Bored? Got miles? Make some bag tags

by Grant Martin on

So you’ve got 1237 miles in your Northwest frequent flyer account, forty five minutes at lunch and some mischief rolling around in the back of your head. What to do?

Make some baggage tags — Northwest Airlines just fired up a tool to redeem 1,000 miles for customized bag tags. Customized with any pictures and text that you want.

While this does afford you the opportunity to make cute bag tags with you and your girlfriend/dog/house plant/parents, I think that we should be taking better advantage of this feature. Yes, Northwest did prohibit most of the fun stuff, including:

  • Competitive marks/names (e.g. American Airlines®, United, Continental Airlines®, etc.
  • Political statements
  • Branded products
  • Copyrighted or trademarked material not owned by Northwest Airlines
  • Celebrities/musicians/public figures/athletes/cartoons, etc.
  • Socially unacceptable groups (e.g. gangs, supremacy, etc.)
  • Provocative or sexual content
  • Violence
  • Profanity or obscenities
  • Any references to the Olympic Games or events (really?)
  • Any photo image that might interfere with airline or government security control (e.g. TSA, CREW, Diplomat, etc.)
  • Any printing or process that interferes with the production of the luggage tags
  • Other images as designated solely by Northwest Airlines

But there is yet plenty of room left to be creative. Some suggestions:

  • Photos of your friends’ mothers
  • Dirty pictures that are pixelated/zoomed in enough so that NW can’t tell what the image is.
  • A photo of your bag (in case they get separated!)
  • Personal Ads, in case you want to woo any baggage handlers
  • A photo of blogger Matthew Firestone, who I hear is a sexy, sexy devil (I can provide these photos if you would like).

Other thoughts? Send them our way.

Short on miles? Try out the Worldperks University where anyone with a mouse and a clue can get five hundred miles for free.

Give it a try at nwatagyourbag.com.

Daily Deal – Tumi annual summer sale

by Scott Carmichael on

Today’s deal of the day is another luggage sale. Tumi is holding its yearly “Summer Sale“, and some of their most popular products are on sale for as much as 50% off.

Tumi products are not cheap, but when it comes to $300 luggage, there are 2 kinds of people; those who love $300 luggage, and those who laugh at those who love $300 luggage.

When your backpack, duffel bag or rolling case is also your home for most of the year, you learn to appreciate high quality luggage. If you have ever watched your suitcase come down the baggage carousel followed by your clothes, you’ll understand why I have been a happy Tumi customer for many years.

My poor rolling case has been around the world several times, but still feels brand new, give or take a couple of battle scars and about 40 airport security stickers.

Some of the highlights of the sale (in my opinion) are the Mulberry 22″ wheeled duffel for $199 (was $295) and this 24″ wheeled packing case for $229 (was $345).

Don’t get me wrong, not everything is a hot deal, unless you are looking for an overpriced $89 leather envelope or this $1200 suitcase.

All Tumi luggage comes with either 3 or 5 years warranty, and the first year is a full coverage which also covers accidental damage by the airlines. All Tumi luggage products include their free Tracer program which allows you to register the item serial number with Tumi, which could come in handy if it ever fails to arrive at your destination.

The Tumi summer sale lasts till July 31st and shipping starts at just $5.

Deal – Tumi summer sale – luggage up to 50% off

by Scott Carmichael on

My deal of the day for today is another luggage clearance. Tumi make some of the worlds best luggage (in my personal opinion) but their prices are often on “the high side”.

There are 2 kinds of traveler: people who like $400 luggage, and people who laugh at people with $400 luggage. Either way, it’s a personal choice, but if you are a frequent flier, you’ll learn to appreciate high quality luggage. I’ve been using Tumi bags for years, and my 9 year old rolling bag still looks new, despite being dragged around the world multiple times.

The Tumi summer sale has a large assortment of Tumi products with discounts up to 50%. There are some very nice rollers and duffel bags, as well as some overpriced accessories ($150 pen anyone?).

Some of the highlights of the summer sale include a 24″ wheeled packing case for $229 (was $345, pictured on the right) and this 20″ wheeled case for $179 (was $275).

There is something for everyone, including this classy Baker wheeled suitcase for a very “reasonable” $1199 (was just $1595).

Almost all Tumi luggage comes with their comprehensive 5 year warranty, which includes an accident protection warranty during the first year.

The sale runs till July 31st and can be found here.

Mobile Edge announce a lineup of TSA friendly notebook bags

by Scott Carmichael on

After years of harassing passengers and forcing us to remove our notebooks from their bags, the TSA has come to their senses and informed notebook bag makers that they would be relaxing the rules.

The new regulations allow some notebooks to remain in their bag, as long as the X-ray equipment can see through and nothing is placed in front of, or behind the notebook.

Another regulation change allows the notebook to be stored in a harness, or second bag, making removal much easier. The notebook can stay inside this second bag, and simply be placed back inside the main bag after you clear security. In both cases (no pun intended), the notebook no longer has to be subjected to sitting in a filthy bin and the risk of theft is decreased.

Several notebook bag designers have of course been working hard to get bags designed for these new regulations, and one of the first to announce a full lineup of TSA compliant bags is Mobile Edge. In their new ScanFast™ lineup, they have a backpack, a regular notebook bag and a notebook messenger. Their design allows the laptop to remain in the bag, and the owner simply unzips the bag and folds it open. This moves all the contents of the bag to one side, and leaves the notebook on the other side with no obstructions for the X-ray machine.

Of course, as Grant Martin already pointed out in a previous post, there is always the chance that a random TSA agent didn’t get/read/understand the memo, and still yells at you to remove your notebook. These are after all, the same people that saw a Macbook Air and decided it looked too much like a bomb.

No price has been announced yet, and Mobile Edge plan to have these bags available by the end of summer.

Daily Deal – 25 Targus travel products for under $25 each

by Scott Carmichael on

Welcome to my fist Deal Of The Day!

My deal today comes from Targus and it is not one product, but 25 different products. To celebrate their 25th anniversary, Targus is offering some of their most popular items for under $25 each.

You’ll find some pretty nice notebook bags, backpacks, a portable wireless mouse and a nifty voice recording remote control with laser pointer. Shipping on most products is a reasonable $7 and most Targus products come with a limited lifetime warranty.

Some of the highlights are the deluxe ladies tote which retails on Amazon for $81.88 and the Flare 15.4″ backpack which retails for $59.03. But the best deal (in my opinion) is their mobile essentials kit for the iPod and other MP3 players; this carrying bag comes with a car and wall charger for your mobile player, speakers, a battery backup charger and a headphone splitter.

The deals can be found here (source: Fatwallet.com).