When it comes to brainy luggage, how smart is too smart?

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You can get a suitcase that notifies you when it’s coming down the luggage carousel, can be locked and unlocked with your cellphone and can even give you a lift while you’re in the airport.

The Modobag (a mere US$1,500) boasts it is “changing the way the world travels.” Available online, it’s essentially a piece of luggage you can ride like you would a riding lawn mower. It claims to get you where you’re going three times faster than walking, and the videos of prim businesswomen zooming around the airport like kids on trikes are worth a chuckle.

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When it comes to brainy luggage, how smart is too smart? Back to video

Is it a fad? I’d say so. But there’s no doubt that smart luggage is coming on. Its different incarnations incorporate a range of gee-whiz cool technology, such as battery packs (for quickly powering up your phone), remote lock opening via a smartphone app, and built in electronic scales. Many also include GPS locators so you can find your bag if it goes missing.

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If you’re going to invest hundreds of dollars for smart luggage, though, at least make sure it has a removable battery so you’ll stay in compliance with Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) rules. U.S. airlines have similar rules.

CATSA guidelines, as laid out by WestJet and Air Canada, stipulate you can bring a smart carry-on aboard, providing you can power down the system within the bag. But if it can’t be turned off, the lithium ion battery pack must be removable. In order to check the bag, you must be able to remove the battery pack and bring it into the cabin. The goal: to prevent it from bursting into flames in the cargo hold, where the fire might go undetected and can’t be easily extinguished. Can’t power down or remove your battery? The airline will refuse the bag.

That’s largely a result of a few recent incidents where lithium ion batteries have burst into flames. In March, an Air Canada flight experienced a two-hour delay after a passenger’s cellphone caught fire. And two years ago, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was banned from most flights after a manufacturing defect in the phones’ batteries caused some of them to generate excessive heat, resulting in fires.

Smart luggage generally uses the same lithium ion batteries, which has prompted airlines to develop rules aimed at protecting passengers and crew.

So, several smart luggage manufacturers – including Bluesmart and Raden – went under this year largely as a result of confusion over the new rules. But you still have a range of smart carry-on options available. Among them, Away, Heys and TravelPro offer different approaches to compliance.

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A relative newcomer to the luggage scene, Away offers lightweight, rugged polycarbonate-shell bags that include Bluetooth-connected location services and ejectable batteries in keeping with the new airline policies. Sold online, its 22-inch carry-on costs $325 and comes in nine colours, with a removable laundry bag and 360-degree Hinomoto spinner wheels.

Heys has circumvented the problems associated with lithium ion batteries by using two AAA batteries to power its smart luggage line. Its 21-inch carry-on ($300) is also made of polycarbonate and boasts TSA-approved locks you can open remotely with a smartphone, a handle with an integrated scale and proximity alarms that let you know if you’re too far away from your bag.

Changing the way the world travels

TravelPro’s lightweight nylon Platinum Magna 2 22-inch Expandable Rollboard Suiter carry-on ($290) sidesteps the issue by including an external USB port for charging on the fly, with a dedicated FAA/CATSA-compliant external battery pocket (battery sold separately) so you can easily insert and remove your own charger. It has butter-smooth inline skate wheels and lots of accessory pockets, including a garment bag and a removable see-through pouch for toiletries.

TravelPro’s designs also go through a veritable boot camp to ensure they’ll hold up. Inside the company’s quality control lab, machines yank, jerk and jostle bags thousands of times to simulate the real-world abuse delivered by baggage handlers and owners. And they get popped in the deep freeze, relentlessly zipped and unzipped, and put through “distance training” covering 30 miles on a treadmill to test the wheels.

“The main consumer for our bags is the business traveller,” says Raymond Durocher, president of Holiday Group, manufacturer of the TravelPro line. “And the last thing they want is to lose a wheel or break a zipper while they’re travelling.”

? Camilla Cornell is a business writer and intrepid traveller, who nonetheless appreciates a little comfort when away from home.

camillacornell@gmail.com|?Twitter.com/camillacornell