Your Luggage Door-to-Door, from United

Posted by: Justin Bachman on October 29, 2008

The Hunt for Ancillary Revenue took an interesting turn today with United (UAUA) announcing a new program in which it has a new deal with FedEx (FDX) to collect and ship your luggage from your home or office to your destination. (The airline says it is taking the ‘lug’ out of luggage. Cute, huh?) This is for not only suitcases, but also skis, golf clubs and other bulky items you may take for a holiday.

“While offering customers a new benefit, it also provides United with a new revenue stream that, when combined with our other ancillary revenue and fee initiatives, is expected to generate more than one billion dollars in 2009,” United’s market chief Dennis Cary said in the release. The shipping costs $149 for flights under 1,000 miles and $179 farther than that. This is only available in the contiguous 48 states, so forget about your Hawaii golf trip. There’s also no collection, drop off or delivery on Sundays. The liability coverage on shipped items is a maximum of $3,000. So I guess the main question is, will United passengers with the means to afford this service use it?