Virgin investigates courier service to avoid lost luggage
Virgin Atlantic’s innovation team is investigating ways to pick up passengers’ luggage before they leave and deliver it to their hotel or resort before they arrive.
Speaking at an airline forum at WTM, the airline’s director of communications Paul Charles said the move would help reduce the amount of lost luggage.
“We are looking at how private courier services could pick up luggage before departure and fly it separately,” he explained.
“It would then be delivered to the customer’s hotel so it’s there waiting for you, and might even be unpacked too!”
But he admitted the airline was “nowhere near” putting its plans into operation and had costs issues to look into.
“But it may well be a reality in the future,” he said.
Jonathon Counsell, British Aiways head of Heathrow Terminal 5 development, said the problem of lost luggage would be drastically reduced when the new terminal building opens.
He said the current congestion at Heathrow meant that the luggage system simply “falls over” but BA is fully confident that the problems will be overcome at T5.
by Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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