As my family and I were waiting to go pick up more family arriving by airplane today, I had an IdeaSpark*: have an airline contact you via an automated phone call with any changes to a flight’s arrival time. This would be more convenient than repeatedly hopping online to get an update.

But my father-in-law told me that it already exists: United EasyUpdate. Though it is by text message for non-club members, it is generally the same idea.

They should also tell you what baggage claim area is servicing that particular flight, so you know where your friends and family will be waiting if they checked luggage.

And speaking of luggage, I am sure it will be a matter of months before all our checked bags have RFID tags on them. This way, every bag will automatically and routinely be scanned and tracked, resulting in significantly less lost luggage.