Passenger Checked A Tire To Dallas – And The Tire Made It To Baggage Claim [Roundup]

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • When Airbnb was cheap it made sense. You need it in places where hotels aren’t available. And renting a home makes sense for big families and groups staying together. But it hasn’t come close to replacing the hotel experience, even when the hotel experience isn’t a great one.

  • I’d love to know the story behind this car tire-as-checked luggage.

  • Reminds me of the bar in the first class section of Cathay Pacific’s The Pier lounge in Hong Kong. And makes me like Disney more.

  • I often dunk on American Airlines catering, but this chicken with baked potato was pretty good. Dessert was a small vanilla Häagen-Dazs container served separately.

  • Experian made it easy to bypass security checks to view credit reports

  • So glad to see the A380’s return.

  • The man who invented aircraft leasing

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. I never understood the USA airbnb craze since, for the reasons you’ve stated, Airbnbs aren’t usually the best choice for most stays. I will say I was probably more skeptical than most about Airbnbs because I am familiar with how to game the hotel loyalty programs, so Airbnb was almost never cheaper. Now that Airbnbs are more expensive, they’re obviously less attractive — in the exact same way that Uber and Lyft are less attractive when there aren’t venture capitalists footing some of your bill.

    That said, as Americans start heading overseas again, I will say that Airbnb is usually better abroad than in the USA. The primary reason is that, in most countries, people do not think their sheds and other small spaces are worth a fortune, so the prices are more reasonable and offer better value. Also, the hospitality, on average, is better. I still prefer hotels and — when I need a place in an odd location or where hotels are expensive — booking.com. The best thing about booking.com is that it’s an easier experience than Airbnb, often cheaper, and the reviews are FAR more reliable (most people only say nice things on Airbnb). Also, I can get a few Avios points for my Airbnb stays to help defray the costs, and there are often ways to buy deeply discounted Airbnb gift cards through AMEX Offers and such.

  2. I’ve checked tires on Air Canada and Delta flights many times and always arrived on time, cheaper to buy in USA than Canada and get 3 x 70 lbs luggage as Diamond, although you do get funny looks from kids with two tires over your shoulder at TPA check-in at 5 am. “Hey Mommy it’s the Michelin Man”

  4. I’m going to hazard a guess that that is some sort of specialty tire – it looks a bit odd, center hole is smaller that most modern tires. It’s probably needed somewhere in a hurry and the fastest/cheapest way to get it somewhere is to send it with a passenger.

    25+ years ago, while working for the federal government, we had a RAID server crash and we needed five identical SCSI drives in a hurry. Overnight was expensive and not fast enough – so I took a Southwest flight on govt fare to Houston, a looong cab ride to Clear Lake City, had the cab wait, ran in the door of the supplier, out with the box, back to Hobby, went through security with some very strange looks as I had no bags but a box of suspicious looking devices, and back home. Handed it over to my guys who the proceeded to rebuild the server by midnight and restoration was done by 6 AM the next day. Transportation costs totaled $4-500, but that was nothing compared to the cost of having an entire engineering department down for an extra day.

    I can see why such things a courier services exist for businesses that absolutely need something physically in another location ASAP. Having a bunch of guys sitting around waiting for a part is expensive, the part, courier, and transportation are relatively cheap.

  5. To me tires showing up in baggage claim isn’t special. I’m an Alaskan and i live in our roadless part of our state. I’ve seen it all come out of the bag claim at Alaska Airlines in Bethel, Alaska. Once i watched 3 Pizza Hut large pizzas come out first. I heard a guy behind me say “WOOOOOW Pizza Hut REALLY delivers!!”

  6. I once checked a tire from CLE to IAH on United. Some teams for the support races for ChampCar (now IndyCar) would just set them at the front of their garages for fans to take after races. Quite nice to see the wear, the slag (melted rubber), and the uniqueness of having something most people have never seen up close. I was going to make a table out of it for a friend, but after a number of years it went to the heavy goods trash pickup.

  7. Try air freight if you want sticker shock. I would not be at all surprised it was cheaper going economy than air freight. I used to send stuff from DFW to HNL and seriously I could fly 1st class cheaper basis the same weight. I used to say to the agent, at least give the package a drink.

  8. Unboxed tire with a tag around it not unusual although I couldn’t see one here.

    Got several via UPS this way recently. Nothing but a shipping label slapped on the tread.

  10. I know a guy who is an engineer for an aircraft manufacturer that has checked all sorts of parts like tires. In his case cost wasn’t the object as the part was more important than his own luggage. What he said was amazing is that airline staff usually didn’t even bat an eye at stuff like that and just check it through.

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