As airlines have struggled over the years, many of them have turned to charging fees for "extras" like snacks, in-flight entertainment and checked baggage. Passengers who are unable to limit their belongings to carry-on luggage have to dole out extra cash — sometimes amounting to hundreds of dollars.
But one company has figured out a way to help you avoid those pesky fees — but you'll have to do something in return.
Orion Travel Tech, founded by a former Continental Airlines flight attendant, offers passengers the opportunity to turn their luggage into mobile billboards in exchange for covering checked-bag fees.
"A family wants to travel to Disney World and it will cost them $250 in baggage fees, and that makes a dent in their budget," creator Gary German told TODAY.com. "I want to alleviate that. Most people have corporate logos on their luggage now and they're not getting paid for it."
German said his background in both the airline and marketing worlds sparked his idea for the company. "I knew that advertisers spend $500 to capture one person," he said. "We thought we could do that for $35 to $45 dollars."
On his first test run to see if his idea could be put into action, 30 people approached him about his bag before he even got to the gate. "I tried it on seven different trips all over the world and the same thing kept happening," German said. "We ended up becoming the sales person for that advertisement and thought this would be great advertising for companies."
So how does it all work? Participants get two hard cases, one carry-on and the other for checked baggage, which come wrapped in a company's branding — which you select. Think Colonel Sanders from KFC, the gecko from Geico and even a camouflage style for the U.S. military.
Read more: http://www.today.com/money/how-avoid-airline-baggage-fees-company-will-turn-your-bags-t49021
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