The Best Way to Store Your Luggage on a Layover

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

Perkins' advice for business travelers is featured on MyBusinessTravel.com, a website devoted to helping small business and self-employed professional travelers find the best value for their travel dollars.

Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

Perkins' travel expertise has led to frequent television appearances, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and "This Week with David Brinkley," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," CNN, and numerous local TV and radio stations.

Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

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Consumer advocate Ed Perkins is traveling in Europe this week, sending tips and tales from the road. Follow along here.

If you’ve ever wondered what to do with a bulky suitcase when you face a long layover and can’t check it through, there’s an answer—at least at Los Angeles International.

A new service called Lax Luggage Storage will pick up your baggage at your terminal’s arrivals zone, keep it until you call, then deliver it to you at any terminal in the airport. Charges range from $5 a day to $12, with a big suitcase priced at $10. Pick up and delivery are an extra $5 each way. If you have wheels, you can drop and pick up at the nearby office.

I paid $20: $10 for a one-day bag storage and $5 each for pickup and delivery. It worked as promised.

I would use it again in similar circumstances. But of course I’d prefer to avoid long layovers entirely.

After September 11, almost all domestic airports closed whatever baggage storage facilities they had, either checkrooms or lockers. The new service responds to that total lack of any on-airport baggage storage facilities at LAX.

Still, a few U.S. airports retain some form of onsite baggage storage. If you have a long layover, call your airport or check the airport website for more information. But chances are you’ll be stuck wondering what to do with your bag.

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