We have all waited hours in front of the luggage carousel, waiting for our bags to reach us at a busy airport; spent some wretched hours, thinking about our lost bag and not about the wonderful family vacation in Venice that we have saved up for; all of us, at one point or another, had to bear hefty extra baggage fines or even had our bags stolen, making it almost impossible to wear the grey suit to the conference we were hoping to attend. Few companies have found solutions to make travellers’ lives easier by introducing the smart luggage. These bags have in- built 3G and are GPS tracking enabled so that we no longer have to wonder where to find them. Gone are the days when we carry too much stuff and pay the price, literally. Because these smart luggages are equipped with built in digital scale to keep our luggage limit on track. Additionally, the bags have remote lock and unlock features that works with a mobile app. Thus, travellers can open their bags by tapping onto their smart phones. Many of us, while in a hurry to reach our destination, leave suitcases behind. To help us with this issue, these suitcases have sensors so when we forget our bags, we receive notifications on our phones. As the smart bags have their own mobile apps, we can get travel information like flight status, weather, TSA wait times, best routes to reach the airport or even invasion alerts. Moreover, these smart luggages come with USB chargers so that our devices, be it cell phones, tablets or Ebook readers never run out of charge en route. We no longer have to wait hours to find a charging station or to wait for our turn.
Bluesmart is the pioneer in the smart luggage revolution, closely followed by few others. Though they all share some basic features, for instance, Bluesmart and Raden have USB charger, built in scale, location tracking, trip data tracking, digitally controlled lock, proximity notification etc. Some brands have other unique features too. For instance, Samsonite is working on "self-propelled" luggage that will follow its owner ( while being at a distance of six inches) to eliminate pushing of a heavy bag. Planet Traveller USA’s Space Case 1 has biometric fingerprint ID for authentication and bluetooth speaker and microphone for "integrated hands-free calling. Delsey’s Pluggage will have LED lights for interior lighting, will notify when the bag is loaded onto a plane and have an internal speaker. Trunkster, another smart luggage brand, has eliminated the use of zippers in bags altogether while brands like Rimowa and Away made similarly designed altercation. Fogu, however, designed bags that can inflate, by using a built-in pump, from carry-on to full-size bag. Moreover, it has "shelves" inside the bags, designed in a way to pack and unpack with a greater efficiency.
These smart luggages have been designed to help people like us to have smoother travelling experience and to make their lives a whole lot easier. Because while travelling, now we have one less thing to worry about, our luggages.