# No check bag fees! And free luggage!



## Passepartout (Oct 1, 2015)

OK, Here's the deal. Pay this outfit $20 a year and they send you a new 2 piece hard shell luggage set (21" and expandable 24") wrapped with advertising. You don't get to choose which company's ad you get, but it might be an airline, retailer, movie license character, and each time you travel (up to 6 X a year), they send you a $50 gift card only applicable to check bag fees at the airline counter.

http://oriontraveltech.com/index.html

I think I'll go for it. Starts in February for the first 1 million applicants.

Jim


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## schiff1997 (Oct 1, 2015)

Passepartout said:


> OK, Here's the deal. Pay this outfit $20 a year and they send you a new 2 piece hard shell luggage set (21" and expandable 24") wrapped with advertising. You don't get to choose which company's ad you get, but it might be an airline, retailer, movie license character, and each time you travel (up to 6 X a year), they send you a $50 gift card only applicable to check bag fees at the airline counter.
> 
> http://oriontraveltech.com/index.html
> 
> ...



I'm Intrigued !!  Wonder if open to Canadians!


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## rapmarks (Oct 1, 2015)

this is intriguing I wonder how many have already signed up


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## pedro47 (Oct 1, 2015)

this is amazing we are going to sign up. thanks


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## x3 skier (Oct 1, 2015)

Signed up. Wonder how long this will last? Even if they go under, I still will have two pieces of luggage. I didn't see the $20 fee anywhere on the site but I suppose it comes later. 

Cheers


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## AwayWeGo (Oct 1, 2015)

*I Fly S.W.A.*



Passepartout said:


> No check bag fees! And free luggage!


The Chief Of Staff checked it out.

She prefers flying Southwest Airlines & getting 2 suitcases checked free. 

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​​​


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## isisdave (Oct 1, 2015)

Me too! But Southwest doesn't fly internationally. Does this include international travel?

Or travel entirely in Europe, for example?


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## Passepartout (Oct 1, 2015)

isisdave said:


> Me too! But Southwest doesn't fly internationally. Does this include international travel?
> 
> Or travel entirely in Europe, for example?



You're still free to use the free luggage, and if there is no luggage charge, it's still free, isn't it? I don't understand the problem. So you can't cash the gift card for baggage fees if there isn't any. So what? Free is free.


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## x3 skier (Oct 1, 2015)

Passepartout said:


> You're still free to use the free luggage, and if there is no luggage charge, it's still free, isn't it? I don't understand the problem. So you can't cash the gift card for baggage fees if there isn't any. So what? Free is free.



Agree! I get free bags because of status on American but my traveling companion doesn't. If she come along, I will check her bags free and I still get two pieces of luggage for free for her or the kids to use. With the big logos, they'll be hard to miss at the bag claim mosh pit as well.

Even if they fall apart after a few trips, I haven't lost anything. 

Cheers


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## rapmarks (Oct 1, 2015)

I signed up too


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## PrairieGirl (Oct 1, 2015)

x3 skier said:


> Signed up. Wonder how long this will last? Even if they go under, I still will have two pieces of luggage. I didn't see the $20 fee anywhere on the site but I suppose it comes later. ��
> 
> Cheers



I signed up too. I did read the "questions & more info" section first, and in there it said that the annual $19.99 fee starts after the first 6 months.  I guess we will find out more once the program actually gets off the ground!


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## PStreet1 (Oct 1, 2015)

I'm sure we'll get tons of advertising emails, but it's not as though I don't already, so I'm giving it a try.  If it doesn't get off the ground, I've lost nothing.  If it does, I've gained, so why not?


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## vacationhopeful (Oct 1, 2015)

Another person who will be enjoy some FREE STUFF ... most likely LIME GREEN in color.


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## Patri (Oct 1, 2015)

We'll see how this goes. The webpage had grammatical errors, which says something about their staff. If the company is bust by February, it wasn't a workable model. I hope they have cleared this with all the airlines.


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## Kal (Oct 1, 2015)

Word has it that the movie ad posters pasted on the side of your bags are "50 Shades of Gray"! 

 Anastasia likes it!!


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## riverdees05 (Oct 1, 2015)

They sure want a lot of information!  Will have to think about this one.


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## slip (Oct 1, 2015)

DW and I both signed up and got a confirmation email with all the info we
Entered during the signup. Says we will be contacted to make our selections
Shortly. We'll see how long it takes.

Thanks for the info Jim!


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## VegasBella (Oct 1, 2015)

Passepartout said:


> You don't get to choose which company's ad you get,



I'm out. 
There are plenty of companies I wouldn't mind advertising for but I'd want to be able to veto some of them.


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## Passepartout (Oct 1, 2015)

VegasBella said:


> I'm out.
> There are plenty of companies I wouldn't mind advertising for but I'd want to be able to veto some of them.



Suit yourself. The website says that in November you'll be shown 10 different graphics from which to choose one. So it looks like you get to 'veto' 9 out of 10.

Y'know, this whole business model is untried, and may not fly at all. But since it's just open to a limited number of applicants, I thought was it wouldn't hurt to turn the TUG family (known travelers) on to it.

If it actually gets off the ground, fine. It will be fun to pick your distinctive luggage off the belt from all the crappy black nylon bags that look like all the others. And to see other people who've signed up. If it turns out to not be a successful business model, nothing ventured, nothing gained. You're not out anything but the time to fill out the application.

Jim


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## Weimaraner (Oct 1, 2015)

Nothing can be worse than me carrying around my daughter's Barbie suitcase that says "gorgeous and going places" haha


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## DeniseM (Oct 1, 2015)

Hmmmmm…. They want a lot of info:



> Email
> 
> Phone Number
> 
> ...


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## DeniseM (Oct 1, 2015)

This could be useful:



> Orion TT’s luggage will feature a GPS tracking device and on board alert system that will contact the owners through our phone app when their luggage has been opened and tampered with.


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## slip (Oct 1, 2015)

I was surprised by some of the questions but there was nothing I had a problem
Answering.i don't know if a tracking devise will be useful.


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## Passepartout (Oct 1, 2015)

slip said:


> I was surprised by some of the questions but there was nothing I had a problem answering.



That's how I felt. Like color preference, and whether your preferred lodging is hotel or timeshare. Now, DOB- you can put anything there and gender- who cares. I didn't find any troubling questions that there wasn't a workaround. Not like they're asking for a SSN or bank account number.


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## PrairieGirl (Oct 2, 2015)

I thought that many of the odd questions probably pertained to some targeted marketing junk mail that I will now be receiving......


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## TUGBrian (Oct 2, 2015)

I think the idea is brilliant!  Id have been a customer if it existed while I traveled for work back in the day!


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## Chrispee (Oct 2, 2015)

It's a multi-million dollar business model, but the $300 website from 1998 scared me off.  Well, that coupled with the collection of a lot of personal info...


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## Sugarcubesea (Oct 2, 2015)

Passepartout said:


> OK, Here's the deal. Pay this outfit $20 a year and they send you a new 2 piece hard shell luggage set (21" and expandable 24") wrapped with advertising. You don't get to choose which company's ad you get, but it might be an airline, retailer, movie license character, and each time you travel (up to 6 X a year), they send you a $50 gift card only applicable to check bag fees at the airline counter.
> 
> http://oriontraveltech.com/index.html
> 
> ...



I just signed up thanks


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## Sugarcubesea (Oct 2, 2015)

PStreet1 said:


> I'm sure we'll get tons of advertising emails, but it's not as though I don't already, so I'm giving it a try.  If it doesn't get off the ground, I've lost nothing.  If it does, I've gained, so why not?



That is why I have an email addy that I use just for these types of things….


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## rapmarks (Oct 2, 2015)

I left most of the questions blank and it still went through.


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## Patri (Oct 2, 2015)

rapmarks said:


> I left most of the questions blank and it still went through.



I should have. Let us know if you get the followup email.


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## DeniseM (Oct 2, 2015)

rapmarks said:


> I left most of the questions blank and it still went through.



They probably use these questions to target the advertising on the suitcases, so I wonder if you are  still eligible, if you don't answer all the questions.


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## PStreet1 (Oct 2, 2015)

Good point---maybe that means that all the advertising I get offered will have yellow as a predominant color.


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## dsmrp (Oct 3, 2015)

*Pay with your time*



PrairieGirl said:


> I thought that many of the odd questions probably pertained to some targeted marketing junk mail that I will now be receiving......



Yes I agree; perhaps that's another part of the startup(?) company's business model:  selling data and/or other targeted marketing for different companies.

It seems like a good idea, and beneficial for both company and 'buyers'.
But I think I would be trading my time waiting in line to check-in my bags for use of their special gift card.  Our usual habit is to check in online at home, print boarding passes & pay for bags in advance. Then when we get to the airport, go to the usually shorter & quicker baggage only drop off line.
Sure $50 for extra 10-40 min wait is nothing to sneeze at.  

I'd be interested in hearing later if using their special gift card to pay luggage fees had any hiccups. As someone else commented, I hope this company has worked out the implementation & transaction details with the airlines.
 The carry-on bag gives a bigger bang for the buck for the marketing company because of the greater exposure to the public in the airport.

I actually do like lime green even for luggage 
But the likelihood of more junk mail marketing and the survey questions  don't work for me.

Thanks for sharing the promotion offer.


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## DeniseM (Oct 3, 2015)

> Yes I agree; perhaps that's another part of the startup(?) company's business model: selling data and/or other targeted marketing for different companies.



Their privacy terms say they won't do this, but it does make you wonder.

We only travel with carry-ons, so this offer doesn't appeal to me, but I'm interested to see how it pans out.


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## dsmrp (Oct 3, 2015)

DeniseM said:


> Their privacy terms say they won't do this, but it does make you wonder.
> 
> We only travel with carry-ons, so this offer doesn't appeal to me, but I'm interested to see how it pans out.



i just went to look at their privacy terms and it says they won't sell, share or rent *personal *information to 3rd parties.  But based on all the questions they ask, they could scrub the info of all personal identifying information, and still have good 'anonymous' data that's worth something.
A million data sets is a really good sample size of data, in particular if businesses are targeting frequent or high-end travelers.


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## jehb2 (Oct 3, 2015)

I'm probably one of the few people out there who dislikes hardshell luggage and spinner wheels.  

Fortunately I have 2 different credit cards that allows me & up to 6 guests to travel with no luggage fees.  Both credit cards have a lot of additional features that I like and use.  And the application only asked a few basic questions.  I think I have a much better deal.


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## Ken555 (Oct 3, 2015)

Not only the generic data about your habits, but they will know exactly where and when you fly. Think about it. I'm not comfortable sharing that info with an unknown company. Google and others know enough about me already and I wouldn't want a small company with unknown goals to have my travel history, etc.


Sent from my iPad


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## Passepartout (Oct 3, 2015)

Looking at the 'coming attractions on their website, it looks like they are fantasizing about being your travel agent, booking engine, cruise agency. A one-stop travel shop. 

But Ken, aren't the booking engines and airlines already privy to travel info, financial info, vacation preferences, road-warrior's sales territories, and a myriad of other things subject to data mining. They even know and save dietary preferences and where we like to sit in an airplane.

So far, I'm only minimally concerned with a start-up asking my favorite color and age and whether I prefer timeshares, VRBO or hotels.

No one is forced to participate, but thanks for sharing your concerns.


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## Ken555 (Oct 3, 2015)

I'm not inclined to look into this too much, particularly since I like my luggage, but if I was interested I'd look into who is financing this new company and what other companies they're affiliated with... As I wrote previously, I think there's a difference in trusting (!) a well known company like the airline (which, after all, we trust our lives to) vs a marketing company supplying a bag. Big difference, at least at first glance (and I doubt I'd make it to a second look).


Sent from my iPad


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## schiff1997 (Oct 3, 2015)

rapmarks said:


> I left most of the questions blank and it still went through.



Yes I did the same thing and received an email back stating this "You have been signed up with the Orion Mobile Luggage Program.  You will be contacted shortly to choose the program you would like."


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## ldzierzanowski (Oct 4, 2015)

What the heck. Looked at the press clips for the company and the crowdfunding behind the startup. I don't pay luggage fees but wife and kids do so i signed us all up. Worst case 8 new pieces of luggage and at over 30+ flights a year I burn through luggage.


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## ldzierzanowski (Oct 8, 2015)

Article on company today. They now need 5 million people to meet demand. 

http://www.today.com/money/how-avoid-airline-baggage-fees-company-will-turn-your-bags-t49021



Can we just go to the beach now...please!!!


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## Sugarcubesea (Oct 9, 2015)

I think this is a brilliant idea and I hope it launches and works….


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## vacationhopeful (Oct 9, 2015)

Sugarcubesea said:


> I think this is a brilliant idea and I hope it launches and works….



They are battling a HARD road. Email lists are "valuable" and I can see where multiple companies --- i.e. Visa and Target or Home Depot --- would figure out, all they have to do is "milk" their customers for "royalities" for the same deal. An "upstart" might get 500 TUG members (just a number) but needs MILLIONS to make the numbers work as a successful business.

And the next thing ... like the billboard business ... damaged logos LOOK bad (as are companies who are NOT your current client crop). How do you "re-skin" a suitcase in my possession? Stop sending me the "refunded" Visa money for checked baggage? Ask me every 3 years (or 50 trips) to send back the luggage? Send me NEW bags every 125 trips? 

Okay, I am waiting .. I too signed up.


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## PrairieGirl (Oct 9, 2015)

Thanks for the link.  When I read the article this line caught my eye......

removed the initial $19.99 annual membership fee that was going to be implemented


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## x3 skier (Oct 13, 2015)

PrairieGirl said:


> Thanks for the link.  When I read the article this line caught my eye......
> 
> removed the initial $19.99 annual membership fee that was going to be implemented



Another line: "I'm not making much money off this," said German.". Seems like a strange hobby. 

If I get some luggage to share some info about my travels, it's a much better deal than having my whole life history stolen by the Chinese from the Federal Office of Personnel Management, not to mention all the credit breaches I been exposed to over the years. 

Cheers


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## SandyPGravel (Oct 28, 2015)

*Strange text messages*

Has anyone been receiving strange text messages since signing up for this?  I signed up and only have a cell phone, so that is the number I entered.  This is the only new place I can think of that I entered my cell number recently.


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## baz48 (Dec 8, 2015)

*Any progress on this program?*

Has anyone heard from Orion?  I thought we were supposed to hear something in November.


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## Larry (Dec 8, 2015)

PrairieGirl said:


> I thought that many of the odd questions probably pertained to some targeted marketing junk mail that I will now be receiving......





baz48 said:


> Has anyone heard from Orion?  I thought we were supposed to hear something in November.



Got initial confirmation when I responded to questions and absolutely nothing since then.


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## riverdees05 (Dec 9, 2015)

Never have heard anything?  Signed up when it first was posted on TUG.


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## M. Henley (Dec 9, 2015)

*NADA Here*

Total silence.


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## jackio (Dec 9, 2015)

We have not heard anything from them either.


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## Sugarcubesea (Dec 9, 2015)

Crickets Chirping for me as well


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## schiff1997 (Dec 17, 2015)

Email received today!    Another travel Company!!!

To all our guests.  Thank you for having the patience with the Orion
Luggage Campaign! We have been inundated with over 1.3 million folks
who have signed up for our program.  Our Email back-end program took a
major hit.  We have been trying to come up with a solution to mass
email everyone at 300 folks an hour. 

We have successfully come up up with a solution to contact member with
announcements more quickly on a daily basis. So we built something in
the process. 

Please go to http://www.globetrotternation.com   It is the first
travel portal for travelers and will also allow us to be in-touch with
you on a daily basis to what is happening in the Orion Ecosystem.
Globe Trotter Nation is a Facebook and Match dot Com all rolled into
on travel portal exclusively for travelers.  We are rolling out more
products to our platform and most will be done by the end of this
month. 

Please go ahead and become a new member of our travel ecosystem! It is
all free! I cannot wait to roll out our great programs for you...

You are still enrolled into our luggage program for free as well. 

Thanks so much for you patience as we have a whopping time trying to
keep up with all the wonderful quests on the Orion Luggage Project! 

Your Friend

Gary
Orion Travel Technology
http://oriontraveltech.com
http://globetrotternation.com
gary.german@oriontraveltech.com


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## DeniseM (Dec 17, 2015)

So…. the whole thing was a promo to roll out a new travel company…why am I not the least bit surprised?  

And they are having "problems with email," so they want you all to go to their webpage and sign up for their new travel program so they can reach you.

I predict that a few people will get luggage, and then they will run out and the promo will end.  But the rest of you will be blessed with email and text spam for all eternity.  If you are really lucky, you will also get phone calls!


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## Ken555 (Dec 17, 2015)

Amazing that they are having problems sending just 300 emails per hour. I think this illustrates a complete lack of preparation for a new company. 


Sent from my iPad


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## DeniseM (Dec 17, 2015)

Ken555 said:


> Amazing that they are having problems sending just 300 emails per hour. I think this illustrates a complete lack of preparation for a new company.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad



Or is it just an excuse for people to have to sign up for the website?


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## Ken555 (Dec 17, 2015)

DeniseM said:


> Or is it just an excuse for people to have to sign up for the website?




They've already got them signed up. I'm sure their terms and conditions for signing up included the ability to send marketing emails...though I suppose that could have been just as amateurish as their original email system. I suspect they just didn't want to pay for someone to handle the migration of user data from the original system to whatever new system they've got. I've dealt with many business owners like this over the years, and it's really quite amusing at times.


Sent from my iPad


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## slip (Dec 17, 2015)

I haven't gotten any email or text spam and no calls either but I haven't gotten
Any luggage either.


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## bobby (Dec 17, 2015)

*Me too*

I hope it works


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## glenmore (Jan 20, 2016)

*Free Luggage from Orion may still be coming*

Received the following email this morning:


If you already received this email, and signed up at
globetrotternation.com already, we apologize. Just ignore this
notification.

To all our other guests.  Thank you for having the patience with the
Orion Luggage Campaign! We have been inundated with over 1.3 million
folks who have signed up for our program.  Our Email back-end program
took a major hit.  We have been trying to come up with a solution to
mass email everyone at 300 folks an hour.

We have successfully come up up with a solution to contact member with
announcements more quickly on a daily basis. So we built something in
the process.

Please go to http://www.globetrotternation.com   It is the first
travel portal for travelers and will also allow us to be in-touch with
you on a daily basis to what is happening in the Orion Ecosystem.
Globe Trotter Nation is a Facebook and Match dot Com all rolled into
on travel portal exclusively for travelers.  We are rolling out more
products to our platform and most will be done by the end of this
month.

Please go ahead and become a new member of our travel ecosystem! It is
all free! I cannot wait to roll out our great programs for you...

You are still enrolled into our luggage program for free as well.

Thanks so much for you patience as we have a whopping time trying to
keep up with all the wonderful quests on the Orion Luggage Project!

IT services provided by http://floridawebauthority.com

Your Friend

Gary
Orion Travel Technology
http://oriontraveltech.com
http://globetrotternation.com
gary.german@oriontraveltech.com


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## glenmore (Jan 20, 2016)

*More info on free luggage*

From their website:

Update: Orion Travel Technologies, Inc.

Our luggage program will begin this March 15, 2016

We have been emailing as many as 325 correspondent letters an hour. We realize that there has been many new folks who have signed up not receiving their follow-up emails. We know now that a large portion has been going to the junk mail box.

So not to have this happen in the future we have launched the first ever Travel Portal just for travelers. You will have notifications every other day if not daily at programs that we will be introducing and programs that you can choose from for our free luggage programs.

WWW.GLOBETROTTERNATION.COM

The Travel Portal is for travelers who never take their vacation days, it's for travelers who never have anyone to traveling with, it for travelers who love a certain hobby and want to connect to others with same compassion as others have. For example if you like to scuba dive we team with you with others all over the world who love what you love to do and you get to go to Pulao south of the Hawaiian Islands and scuba dive in the clearest waters on the planet. WE WANT TO BE YOUR ONE STOP FOR YOUR TRAVEL EXPERIENCE!

We have connections to Uber, Digital booking agents and live ones with great travel companies. We will have a program that ties you into Airb2b for staying with folks all over the world with same interests as you. Travel Trivia contests for kids and adults to win great prizes and money awards.

Online Scavenger hunts weekly that you can win you big money.

All in all many programs to choose from. Our first airline lounge will be open august in Rio De Janeiro

We will also be in over 35 countries by 2016. For the entire world to join the Orion Travel Programs!

Currently we are in Brazil, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Philippines, Germany, Portugal, Japan and Columbia.

Countries coming on board in 2016 are Argentina, Thailand, Viet Nam, South Korea, China, India, Egypt, Norway, Sweden, Spain, England, Italy and Iceland.

Free Travel Luggage Programs:

There will be 3 programs in place to choose from:

They will not include the $50 baggage fees paid program.

Those programs will come later in 2016-close to the August time frame and the Summer Olympics

Reason: Advertisers want to see the programs in place and to see if they work as describe before making that commitment. After the first three programs and advertisers actually see this program being viable then they will invest in that portion of it.

For now our offer is for:

One piece carryon luggage
Two Piece carryon luggage

Orion will also have a political campaign program that will give members a huge discount on a one piece carryon bag and give $20 back to each respective campaign. One for the Republican campaign and one for the Democratic Campaign. Those bags will be ready for purchase in March as well.

Being small we are dedicated to offer our Orion Folks the best of the best in the travel industry.

Please keep in mind we offer great discounts on everything we offer plus our advertising tie-in programs were we offer everything for free.

We will make updates each week and when we have to daily. Communication is key for our success.


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## Passepartout (Jan 20, 2016)

Boy, I feel left out. None of the above in my email. Maybe I'm not in this hour's 325ish lucky ones. 

Dividing 1.3 million 'members' by the 325 per hour they say they are able to email comes up with 4,000 hours to contact everyone.  Over 5 months, not counting new sign-ups, and running 24/7. 

Patience, Grasshopper.

Jim


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## PigsDad (Jan 20, 2016)

Passepartout said:


> Boy, I feel left out. None of the above in my email. Maybe I'm not in this hour's 325ish lucky ones.
> 
> Dividing 1.3 million 'members' by the 325 per hour they say they are able to email comes up with 4,000 hours to contact everyone.  Over 5 months, not counting new sign-ups.
> 
> Patience, Grasshopper.



Yeah, I did that same quick calculation when I read this post.  And that begs the question (if this is really true), what kind of email service are they using that can only send one email every ~10 seconds?  I'm sure a circa 1990s PC with a 14.4K modem could have handled that load.  Any modern service could send out a million emails in just a few hours, if that.

This whole thing smells fishy to me.  So now they are not going to give you the "$50 baggage fees paid program", but give you a "huge discount" on a carry-on bag?  Hmmm...

I tried going to the Globe Trotter Nation website, but it would not even allow me to see the terms and privacy information unless I registered (and gave them personal information) first!  Let's see -- in order for me to find out how they are going to use my personal information, I have to give them my personal information first?  I think not!

This whole program has so many red flags.  I personally think it is just a scam to drive traffic to their "great" travel site, and get people to give up personal information to build distribution lists that they can then sell.  I would love to be proven wrong, but we'll see.

Kurt


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## puppymommo (Jan 20, 2016)

I got my email this week also. All the typos did not inspire confidence.

Here's one example:
"you get to go to Pulao south of the Hawaiian Islands"

I'm pretty sure there is no place called "Pulao". Perhaps they meant "Palau" an island nation in the Pacific. 

Again, does not inspire confidence.


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## x3 skier (Jan 20, 2016)

Thankfully, I have heard zero from this Junior Achievement Company after registering.

I just wish I could experience the combo Facebook/Match.com arrangement. It sounds like I would be matched up with somebody on Facebook and sent someplace together, maybe with some free luggage. 

Connections to Uber and Airb2b (sic) sound like a link on a web site. 

What a FUBAR.

Cheers


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## Chrispee (Jan 20, 2016)

For a bunch of skeptical timeshare folks, optimism about this service lasted way longer than it should have!


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## Ken555 (Jan 20, 2016)

Chrispee said:


> For a bunch of skeptical timeshare folks, optimism about this service lasted way longer than it should have!




Really? Scroll back in time and you'll see some of us reached this conclusion a long time ago.


Sent from my iPad


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