Personal Bag Tags

A staggering 42 million bags are misplaced by airlines globally each year. To help travelers, three companies—i-Trak, ImHonest.com, and Trace Me—have introduced luggage-tracking devices that are more durable than the airlines' labels and more private than personal tags with your home information. Here's how it works. Travelers order tags on the company Web site to attach to their luggage. If the bags are lost, the tags are printed with instructions for finders to call a toll-free number or file a report online. The service then contacts the bag's owner, and he or she pays to have the bag shipped home. IMHonest rewards the finder with two packs of tracking stickers. This system, of course, depends on the honesty of others. Budget Travel tested the effectiveness of the tags. Read more to find out what they learned.

Tracking Luggage with Microchips

There is no greater travel hassle than lost luggage. It can ruin a much anticipated trip if you have to spend the first few days buying clothes and personal items to replace the contents of a lost bag. About eight of every 1,000 passengers in the United States arrives at their travel destination without their luggage. But a new "smart" luggage tag embedded with a microchip may reduce the incidence of lost baggage. Currently, about a dozen airports around the world are testing the technology. To read more about how it works, visit Budget Travel's Web site.

Internet Influence on Travel

At the 2009 Educational Travel Conference, travel and marketing experts told attendees that 8 of 10 Americans purchase their airline tickets via the Internet. Likewise, 1 of 2 lodging sales is made electronically. When it comes to comparison shopping, 88 percent of us use the Web to find the lowest prices. And Americans have very little travel loyalty. When choosing an air carrier, 56 percent of us have no preferences for one carrier over another. Similarly, 51 percent of Americans don't care whether we stay with Hilton or Marriott.

One out of five Americans has visited a blog to read what others have to say about their travel experience. And one out of three members of the younger generation write about their travel experience on the Web. We're more interested than ever in family travel with 38 percent of Americans saying they have traveled with their children or grandchildren. We also like to celebrate special occasions by packing a bag. Almost 70 percent of us have planned a vacation to celebrate a milestone such as an anniversary or birthday (anything divisible by five). More than 2 million Americans have visited the Disney Web site since the January launch of free birthday entrance to its theme parks.