TIP SHEET

Competitor Expedia Corporate Travel is offering similar in-house services. Expedia has created a VIP desk for big-volume travelers who want a voice at the other end of the line. Agents find hotels with wireless high-speed Internet connections and line up goodies like theater tickets. Expedia also now has a division to plan conventions.

More bells and whistles are coming: Cendant says it will let corporate clients assign a value to the time they spend getting from one place to another. For example, the software wouldn't even bother showing a "save $50 with a three-hour layover" option to a $300-an-hour executive. If only that fancy system could just take those tedious trips for you.

--Linda Stern

Luggage: The Bag Is In The Mail

The luggage-shipping business seems to be growing right along with those airport security lines. Luggage Express (866shipbags.com) shipped 3 million suitcases in 2004--about six times the volume it had in the previous year. Luggage Express, along with Virtual Bellhop (virtual bellhop.com) and Sky Cap International (skycapinternational.com), have built a following among individuals happy to pay $70 to $150 per bag to avoid airport agita. The companies will pick luggage up at travelers' homes or offices and deliver it within a day or two to many international destinations.

About half of Luggage Express's clients are business travelers, some of whom buy into the company's LE Club; for $995 a year, they get 20 shipments. Vacationers constitute a higher percentage at Bellhop and Skycap International. Clients of all three companies find discounts through various affiliations and joint-marketing deals. All the companies claim stellar delivery records, but smart travelers don't just avoid airport lines. They carry on a change of clothes and that must-have presentation, just in case.