag that wrapped around luggage handle). We ship early, 5-6 days, luggage has always been waiting, and it is often 15 minutes from deplaning to hotel ( or Napa/Sonoma to transportation). Getting old and definitely getting lazy, so it works well for us. The cost used to run $75 to $110 for two bags about the size that you describe - have not shipped since pre Covid so no idea what current pricing is.

We have shipped luggage a number of times when flying from ROC ( east coast) to PDX or to Napa/Sonoma area. Often our flights get in later afternoon and I'm just tired from the flights. Have shipped both FEDEX and UPS direct to hotels. One shipping company put the luggage in a box the other just used a special tag that wrapped around luggage handle). We ship early, 5-6 days, luggage has always been waiting, and it is often 15 minutes from deplaning to hotel ( or Napa/Sonoma to transportation). Getting old and definitely getting lazy, so it works well for us. The cost used to run $75 to $110 for two bags about the size that you describe - have not shipped since pre Covid so no idea what current pricing is.

There was a recent thread on similar topic. Not that I can find it.

I believe the outcome was to also be sure the hotel, and I'm presuming hotel here, would be willing to receive and willing to store the luggage for you for the length of time needed. In some cases they may not be, or there is a storage fee that may be more than you want to spend.

From my experience, FedEx and UPS are far less reliable when it comes to timely delivery. This hasn't always been the case but definitely has been, for us, over the past couple of years. This has been a problem for our business; many more of our packages are now delayed than not. I gather the reliability is somewhat region specific; we notice from tracking data that most of the delays seem to be the result of the packages sitting extended periods of time in our region. This has been a problem even when we choose an expedited shipping option.

On the other hand, we always check a bag when flying American Airlines and we have yet to ever have a delayed or missing bag with them. I am sure some of this is luck but it probably also helps that we arrive to airports early and never actively book a tight connection . We do often have to wait a ridiculous amount of time in baggage claim at certain airport but we plan for and expect that at this point.

We do avoid flying United if we need to check a bag as we have had far too many issues with delayed or missing bags with them.

A bit of an aside, but as far as bags being delayed or missing, we used to fly BA to GLA or EDI, with a BA connection at LHR. We always had between 2 to 3 hour connection times. Our luggage never made our connecting flight 9 out of 10 times.
It was a while back, but have never flown BA since.