I brought only a briefcase on my trip out to CT this weekend and was reminded how wonderful it is to travel light [1]. It got me thinking how Fedex might improve air travel. Look at how much effort goes into baggage. We haul suitcases to the airport, they are screened by some expensive machine, we stand in long lines to check them, TSA hires teams to search them, airlines pay baggage handlers to load and unload them, airlines lose them and pay companies to deliver them days later (or replace them). The list is endless.

So here is the solution to the entire mess: Fedex handles the baggage. Two hours before a flight, Fedex picks up your baggage, and delivers it to you after you arrive at your destination. I know it sounds crazy but think about how many problems it solves. You wouldn’t need to screen or search the bags because there wouldn’t be much motivation to blow up a plane full of luggage. Airports and airlines wouldn’t need any of the bag infrastructure they currently support. Check-in lines would be much shorter. You wouldn’t have to haul your luggage around — it would be picked up and dropped off at your destination. I know it sounds expensive and logistically complicated but I guarantee we all would have said the same thing if somebody suggested the idea of affordably shipping a letter across the country in the same day.

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[1] I do appreciate this was really only possible because the baby and dog were already in CT meaning I didn’t need to carry the diaper bag, stroller, diaper bag overflow bag, toy bag, bag full of earplugs for fellow air travelers, bag of blankets, bag with dog food and dog toys, and bag of dog.