If you have access to the Travel Channel, the network has introduced a new reality show called Baggage Battles. If you think the show is about bag reviews or which brand of carry-on is better, you’re in for a surprise.
Baggage Battles features three teams of “savvy auction specialists” who travel around the world to attend auctions, where they bid on pieces of unclaimed luggage left at the airports. The concept is similar to Storage Wars from the A&E network. Except instead of abandoned storage lockers, the show’s “auction specialists” bid on lost and unclaimed luggage—bidding “blind” without knowing the contents they are bidding on.
The Travel Channel website describes the show this way:
Ever wonder what happens to your lost luggage? Travel Channel provides a glimpse into the very profitable business of bidding, buying and reselling unclaimed property in the new original series Baggage Battles, premiering with a special one-hour season opener featuring back-to-back episodes on Wednesday, April 11, 10|9c. The half-hour series follows 3 teams of savvy “auction specialists” who travel to some of the most important and unknown auctions where their bids are based on sight unseen instincts. The season premiere will kick off at Miami International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, and then the auction pros will jump across “The Pond” to London.
Baggage Battles features 3 teams of savvy “auction specialists”: Laurence and Sally Martin, a married couple, have been in the antique business for over 20 years co-owning Studio Antiques in El Segundo, CA. Mark Meyer is a young entrepreneur and owner of Long Island, New York’s The Nifty Thrifty store. And, Billy Leroy is the owner of the iconic Billy’s Antiques and Props, one of the last eclectic props and antique stores in NYC. With dozens of auctions to visit, thousands of bags to explore, and millions of dollars at stake, these auction specialists need both skill and luck to hit the jackpot. They don’t know if it’s junk or a jackpot until they win the bid and open the suitcase.
Like Storage Wars, you might enjoy watching the bidders as they bid against each other, come up with sniping strategies, and share in their joy or crushing disappointment as they discover what they’ve bought.
Season 1 covers New Jersey, Los Angeles, Scotland, Miami, London, Indianapolis, and Atlanta. Not all of the locales sell lost luggage from airports, they are all “lost baggage.”
That said, I think if I watch this show, I will end up giggling most of the time at all the things people pack in their check-ins!
You can catch new episodes on Wednesdays at 10:00 pm (9:00 Central).