Checking in baggage? That’s so 20th century

Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, has been writing about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel issue – and what it means for you.

Welcome to Tokyo – here’s your new (or second-hand) outfit. This week Japan Airlines launched an innovative clothing-loan scheme. My colleague Benjamin Parker revealed the full story of Any Wear, Anywhere programme, which will continue until at least August 2024.

A couple of highlights for you: outfits based on size, season and colour are available to hire for up to a fortnight. A summer casual selection for men – two pairs of shorts and three T-shirts – costs £22. Women looking for a spring/autumn smart-casual ensemble of three or four tops plus a couple of pairs of trousers will pay £27.50.

The clothing, which will be waiting for you in your hotel, comprises a combination of second-hand garments and excess stock from well-known brands.

The concept of renting clothes to passengers at their destination is a bold experiment. The claimed environmental benefit: you reduce the weight of your luggage, thereby cutting by a tiny fraction the amount of fuel burned and carbon emitted. The bizarre comparison used by the airline is that if you fly with 10kg less weight, the harm to the planet is reduced as much as it would be if you chose not to use a hairdryer for 10 minutes a day for 78 days.

Compared with, say, replacing the first-class cabin on long-haul flights with dozens of economy seats, the per-passenger saving is small. But at least the Japanese carrier is testing a fresh idea. It has sparked discussion about whether Any Wear, Anywhere will succeed, and other ways of lightening the load of travel on the world.

Reader Guy Brewer has reservations about (and possibly on) Japan Airlines, based on the difference in average build between British and Japanese people.

“I would be concerned that if I rented a suit in Japan it would be a bit on the snug side,” he wrote.

Melissa Riggs added: “My husband is 6ft 5. Interesting to see the size variations on this.”

I checked, and the maximum sizes for men stop at 5ft 11 and 14st (90kg).

Matt H has a more radical idea, which he uses for the Greek islands. “Sounds like a variation of my current packing for a couple of weeks on Corfu,” he writes.

“Just enough for a few days. I know where to buy clothes, reasonably, in the suburbs of Corfu Town.”

Matt then recycles all the clothes locally before his flight home. “No washing on return,” he cheerfully points out.

I think this variation on the luggage theme is smart (presumably as Matt looks in his locally-bought togs). It delivers an excellent riposte to those budget airlines that have diminished the free carry-on baggage allowance to little more than the size and weight of a packet of crisps.

Someone calling themself “Mr Armstrong Tech” writes, with a dose of sarcasm: “I simply use the British Airways method where they repeatedly fail to stick my luggage on a plane and I am entitled to spend $150 (£117) on essentials until it turns up.”

Baggage rights for passengers are notoriously opaque. But BA says passengers can claim for “toiletries and basics when a bag is delayed, up to a reasonable value”.

As always, I advise readers to carry cabin baggage only whenever possible: British Airways allows a generous 46kg of hand luggage split between two pieces, which for many people means they need not check anything in, thereby avoiding the risk of being separated from their possessions.

(Consigning your precious baggage to the tender mercies of handlers at Paris CDG during a transfer from one Air France flight to another is even more likely to leave you waiting disconsolately by an empty carousel.)

Hats – as well as jackets, tops and accessories – off to Japan Airlines for thinking outside the suitcase.