Smart travelers are deploying Apple AirTags to track their luggage which is being delayed and lost at alarming rates amid baggage chaos at airlines.
Brad Stone for Bloomberg News:
Airlines are losing more bags than ever: In May, 238,000 suitcases were mishandled in the US alone, an 80% increase over the previous year, according to the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report from the US Department of Transportation. The bedlam appears worse in Europe, where technical snafus and staffing shortages are bedeviling airports in Paris, London and Scotland, leading to some spicy social media posts and startling photos of piled-up bags at airports.
This is where AirTags come in. They’re so-called “Bluetooth Low Energy” devices, which send encrypted signals to any nearby iPhones, iPads and Macs. That allows users to see their item on a map in the “Find My” app on their iPhone or other devices. If it is in the vicinity of an iPhone 11 or newer, they can generate arrows on their screen that point to the direction of a misplaced item. The app can also ping the AirTag to make a sound—admittedly not helpful when it’s tucked inside a suitcase at a busy airport.
Proponents of the technology say that tracking checked luggage with AirTags and their ilk is a good way to relieve travel stress. “Trackers are especially useful for discovering if someone mistakenly took your bag off the carousel instead of their own,” wrote the Times. Henry Harteveldt, an online and travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research, said he would use an AirTag if he had no choice other than to check a suitcase. “The end result is knowledge, and knowledge can increase peace of mind,” he says, adding: “2022 is not a year where you want to take chances with your checked bags no matter where you are traveling.”
MacDailyNews Take: At this point, we have AirTags in/on pretty much every item of value or importance. They just work so well and so accurately!
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AirTags are the best. Have saved us from a lot of stress of lost keys and wallets.
What about the batteries inside them? Are they ok to be in checked baggage? If so, I guess they are not lithium batteries.
The security aspect of Airtags is wildly overrated. Let’s say some light fingered asswipe takes your bag. What does he do?
– he jumps in a vehicle and speeds off
– he breaks your locks or slashes open your bag
-he scans for tags
– he takes what he wants and ditches the rest
– he laughs while you attending to track down your airtag to a dirty ditch far away from wifi and other iphones.
Admit it, electronic trackers are useful for the absent minded, not for security.
Lojack and others offer vehicle GPS tracking. It’s expensive and it requires significant battery power. Airtags don’t have the range or battery power to be of much use in many cases because thieves aren’t all that stupid. The pros know how to find and disable or destroy app-connected tags.
But hey, if your life goal is to feed Apple’s marketing engine telling them everywhere (within iPhone range) your precious stuff travels, Timmy would be very happy.
So, tell us what you use that’s better and/or cheaper…….
Until you have something to offer then I’m fine with using AirTags instead of nothing.