Posts Tagged ‘travel’
checked-in luggage swap
Monday, September 8th, 2008
Ever since airlines started charging extra for the second checked in bag, customers have been doing everything they can to pack in all their goods into their carry-on. i have noticed that many customers are also using duffel bags and large hand bags to bring on
Extra items to avoid this new costs. on the last three flights i have been on, i have either had a tough time finding a space for my carry-on or the stewardess has had to check in the bag before lift off. to make matters even worse, airlines like united and american have started charging a fee for the first bag as well.
So whats a customer to do? well here’s a thought. how bout starting a secondary marketplace for luggage. lets say you fly an airline like jetblue, delta, airtran, etc which still allow for one free checked-in bag. suppose you don’t have anything to check-in or you prefer to carry on, why not let customers sell that space to another customer for a small fee (like 5 dollars). customers could post their extra space on a web site that matches sellers with buyers!
Airlines could also win back some trust from customers by rewarding customers who pack light (carry-on) by giving them a free meal, upgrade their seat or give them a luggage credit for another trip.
luggage seat
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
This past weekend I was at the airport waiting for my hotel shuttle when I started noticing that many of the people were either sitting on the curb or trying to sit on their luggage. Never mind that luggage isn’t the most comfortable thing to sit on but most suitcases aren’t built to hold that sort of weight on its frame. The idea would be to create a built in seat on the top part of the frame that is molded to your rear. I am thinking something with a hard case with an indentation near the top handle. Essentially combining the 2 products below:
I did some research and there is a sudo solution called Seatkase that has built something that could work. They have created a strong frame with a padded top that is supposed to double as a seat.
portable office
Friday, July 13th, 2007
Why do we still have to go to work? 
I am not meaning in the sense of not working at all, but with the same technology options at home that are available at work, why not? I think we need to get over the stigma of feeling that we need to show face at work while I understand that certain roles need to be physically there but there are so many that don’t. I had a chance to visit Sun Microsystems last year and they talked in depth about the virtual workplace and how they are downsizing physical campuses in favor of virtual remote workers. This was not simply a cost cutting move to save occupancy and utilities cost, they talked about employee retention and reducing their environmental footprint. With all this new technology, there should be no gap between our abilities to perform our jobs in either location. Sun offers this option to almost all employees. It’s all about empowering your employees with responsibility and accountability; we don’t need to big brother the right people.
I recently started working a few days from home and I couldn’t be happier. I actually didn’t mind coming into the office but in all honesty, I am a lot more productive working from home. I noticed how many hours I wasted in meetings and socializing. I may not work as many hours anymore, but per hour, I am able to accomplish so much more work. Personally, I don’t have a great space (or home office) to call my own and is the only thing I miss about having my small cube at work.
These days, its funny to see so many people using coffee shops as “sudo” offices where they operate their small or personal business amongst hundreds of random people everyday. I have seen people write books, design buildings, and write computer code at Starbucks. With free broadband hitting all major stores and cities, why not? Boston has taken some cues from San Francisco and has starting offering free hotspots all over the cities starting with historic Faneuil hall.
The Idea: So how about a business that provides out a rented space in a hip location where remote or independent business individuals can come and do work. This service could also compliment a larger firm who doesn’t want to start up new locations in certain cities and use it as part of a domestic expansion strategy. So I am thinking a trendy space that incorporates innovative designs with desk space, VOIP, technical support, T1 broadband, food, gives you a physical address and phone number. A place you can bring clients if needed, conduct interviews but at the end of the day, a place that helps you focus on your business. You pay one monthly membership and never have to worry about stocking the paper, cleaning up, or paying 20 bills. Provided you have a membership, office staff will file incoming faxes, setup global teleconferences while allowing you to come in and out as you please. I am thinking open spaces with many desks but closed areas if needed, and maybe a locker systems of sorts to store personals. It would be a work hub. With many fixed costs and lease agreements, there would be lots of hurdles getting the necessary cash to fund startup and first few years of operations. Achieving scale and traction could be difficult in non urban areas, but this is something that I think we will be seeing in the near future.
