A new service called Air Black Box is offering hope of filling the missing link in getting your checked bags onto your next flight, even when it’s a different airline, and without your having to collect it and then recheck it.
Over the past few years, there’s been a lot of improvement in airline baggage handling (though, of course, at the price of escalating checked bag charges) including bag tracking built into most airlines’ apps.
The missing link comes if you’re changing airlines between trip segments. Unsually there’s no problem if the airlines are partners and both segments are in a single itinerary. But if they’re not… These days it’s not uncommon to be switching between a mainline carrier and a discount regional airline to a final destination (think transAtlantic on a legacy carrier and then EasyJet or Ryanair).
Air Black Box is selling its “ThruBag” technology and presumably service to airlines and airports as a way of reducing costs and confusion, and as a service to customers. Its latest press releases are short on details, but it’s an idea worth keeping an eye on.
